Role Purpose
The Vice President Program Management leads the planning, governance, execution and review of strategic programs across the organization. The role converts leadership priorities into clear work plans, establishes accountable delivery rhythms and gives decision-makers timely visibility into progress, risks, dependencies and resource needs.
The role works closely with leadership and cross-functional teams to improve execution discipline, resolve delivery barriers and build repeatable program management practices. During the initial contract period, the immediate priority is to assess the active program portfolio, strengthen governance and establish a practical plan for sustained delivery.
Key Responsibilities
Program strategy and governance
- Translate organizational priorities into integrated program roadmaps with defined outcomes, milestones, owners, dependencies and decision points.
- Establish program governance, review forums, reporting standards and escalation paths appropriate to the scale and risk of each initiative.
- Maintain a consolidated view of the program portfolio so leadership can make timely decisions on sequencing, capacity and tradeoffs.
Delivery and execution
- Lead programs from planning through implementation, acceptance and handover while maintaining alignment on scope, schedule, quality and resources.
- Coordinate work across functions, identify critical dependencies and remove delivery barriers before they affect agreed milestones.
- Use structured reviews and data-based status reporting to track commitments, actions and outcomes.
Stakeholder management
- Serve as the central point of coordination for senior leaders, functional owners, delivery teams, partners and other program stakeholders.
- Prepare concise executive updates, build alignment across teams and ensure decisions and recovery actions are recorded and followed through.
Risk, quality and compliance
- Maintain program-level risk, issue, assumption and dependency controls, with clear owners and target dates for mitigation.
- Define practical quality gates and ensure delivery evidence, documentation and working practices meet applicable policy and contractual requirements.
Team leadership and capability building
- Lead and support multidisciplinary teams, clarify roles and decision rights and reinforce accountability for agreed results.
- Coach program and project leads and establish a consistent management approach that teams can continue using after the initial contract period.
Process and systems improvement
- Review existing workflows and management information to identify avoidable delays, duplicated work and control gaps.
- Introduce fit-for-purpose tools and dashboards, and document agreed improvements and handover requirements to support continuity.
Success Measures
- Leadership has a current and reliable view of program priorities, milestones, risks, dependencies and decisions required.
- Each active program has clear ownership, an agreed delivery plan and a regular review cadence.
- Critical issues are escalated early, assigned to accountable owners and tracked to closure.
- Teams use consistent planning and reporting practices, with a documented continuity and handover plan before the contract period ends.
Requirements
Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, technology, management or a related field.
- At least 15 years of progressive experience in program management, project management, delivery management or a comparable leadership role.
- Demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing delivery across the full program or project lifecycle.
- Strong experience in stakeholder and client management, executive reporting, estimation, risk management and issue resolution.
- Experience improving processes and using technology-enabled tools or data to strengthen delivery oversight; a relevant postgraduate qualification or certification is desirable.
Core Competencies
- Program leadership: Sets direction, converts priorities into practical plans and maintains focus on agreed outcomes.
- Execution discipline: Tracks commitments, dependencies and decisions with consistent follow-through.
- Stakeholder judgement: Communicates clearly with senior leaders and resolves competing priorities constructively.
- Risk management: Identifies delivery threats early and drives proportionate mitigation and escalation.
- Analytical thinking: Uses evidence to diagnose problems, assess options and support decisions.
- Team leadership: Creates clarity, supports performance and builds accountable working relationships.