Strategic Program Manager

Job Purpose

The Program Manager is a senior business execution leader within the Project Management Office responsible for translating strategy into measurable enterprise outcomes. This role owns strategic, cross-functional initiatives from concept through implementation, operational adoption, and realization of business value. Success requires more than project coordination; it requires the ability to align leaders, evaluate business and financial tradeoffs, force clarity in ambiguous situations, and drive accountable execution across the enterprise.

The Program Manager partners with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, Marketing, Customer Service, Quality, Regulatory, and Information Technology to convert business priorities into executable plans and sustained operating results. The role is accountable for ensuring initiatives deliver intended financial, operational, customer, compliance, and strategic outcomes.

Successful candidates combine strategic thinking, financial literacy, executive communication, organizational leadership, and disciplined execution. They are comfortable influencing senior leaders without direct authority, developing business cases and executive recommendations, and leading complex initiatives that affect revenue growth, profitability, operating performance, customer experience, compliance, and long-term enterprise value.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Business Execution

• Lead enterprise-level initiatives that translate business strategy into measurable financial, operational, customer, compliance, and strategic outcomes.
• Convert executive priorities into clear execution strategies, decision paths, operating plans, and cross-functional commitments.
• Drive alignment across functions and senior stakeholders where priorities, resources, incentives, or constraints conflict.
• Advise leaders on risks, opportunities, tradeoffs, and recommended courses of action using sound business judgment.

Financial Stewardship and Business Case Leadership

• Develop and evaluate business cases supporting investment decisions, prioritization, resource allocation, and value realization.
• Partner with Finance and business leaders to assess revenue, margin, cost, cash, risk, and operational impacts.
• Monitor initiative performance against expected business outcomes, financial assumptions, and operating commitments.
• Identify gaps between planned and realized value and drive corrective action with accountable owners.

Enterprise Program Leadership

• Lead complex, cross-functional programs from concept through implementation, operational adoption, and benefit realization.
• Own program-level outcomes, ensuring execution activities remain aligned to business priorities and measurable value.
• Manage dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, resources, and escalation paths across functions.
• Establish operating rhythms that create transparency, accountability, decision velocity, and disciplined follow-through.

Executive Influence and Organizational Alignment

• Influence senior leaders and stakeholders without direct authority to drive decisions and remove barriers.
• Facilitate executive reviews focused on decisions, tradeoffs, risks, value realization, and required actions.
• Build trusted relationships across functions to accelerate alignment, ownership, and execution.
• Present executive-level recommendations supported by data, analysis, financial understanding, and business judgment.

Change Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Lead organizational change required to embed new processes, products, systems, capabilities, or operating models.
• Drive adoption, sustainment, and accountability after implementation to ensure intended business value is realized.
• Improve execution speed, organizational effectiveness, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Reinforce a culture of ownership, transparency, accountability, and results.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Finance, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in program management, operations, engineering, supply chain, finance, business management, product development, transformation, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives with measurable business, financial, operational, customer, or compliance impact.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to evaluate operational, financial, technical, commercial, and organizational tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated financial literacy, including experience interpreting business cases, financial assumptions, investment decisions, and value realization metrics.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
• Experience developing executive-level recommendations, decision materials, and business reviews supported by data and sound judgment.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, competing priorities, organizational resistance, and constrained resources.
• Strong executive communication, analytical thinking, decision-making, and accountability-building skills.

Preferred

• MBA or other advanced business, finance, engineering management, or operations degree.
• Experience developing business cases, financial analyses, capital requests, investment recommendations, or value realization plans.
• Experience leading enterprise transformation, business improvement, operating model, product commercialization, supply chain, technology, regulatory, or manufacturing initiatives.
• Experience supporting strategic planning, portfolio management, capital allocation, product launch, operational readiness, or executive governance processes.
• Manufacturing, industrial, energy, technology, product development, or operations experience.
• PMP, PgMP, Lean Six Sigma, or related professional certification.

Leadership Competencies

• Business ownership: Takes accountability for business outcomes, not just project activity, timing, or reporting.
• Strategic judgment: Connects enterprise priorities, financial tradeoffs, operational realities, and execution decisions.
• Executive influence: Builds credibility with senior leaders and drives alignment without relying on formal authority.
• Financial thinking: Understands how decisions affect revenue, margin, cost, investment, cash, risk, and long-term value.
• Cross-functional leadership: Aligns Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, Regulatory, IT, Customer Service, and other stakeholders around shared outcomes.
• Decision discipline: Clarifies options, frames tradeoffs, escalates appropriately, and drives timely decisions.
• Change leadership: Leads implementation, adoption, sustainment, and accountability so business value is actually realized.
• Ownership mindset: Identifies problems early, drives closure, and refuses to hide behind process, ambiguity, or organizational complexity.

General Job Requirements