Position Summary
The Senior Manager, Program Management Operations leads the development, implementation, adoption, and continuous improvement of program management standards across the Rohde & Schwarz US enterprise. The role establishes a consistent operating framework for program governance, planning, execution, controls, reporting, and decision support while allowing appropriate flexibility for program size, complexity, customer, and contract requirements.
The Senior Manager serves as the enterprise authority for program management processes and works with Program Management, Finance, Business Operations, Engineering, Quality, Contracts, Sales, Service, and Production to improve portfolio performance. The role owns portfolio analysis, forecasting and reporting standards, program health reviews, and program manager coaching, and provides complementary finance and business operations support without duplicating the accountability of those functions.
Your tasks
- Enterprise Program Standards and Governance
- Establish, maintain, and govern enterprise-wide US program management policies, standards, methodologies, procedures, templates, and decision rights.
- Define a framework for program requirements and scalable levels of rigor for planning, scheduling, risk and opportunity management, change control, financial control, reporting, and program reviews.
- Lead adoption of common standards across programs and market segments through clear ownership, implementation plans, training, compliance monitoring, and corrective action.
- Ensure program management processes support contractual, customer, internal-control, Earned Value Management System, and applicable AS9100 quality-management requirements.
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, and interfaces among Program Management, Program Controls, Finance, Business Operations, and functional organizations.
Program Management Maturity and Continuous Improvement
- Define and lead the US program management maturity framework, including assessment criteria, target capabilities, improvement priorities, and measures of progress.
- Assess process effectiveness and program execution practices across the portfolio; identify systemic gaps, root causes, and opportunities to simplify or strengthen the operating model.
- Build and maintain a prioritized continuous-improvement roadmap that advances execution discipline, predictability, efficiency, quality, and customer outcomes.
- Use lessons learned, program performance trends, internal reviews, and audit findings to update standards, tools, training, and governance practices.
- Benchmark relevant internal and external practices and recommend changes that fit the needs of the US enterprise.
Portfolio Performance and Program Health
- Support the Senior Director of PMO in defining a health review process that provides timely, fact-based visibility into cost, schedule, scope, risk, resource, contractual, and customer performance.
- Strengthen the quality, consistency, and timeliness of program forecasts, estimates at completion, risk exposure, and other forward-looking performance information.
Finance and Business Operations Partnership
- Collaborate with peers in Finance and Business Operations to align program forecasts, financial controls, portfolio analysis, operating reviews, and management reporting.
- Own program management reporting standards and data expectations while Finance retains ownership of accounting policy, financial close, and statutory or corporate financial controls.
- Coordinate portfolio forecasts and performance outlooks, including revenue, margin, cash, backlog, resource demand, and risks and opportunities, using agreed sources and definitions.
- Support the Senior Director, Program in developing annual operating plans, periodic forecasts, and leadership reviews by connecting program execution data with business and financial outcomes.
- Improve the handoffs, controls, and accountability among Program Management, Program Controls, Finance, and Business Operations.
Tools Data and Reporting
- Lead the administration, configuration, governance, integration, adoption, and continuous improvement of program management tools and reporting systems.
- Establish data ownership, quality controls, and standard workflows that produce reliable portfolio information and reduce manual reporting effort.
- Guide the effective use and integration of applicable systems, including Costpoint and Cobra for earned value management, MasterControl for document management, ARM for risk management, Smartsheet for collaboration, and Power BI for dashboards and analytics.
- Oversee portfolio dashboards and performance metrics in partnership with Business Operations, Finance, Program Controls, and information-system owners.
Leadership and Cross Functional Collaboration
- Provide functional management of PMO support resources, which may include schedulers, technical writers, tool administrators, analysts, and other program support personnel.
- Set clear priorities, performance expectations, and development plans for the team; allocate support based on portfolio needs and risk.
- Represent Program Management in cross-functional process design and improvement initiatives.
- Identify opportunities to build alignment among Engineering, Quality, Contracts, Finance, Business Operations, Service, Production, Sales, and other functions on program interfaces and accountability.
- Communicate standards, portfolio performance, risks, and recommended actions clearly to executive, program, and functional audiences assigned by the Senior Director of programs.