Senior Program Manager / Associate Program Director | Agile | Delivery

Associate Program Director - Program Management

Location: Bengaluru
Experience: 18+ Years

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Associate Program Director with 18+ years of industry experience and 5-6 years of leadership experience managing large-scale programs and strategic customer engagements.

The ideal candidate will possess strong expertise in Program Management, Delivery Management, Agile/Scrum, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, and SDLC Governance. The candidate should have a proven track record of leading large engineering programs, managing customer relationships, driving operational excellence, and delivering business outcomes.

Experience in SaaS platforms, software development lifecycle management, and AI-enabled delivery practices will be an added advantage.

Key Responsibilities:

Program & Delivery Management

• Own end-to-end delivery of large-scale programs and strategic initiatives.
• Lead multiple projects and cross-functional teams to ensure successful execution.
• Drive program planning, execution, governance, and delivery excellence.
• Ensure projects are delivered within scope, timelines, budget, and quality expectations.

Stakeholder Management

• Engage with customers, business leaders, delivery teams, and senior management.
• Manage communication related to project requirements, staffing, financials, contracts, and delivery commitments.
• Conduct regular governance reviews and executive status reporting.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Risk & Escalation Management

• Proactively identify program risks and dependencies.
• Develop mitigation plans and drive risk resolution.
• Manage customer and delivery escalations effectively.
• Ensure timely decision-making and issue resolution.

Agile Program Leadership:

• Lead Agile and Scrum-based delivery programs.
• Drive Agile adoption and best practices across teams.
• Facilitate program governance, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and release planning.
• Monitor delivery metrics and continuous improvement initiatives.

SDLC & Engineering Governance:

• Oversee the complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Ensure adherence to engineering standards, quality processes, and release governance.
• Collaborate with technical teams to support architecture, development, testing, and deployment activities.
• Drive operational excellence and delivery maturity.

Reporting & Operational Excellence:

• Track and publish delivery metrics, project health reports, resource utilization, and program dashboards.
• Manage financial governance, forecasting, and resource planning.
• Ensure visibility of program status, risks, and dependencies to leadership.

Technology & Innovation:

• Leverage technology and automation to improve delivery efficiency.
• Work closely with engineering teams supporting SaaS-based platforms.
• Promote adoption of AI-enabled tools and practices where appropriate.
• Support AI-driven development and deployment initiatives.

Mandatory Skills:

• Program Management
• Delivery Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Risk Management
• Agile Methodology
• Scrum Framework
• SDLC Management
• Project Governance
• Customer Management
• Escalation Management
• Resource Planning
• Delivery Excellence
• Financial Management
• Team Leadership
• Executive Reporting

Preferred Skills:

• SaaS Platform Management
• Software Development Background
• DevOps and Release Management Awareness
• Automation Initiatives
• AI Tools and AI-Assisted Delivery
• Agentic AI Awareness
• SDD (Software Defined Delivery) Exposure
• Strategic Program Governance
• Digital Transformation Programs

Required Experience:

• 18+ years of overall IT industry experience.
• 5-6+ years managing large-scale programs and strategic customer engagements.
• Proven experience leading multiple projects and distributed delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile, Scrum, and delivery governance frameworks.
• Experience in stakeholder management across customers, leadership teams, and engineering organizations.
• Experience managing risks, escalations, dependencies, and delivery challenges.
• Strong understanding of software development, deployment, and SDLC processes.
• Experience managing SaaS-based platforms is highly desirable.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and leadership skills.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Strong program leader with end-to-end ownership mindset.
• Excellent customer-facing and stakeholder management abilities.
• Proven experience managing large-scale, complex delivery programs.
• Strong decision-making and risk management skills.
• Ability to lead diverse and geographically distributed teams.
• Results-oriented leader with focus on operational excellence and customer success.
• Passion for continuous improvement, innovation, and AI-enabled delivery practices.