Technical Acumen:

Responsibilities

• Drive alignment to and execution of high stakes cross-functional initiatives and programs.
• Oversee end-to-end program execution across teams / groups, including risk management, communication, issue/conflict resolution and dependency management.
• Collaborate with responsible partners to proactively identify, communicate, manage and mitigate program risks.
• Organize and lead cadence-based stakeholders / leadership meetings, tracking actions, providing timely communication of program status, schedule, risks, and blockers.
• Drive process improvements and leverage metrics to improve transparency, overall team performance and efficiency around key cross-org programs.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver business value in a timely manner while maintaining a high level of quality and transparency.

Financial and Operational Expertise

• Budgeting and Financial Forecasting:

  The ability to not just track a budget but to forecast future spend, identify cost-saving opportunities, and create financial models for complex projects.

• Capitalization (CapEx vs. OpEx) Knowledge:

  A strong understanding of the difference between capital expenditures (CapEx) and operational expenditures (OpEx). This includes knowing which project costs can be capitalized, the accounting principles that govern it, and how to work with finance and accounting teams to ensure proper tracking and reporting.

• Cost Management and Optimization:

  Proactively managing costs throughout the project lifecycle. This includes being able to identify and address budget overruns, negotiate with vendors, and make data-driven decisions to maximize return on investment (ROI).

• Vendor and Contract Management:

  Experience in managing relationships with third-party contractors and vendors, including creating and managing contracts, and ensuring they meet technical and financial obligations.

Strategic and OKR-Specific Skills

• Strategic Planning and Alignment:

  The ability to align a programs goals with the companys broader strategic OKRs. This person should be able to translate high-level business objectives into tangible, measurable program goals.

• OKR (Objectives and Key Results) Development:

  Expertise in creating clear, ambitious, and measurable OKRs. This includes drafting objectives that are inspiring and key results that are quantifiable, relevant, and time-bound.

• Performance Measurement and Reporting:

  Skills in using data to measure progress against OKRs. This goes beyond simple project tracking to include the ability to synthesize performance data, identify trends, and provide insights to senior leadership on the overall health of the program in relation to business outcomes.

Technical and Project-Specific Skills

• Technical Acumen:

  While a program manager isnt an engineer, they need enough technical understanding to credibly track complex projects. This includes a solid grasp of technical project lifecycles, and a deep knowledge of your companys specific cloud technologies and infrastructure.

• Risk and Dependency Management:

  The ability to identify, assess, and mitigate technical and operational risks. This includes understanding and managing dependencies between different technical teams or projects to ensure smooth execution and avoid bottlenecks.

• Project Management Software:

  Proficiency with at least one major project management platform (e.g., Jira, Asana, Smartsheets) for task management, project tracking, and reporting.

• Spreadsheets:

  Advanced skills in using spreadsheets (e.g., Google Sheets) for financial modeling, resource allocation, and data analysis.

• Automation/Scripting:

  Working knowledge of tools like AppScript to automate reporting, data manipulation, and other manual tasks.

• Data and Visualization:

  Experience with data analysis and visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, SQL) to create compelling dashboards and reports.

• 8+ years of leading complex, cross-functional, operational work, global program or cross-departmental leadership
• Experience building strong cross-team relationships and partnerships

• Strong organizational skills with ability to deal with ambiguity, multitask and work independently in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
• Excellent written, verbal communication, and interpersonal skills
• Strong business acumen and technical background, with the ability to quickly understand and articulate technical and product concepts and challenges across wide-ranging audiences
• Experience working with projects on cloud technologies (Azure, Google)
• Experience delivering end to end programs from concept to market.
• Ability to develop clear program strategies and detailed program plans highlighting dependencies and critical paths for success
• Experience curating program metrics and creating dashboards or scorecards for overall project health and progress
• Ability to synthesize data from various streams and present in a digestible bite size manner to upper management and execution teams
• Possess working knowledge of skills and tools like MS Project, Smartsheets, JIRA, Tableau, SQL