Job Description

The SME / Project Manager Lead serves as the senior Key Personnel responsible for leading clinic stand-up, transition-in, and operational activation for VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) programs. This individual provides hands-on leadership to plan, coordinate, and execute all activities required to bring clinic from contract award to full operational capability, while ensuring compliance with VA standards, accreditation requirements, and contract performance measures.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as overall stand-up and transition-in lead, accountable for achieving full clinic operational readiness within required timelines.
• Lead development and execution of transition-in and mobilization plans, including detailed work breakdown structures, integrated master schedules, and readiness milestones.
• Coordinate clinic activation activities, including staffing onboarding, credentialing and privileging, space readiness, equipment procurement, and IT connectivity.
• Provide subject matter expertise in primary care and CBOC operations, ensuring proper implementation of PACT staffing models, patient flow, and care team workflows at go-live.
• Direct cross-functional stand-up teams (clinical, HR, recruiting, facilities, logistics, IT, and compliance) to ensure synchronized execution.
• Ensure clinic readiness for VA inspections, Joint Commission surveys, and regulatory reviews, addressing pre-opening requirements and mitigating deficiencies.
• Act as the primary interface with VA leadership during transition-in, readiness reviews, and early operations, providing clear status reporting and issue resolution.
• Oversee early-phase operations stabilization, including ramp-up of patient volumes, staffing adjustments, and performance monitoring.
• Establish governance and control mechanisms, including risk and issue tracking, readiness checklists, SOPs, and performance dashboards.
• Identify and proactively mitigate stand-up risks, including staffing delays, facility constraints, equipment readiness, and regulatory compliance gaps.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Public Administration, Organizational Leadership, or related field preferred.
• Ten (10) or more years of experience in healthcare operations and program or project management.
• Demonstrated experience leading clinic stand-up, transition-in, or mobilization for ambulatory care, primary care, or CBOC-like healthcare environments.
• Proven ability to deliver operational healthcare facilities from award to go-live under aggressive timelines.
• Experience with staffing onboarding, credentialing, privileging, and workforce ramp-up in regulated healthcare settings.
• Strong working knowledge of VA healthcare operations, primary care delivery models, and accreditation standards (e.g., Joint Commission).
• Experience managing multi-million-dollar healthcare operations or contracts.
• Executive-level communication skills with experience briefing government stakeholders during transition and readiness phases.

Desired Qualifications

• Prior experience serving as Program Manager, Deputy PM, or Operations Lead for VA CBOC or similar federal healthcare clinic stand-ups.
• Experience supporting multiple simultaneous clinic activations or geographically dispersed sites.
• Background in medical logistics, facility operations, emergency management, or military healthcare systems.
• Lean, Agile, or structured transition management experience applied to healthcare mobilization.

About Aptive

Arrow ARC supports Veterans Health Administration facilities and offices across the U.S. with health care staffing and program support via the 10-year Integrated Critical Staffing Program (ICSP). We provide staffing solutions to address critical shortages in VHA medical facilities caused by turnover, recruitment issues, seasonal needs, surges or emergencies.

Arrow is a certified Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business joint venture between Artemis ARC and Aptive Resources, two award-winning companies that share an agile, mission-focused, results driven approach in the federal sector.​ Arrow provides management consulting services and specializes in working with federal government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs and Office of Personnel Management.​

EEO Statement

Aptive is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran status, age, disability, or any other protected class.

Veterans, members of the Reserve and National Guard, and transitioning active-duty service members are highly encouraged to apply.