Director, Programs

Position Profile:

The Director, Programs oversees the successful execution of multiple individual internal projects to achieve overall organizational Program objective(s) in alignment with the strategic business transformation strategy. Reporting to the Vice President, Corporate Operations and Programs, this role coordinates efforts between key executives, individual project teams and associated stakeholders, acting as a key point of project leadership. The Director, Programs has responsibility for individual project teams and how they inter-relate and contribute to the overall internal Program objective(s). The Director, Programs focuses on gathering the necessary data to support effective decision making, execution of strategy, identification of risks, and robust internal project execution. They apply a mix of communication and operational skills in the right proportions to fit complex, critical, organization-wide internal projects with the appropriate level of planning vs. execution resulting in an optimal mix of agility and predictability.

The ideal candidate has a history of demonstrated results leading large, cross-functional teams to accomplish complex projects related to business transformation across a matrix organization. They must thrive in fast-paced environments, be able to manage through ambiguity and complexity, create and simplify processes, and simultaneously support multiple projects impacting a growing organization. This role requires excellent communication and organizational skills and the ability to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, provide escalation management, anticipate and make trade-offs and balance business needs versus technical constraints. The successful candidate will also need to recognize when delving into detailed project management is required to ensure desired outcomes. Maturity, curiosity, creative problem solving, and team leadership are all essential for success in this role.

Key Responsibilities:

• Developing and implementing an overall companywide Program plan that knits together individual internal project management activities in alignment with the business transformation strategy
• Supporting the development and ensuring adherence to a Program governance model that promotes effective action and ensures adequate executive oversight, project management, and successful execution of individual projects
• Implement PMO best practices and a governance system with key stakeholders (i.e. processes, tools, templates)
• Establish reporting and scorecards; use tools and data to provide proactive insights
• Ensure ownership of deliverables is understood by each contributor; raise and identify gaps with the Senior Leadership Team
• Understand, propose, communicate, negotiate commercial, technical and contractual deliverables to and from external stakeholders
• Ensure the cohesion and business rational of key strategic initiatives. Challenges team where business or commercial approach requires improvement
• Working with leadership to ensure deliverables and outcomes are clearly understood and aligned across a suite of internal projects in the Program and subsequently leading the project teams to ensure deliverables are achieved per the plan
• Driving projects within the Program, their interdependencies and ensuring they remain aligned to the broader Program objective
• Providing senior leadership to various project teams, including scheduling, coordinating, and connecting key resources across disparate functions within our matrix of organizations
• Working with project teams and stakeholders to develop individual project and overall Program budget(s) as well as implementing tracking and reporting metrics for adherence of actuals to estimates
• Defining and executing communication strategies for various stakeholders, including facilitating stakeholder meetings with defined agendas, tracking of key deliverables and ongoing communication of progress/outcomes
• Developing and maintaining cross-team processes and systems to gather and track key information needed for reporting and measurement of progress
• Driving resolution on issues, risks, status and progress of the Program and its key elements
• Producing and delivering regular updates/presentations and coordinating information sharing across the organization, as required
• Acting as the key point of contact between various internal teams on issues, deliverables, and status updates
• Designing and leading strategic workshops with the project teams and leaders to drive required results and outcomes
• Making recommendations to key executives and stakeholders to improve Program-level delivery and outcomes

Qualification:

Education & Experience

• Undergraduate degree or diploma in a certified project management program
• PMP designation is required
• 5+ years of progressively more senior project leadership experience in Aerospace/Aviation overseeing geographically disperse cross functional project teams
• Proven accountability and experience driving individual and team deliverables to meet overall program objectives

Skills

• Ability to manage in a matrix environment with multiple projects across diverse businesses
• Advanced presentation skills with experience presenting to senior executive
• Self-starter with a bias towards action and a proven track record of successful multi-project program execution
• Ability to assess the importance of tasks and decisions and set priorities, focusing time/energy on the most important issues/opportunities
• Ability to build effective relationships with stakeholders
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communications skills required with demonstrated ability to communicate and present at an executive level
• Solution oriented, customer service focus, and positive "can do" team attitude