Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for FedRAMP Compliance Program Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The FedRAMP Compliance Program Manager leads the end-to-end FedRAMP authorization lifecycle for cloud service offerings — from readiness assessments and System Security Plan (SSP) development through 3PAO assessment, remediation tracking and Agency or JAB Authorization to Operate (ATO) and ongoing continuous monitoring. This role acts as the central program owner interfacing with engineering, product, legal, procurement, third-party assessors (3PAOs), agency sponsors, and the FedRAMP PMO to ensure timely, auditable, and cost-effective compliance aligned to NIST SP 800-53, RMF and FedRAMP baselines (Tailored, Low, Moderate, High).

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Cloud Security Engineer with experience implementing controls on AWS/Azure/GCP
Information Security / GRC Analyst or Compliance Analyst with FedRAMP or NIST experience
Security Program Manager or Risk Manager supporting federal customers

Advancement To:

Senior FedRAMP Program Manager / Program Lead
Director of Compliance / Head of Cloud Compliance
VP of Security, Chief Compliance Officer, or Head of GRC

Lateral Moves:

Cloud Security Architect
GRC Platform/Product Manager
Third-Party Assessment (3PAO) Engagement Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead and own the end-to-end FedRAMP authorization program for one or more cloud service offerings: plan schedule, resourcing, budget, milestones, risk register, and communication with executive stakeholders to deliver Agency or JAB ATOs on time.
Develop, maintain, and continuously update the System Security Plan (SSP), Control Implementation Summary, and control narratives to accurately reflect technical, operational, and procedural control implementations across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Coordinate and manage third-party assessment organizations (3PAOs) and assessment activities — scope definition, assessment schedule, evidence requests, Security Assessment Report (SAR) delivery, findings remediation and validation activities.
Prepare and manage the Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) lifecycle: intake, prioritization, remediation tracking, validation, and closure while ensuring it meets FedRAMP PMO and agency expectations.
Drive FedRAMP readiness assessments and gap analyses; produce formal readiness reports with prioritized remediation roadmaps and resource estimates to reach authorization.
Map and verify NIST SP 800-53 controls and FedRAMP baselines (Low, Moderate, High, and Tailored) across technical and operational domains; implement compensating controls where necessary and document rationales.
Own continuous monitoring strategies and execution — orchestrate automated vulnerability scanning, weekly/continuous scanning cadence, monthly reporting, monthly and annual continuous monitoring packages, and integration with SIEM and logging pipelines.
Coordinate penetration testing, red team/blue team activities, and remediation validation; ensure external and internal testing results are incorporated into the POA&M and control environment.
Serve as the primary liaison with agency Authorizing Officials, FedRAMP PMO, cloud service customers, legal, procurement and executives to drive authorization decisions and sustainment strategies.
Maintain the authorization artifact repository and evidence portal (e.g., eMASS, CSP portals, Jira/Confluence, secure storage) ensuring evidence is auditable, indexed and available for assessment.
Develop, own and execute the Security Assessment Plan (SAP) and Test Plan in coordination with 3PAOs and internal security/test teams to validate control effectiveness and generate SAR evidence.
Lead cross-functional remediation sprints with engineering, product, and operations teams to implement control fixes, configuration changes, and policy updates required for FedRAMP compliance.
Design and enforce configuration management and secure baseline standards for cloud infrastructure as code (IaC), container orchestration, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure hardening to meet FedRAMP control objectives.
Implement identity, authentication, and authorization controls (IAM, SSO, MFA, least privilege) and document control implementations and assurance activities required by FedRAMP controls.
Oversee supply chain and third-party risk management activities that impact FedRAMP controls — negotiate security clauses, manage vendor questionnaires, assess sub-contractor risk and ensure upstream compliance.
Create and maintain security policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), runbooks, incident response plans, and disaster recovery documentation aligned to FedRAMP and NIST guidance.
Track and report program KPIs and metrics (e.g., remediation velocity, open POA&Ms, mean time to remediate, evidence completeness) and present status to executive leadership and agency stakeholders.
Coordinate privacy impact assessments and ensure PII/PHI handling controls align to privacy requirements and applicable regulations (e.g., HIPAA where relevant).
Drive automation of compliance evidence collection and reporting by integrating GRC tools, ticketing systems, pipeline hooks, and infrastructure scanners to reduce manual evidence burden.
Facilitate and lead FedRAMP PMO, agency, and JAB review meetings; prepare executive-ready briefings, status decks, and decision points to accelerate authorization timelines.
Manage remediation prioritization and trade-off decisions balancing security risk, product roadmaps and customer deliverables while maintaining compliance posture and timelines.
Ensure post-authorization sustainment including annual assessments, continuous monitoring updates, change control reviews and reassessments after significant system changes.
Support contract and procurement teams by reviewing RFP/RFIs and SOWs for FedRAMP requirements and writing security language into customer contracts and vendor agreements.
Conduct training, awareness sessions and tabletop exercises across engineering and operations teams to raise FedRAMP readiness, reduce evidence gaps and institutionalize secure practices.
Manage incident response coordination and forensics evidence collection that may impact authorization status or POA&Ms; ensure incidents are logged, reported and analyzed per FedRAMP reporting requirements.
Evaluate and recommend cloud-native security tools, GRC platforms (e.g., Archer, OneTrust, ServiceNow GRC), vulnerability management solutions, SCA, and automation frameworks to improve program efficiency and compliance maturity.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc evidence requests and exploratory data analysis to answer auditor or agency queries promptly.
Contribute to the organization's cloud security and compliance strategy and roadmap, identifying opportunities to reduce time-to-ATO through automation and architecture changes.
Collaborate directly with product and engineering teams to translate FedRAMP control requirements into actionable engineering tasks and acceptance criteria.
Participate in sprint planning, agile ceremonies, and backlog grooming within security and engineering teams to ensure compliance work is properly prioritized and delivered.
Mentor junior compliance analysts and act as an internal subject matter expert for FedRAMP, RMF and NIST SP 800-53 interpretation.
Evaluate emerging federal guidance and FedRAMP PMO updates and translate changes into actionable program adjustments and team training.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep practical experience with FedRAMP authorization lifecycle (readiness, SSP, SAP, SAR, POA&M, continuous monitoring) and familiarity with FedRAMP PMO processes and JAB/Agency ATO pathways.
Strong understanding and hands-on experience mapping and implementing NIST SP 800-53 controls and control families across cloud services.
Demonstrated experience managing third-party assessment organizations (3PAOs) and driving assessments to closure.
Expertise in cloud security architectures and services across at least one major CSP (AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) including IAM, VPCs, encryption, KMS, logging, and monitoring.
Experience with continuous monitoring tooling and practices: vulnerability management (Qualys/Tenable), container scanning, SCA (Snyk), cloud configuration scanners (CloudSploit, CIS benchmarks), and SIEM integration.
Proficiency with GRC / compliance platforms and evidence repositories (Archer, ServiceNow GRC, Jira, Confluence, eMASS or proprietary portals).
Strong knowledge of risk management frameworks (RMF), security assessment methodologies, penetration testing processes, and remediation validation.
Familiarity implementing secure DevOps practices and integrating compliance gates into CI/CD pipelines and IaC scanning workflows (Terraform, CloudFormation).
Experience writing and maintaining policy, procedures, System Security Plans, and security control narratives suitable for federal audit.
Proven ability to analyze vulnerability and SAR findings and convert them into prioritized remediation plans and testable acceptance criteria.
Hands-on familiarity with encryption, key management, certificate lifecycle management, and data protection mechanisms in cloud environments.
Experience with incident response, forensic evidence collection, and reporting in accordance with FedRAMP incident handling requirements.
Practical knowledge of privacy, PII handling, and relevant regulations where applicable to federal customers.

Soft Skills

Exceptional written and verbal communication with experience producing executive briefings, audit-ready artifacts, and clear technical documentation.
Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence cross-functional teams (engineering, product, legal, procurement, executives, agency sponsors).
Project and program management skills: scheduling, risk management, resource allocation, and multi-stream coordination to deliver ATOs on time.
Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills to manage large evidence sets, POA&Ms, and concurrent authorization efforts.
Problem solver and decision-maker who can balance security, compliance, and business priorities.
Facilitation and negotiation skills to manage vendor and agency relationships and resolve scope or remediation disputes.
Coaching and mentoring capability to upskill security and engineering teams on FedRAMP requirements.
Resilience and adaptability to manage ambiguity and shifting federal guidance, timelines, or technical scope.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Security, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience).

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Assurance, or MBA with technical emphasis is a plus.
Professional certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CRISC, PMP, or FedRAMP-specific training are highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science / Software Engineering
Information Security / Cybersecurity / Information Assurance
Systems Engineering / Network Engineering
Risk Management / Business Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5–10 years in information security, cloud security, or compliance program roles with increasing responsibility.

Preferred:

7+ years of combined experience in cloud security and compliance with at least 2–4 years directly managing FedRAMP authorization programs or working as a lead on FedRAMP projects.
Demonstrated track record of successful Agency or JAB ATOs, managing 3PAOs, and delivering continuous monitoring sustainment for cloud services.
Prior experience with federal customers, contract language for security requirements, or systems operating under NIST/DoD compliance regimes is strongly preferred.