Staff/Principal Engagement Manager (ACF)

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, engagement managers are responsible for driving the overall success of our client work. They draw on their expertise in areas such as  product management practices, risk/issue management, stakeholder management, continual improvement, and contract administration in order to deliver the highest levels of client service and work.

At Skylight, engagement managers are responsible for driving the overall success of our client work. They draw on their expertise in areas such as product management practices, risk/issue management, stakeholder management, continual improvement, and contract administration in order to deliver the highest levels of client service and work.

In this role, the engagement manager will lead the delivery of a net-new, 0–1 product in the child welfare space, guiding a cross-functional team from early ambiguity through to tangible outcomes on an accelerated timeline. They will be responsible for establishing clarity where little exists—defining priorities, shaping the product direction in close partnership with stakeholders, and ensuring the team can move quickly while staying grounded in user needs and policy constraints. This includes setting up pragmatic product management practices, enabling rapid iteration, and making thoughtful tradeoffs to balance speed, quality, and impact.

They will also serve as the primary point of accountability for navigating complexity and risk, proactively identifying potential issues and addressing them before they impact delivery. Given the sensitive and high-stakes nature of the domain, the engagement manager will need to operate with sound judgment, ensuring that decisions are both responsible and action-oriented. At the same time, they will build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders, translating ambiguity into clear plans, aligning on expectations, and communicating progress with transparency and confidence.

Success in this role requires the ability to lead teams through uncertainty while maintaining momentum, fostering a culture of ownership, adaptability, and continuous improvement. The engagement manager will ensure that the engagement remains operationally sound—managing timelines, scope, and contract expectations—while empowering the team to deliver meaningful, human-centered outcomes in a space where the work directly impacts children and families.

What you’ll do

• Lead a cross-functional team (product, design, engineering, etc.) to deliver a 0–1 product from ambiguity to launch on an accelerated timeline
• Guide the team in shaping product vision, priorities, and roadmap in close partnership with senior stakeholders
• Enable the team to translate complex policy, operational, and user needs into actionable product decisions and deliverables
• Drive alignment and decision-making across senior stakeholders, ensuring clarity on goals, tradeoffs, and progress
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks, empowering the team to navigate constraints without losing momentum
• Establish and reinforce lightweight product and delivery practices that support speed, quality, and continuous learning
• Ensure the team is incorporating user feedback and real-world insights throughout the product development process
• Hold the team accountable to outcomes, timelines, and quality, making clear tradeoffs to maintain forward progress
• Foster a strong, collaborative team culture grounded in ownership, adaptability, and mission-driven work
• Oversee contract execution, ensuring delivery aligns with scope, milestones, and client expectations
• Communicate engagement status, risks, and outcomes clearly to both client and internal leadership
• Serve as a team-oriented, collaborative leader with both client and internal leadership, contribute to performance management and talent retention strategies, to include staff hiring, onboarding, development and growth
• Translate the client’s objectives and constraints into an engagement approach that will deliver a unique experience and impactful results in the shortest amount of time possible
• Set up the team for successful delivery by removing obstacles, coaching them on how to become more collaborative and self-organizing, and enabling the work they do rather than impose how it’s done
• Provide manage