Program Manager - Finance Technology & AI Delivery

We need an experienced Program Manager, engaged on a contract basis, to drive delivery across a portfolio of Finance technology and AI programs. Each program requires tight coordination across Finance business stakeholders, Finance systems teams (ERP, close/consolidation, planning), data platform teams, and infrastructure/engineering — all running in parallel with competing priorities and no single point of accountability today.

This is a delivery role, not a tracking role. You sit at the center of all enabling functions, own outcomes end-to-end, run cross-functional working sessions, remove blockers, and escalate decisively up to VP when teams can’t deliver — so build teams stay focused on building. You are expected to operate with full autonomy from day one: no ramp-up hand-holding, no waiting to be told what’s next.

Key Responsibilities

• Full Program Lifecycle — Across Multiple Parallel Tracks
• Own end-to-end delivery of multiple Finance technology/AI programs simultaneously, each with its own teams, timeline, and dependencies.
• Maintain structured visibility — status, risks, blockers, milestones — across every track, and prioritize ruthlessly across competing demands.
• Discovery & Requirements Orchestration
• Design and run ‘Art of Possible’ sessions mapping business feasibility, system dependencies, and Finance data availability before build begins.
• Own the requirements freeze: align business, systems, and delivery teams on scenarios, flows, edge cases, and validation rules, with formal sign-off before build.
• Cross-Team Dependency Management
• Coordinate 6–8 enabling teams per program — Finance systems, data platforms, infrastructure, business SMEs — none of whom report to you.
• Convert sequential dependency chains into parallel workstreams; set SLAs with each team/system owner and hold them to it.
• Data & System Readiness — Pre-Development Gate
• Own the pre-build readiness gate: required Finance data identified, validated, and available in target environments before development starts.
• Run data/gap discovery with systems teams, and drive access, environment, and infra setup in parallel with requirements — never sequentially.
• Stakeholder Management & Leadership Escalation
• Set expectations with every team up front — roles, timelines, consequences of delay — and build relationships that make teams want to deliver for you.
• Escalate proactively when teams stall: bring Director/VP leadership into the room and walk out with a commitment. No-surprises status reporting.
• UAT & Go-Live Coordination
• Coordinate UAT across business and technical teams — scenarios, data, and sign-off on schedule.
• Own go-live readiness across all teams so deployment is a planned event, not a scramble.

Challenges You Will Navigate

• No direct authority over the teams you depend on — delivery hinges entirely on your credibility and ability to build trust fast.
• Teams run on their own priorities — getting consistent delivery for your programs takes relationship-building and follow-through, not org-chart leverage.
• Programs move fast and requirements evolve — you hold structure and governance without becoming the bottleneck.
• Multiple live programs at once — constant context-switching, with senior stakeholders expecting confident, honest answers on status and risk.
• Dependencies across Finance systems and teams are often complex and partly unknown at the outset — surfacing and resolving the unknown early is your job.

Must Have Required Skills & Experience:

• Experience — 8–12 years in Program Management or PMO roles within complex, multi-team technology delivery environments.
• End-to-End Ownership — Owning program delivery end-to-end — actively unblocking and driving outcomes, not just tracking and reporting.
• Cross-Team Influence — Coordinating 6+ teams with no direct authority — influence and credibility are your primary tools.
• Executive Stakeholder Management — Navigating and engaging Director/VP-level stakeholders — setting agendas and securing commitments.
• Program Fundamentals — Requirements management, dependency mapping, risk tracking, milestone governance, UAT and go-live planning.
• Workshop Facilitation — Designing and independently facilitating discovery, alignment, and dependency-mapping workshops.
• Communication — Exceptional written/verbal communication — translating technical and system complexity into clear stakeholder language.
• Ownership Mindset — If somet…