The posting
Job Description
At CooperVision, a business unit of CooperCompanies (Nasdaq: COO), we’re driven by a unified purpose of helping people experience life’s beautiful moments. We are connected through our shared values - dedicated, innovative, friendly, partners, and do the right thing. As a leading global manufacturer of contact lenses, we are committed to helping improve the way people see each day. Through our diverse lens portfolio, we tackle the toughest vision challenges – including astigmatism, presbyopia, and childhood myopia. We offer the most complete collection of spherical, toric, and multifocal products available, enabling us to fit 99% of all contact wearers. Learn more at www.coopervision.com.
- This position requires full-time onsite work (5 days per week) in Victor, NY
Job Summary:
The Director leads a centralized organization of Program Managers and Project Managers supporting major technology domains and systems oriented to business functions, including Commercial, Finance and HR, Operations, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, and other enterprise technology initiatives. Program and Project Managers maintain strong dotted-line relationships with their respective functional and technology leaders to ensure domain alignment, while operating within a centralized PM CoE that establishes common delivery expectations, methodologies, processes, data standards, and performance management practices.
Working closely with IT Business Relationship Management, Portfolio Management, technology leadership, and business stakeholders, the Director ensures approved initiatives are translated into well-governed, effectively managed programs and projects. The role provides leadership-level visibility into delivery health, financial performance, resource capacity, dependencies, risks, issues, and delivery outcomes. The Director also partners closely with Portfolio Management to ensure consistent and reliable project information supports cross-portfolio reporting, investment governance, prioritization, and leadership decision-making.
Responsibilities
Project & Program Delivery Governance
- Own and continuously mature the IT project and program management framework and delivery governance model.
- Establish and maintain common project and program management methodologies, standards, processes, controls, templates, and delivery expectations across IT.
- Define appropriate governance and delivery requirements based on initiative size, complexity, risk, investment level, and strategic importance.
- Establish standards for project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, change control, transition, and closure.
- Define expectations for project plans, schedules, milestones, dependencies, financials, resources, risks, issues, decisions, and status reporting.
- Ensure consistent application of delivery governance while allowing appropriate flexibility for different technology domains, delivery approaches, and project types.
- Establish project and program management quality standards and periodically assess adherence to those standards.
- Drive continuous improvement of the IT delivery management discipline through lessons learned, delivery performance analysis, and adoption of leading practices.
Delivery Execution Oversight
- Provide leadership oversight of execution across the IT project portfolio, with particular focus on complex, strategic, cross-functional, and at-risk initiatives.
- Maintain visibility into project and program delivery health across IT.
- Establish mechanisms for identifying projects that are off track or at increasing risk and ensure appropriate recovery actions are developed and executed.
- Conduct or facilitate delivery reviews for strategic, complex, high-risk, or materially challenged programs.
- Ensure appropriate management and escalation of significant schedule, scope, financial, resource, dependency, and delivery risks.
- Identify systemic delivery issues and work with technology and business leadership to address underlying causes.
- Promote fact-based and transparent reporting of project health, including early identification of unfavorable trends.
- Provide leadership with a consolidated view of execution performance and significant delivery concerns requiring intervention or decision.
Program & Project Management Resources
- Lead and develop the centralized IT Program and Project Management organization.
- Provide leadership, coaching, development, and performance management for Program Managers and the broader Project Management organization.
- Establish clear role expectations, competencies, career paths, and performance standards for Program Managers and Project Managers.
- Align Program Managers to major functional and technology domains while maintaining centralized organizational accountability within the PM CoE.
- Partner with functional and technology leaders to ensure assigned Program and Project Managers understand business priorities, domain requirements, and stakeholder expectations.
- Balance PM resources across initiatives based on project complexity, demand, capacity, skills, and business priorities.
- Develop organizational capability through coaching, training, mentoring, professional development, and standardized practices.
- Foster a delivery culture centered on accountability, transparency, proactive risk management, collaboration, and measurable outcomes.
- Assess PM capability needs and determine appropriate use of internal employees, external resources, and delivery partners.
Financial Tracking & Delivery Controls
- Establish consistent project financial management disciplines in partnership with Portfolio Management, IT Finance, and project leadership.
- Establish expectations and processes for project-level financial planning, tracking, forecasting, and variance management.
- Ensure Program and Project Managers maintain timely and accurate project financial information.
- Monitor significant budget variances and ensure appropriate corrective actions or escalations are initiated.
- Promote consistent management of project estimates, actual expenditures, forecasts, commitments, and approved funding changes.
- Partner with Portfolio Management and Finance to ensure project-level financial information supports portfolio-level investment reporting and decision-making.
Resource Capacity Visibility
- Provide visibility into project delivery resource demand, capacity constraints, and delivery impacts.
- Establish consistent practices for capturing and maintaining project resource requirements and forecasts.
- Partner with technology leaders, functional leaders, and Portfolio Management to identify current and emerging resource constraints.
- Assess the delivery implications of resource capacity issues and competing project demands.
- Highlight resource conflicts and capacity constraints that could materially impact approved project commitments.
- Support scenario and prioritization discussions by providing reliable information regarding delivery capacity and resource requirements.
- Ensure Program and Project Managers appropriately maintain resource information within established portfolio and project management tools.
Delivery Risk & Issue Management
- Own the framework and discipline for managing project and program delivery risks and issues.
- Establish common standards for identifying, assessing, documenting, mitigating, escalating, and reporting project risks and issues.
- Ensure material risks, issues, interdependencies, and decisions are visible at the appropriate levels of governance.
- Monitor risk trends across programs and projects and identify systemic or cross-portfolio delivery risks.
- Ensure appropriate escalation and executive visibility for risks and issues that exceed established thresholds.
- Facilitate intervention and recovery planning for critically challenged programs where appropriate.
- Partner with Portfolio Management to ensure significant project risks and issues are accurately reflected in portfolio reporting.
Benefits Tracking & Outcome Reporting
- Establish the project management discipline necessary to document and report expected benefits without transferring accountability for business benefit realization to IT.
- Ensure expected business benefits and outcomes are documented during project initiation and planning.
- Partner with business sponsors, BRMs, and Portfolio Management to establish measurable success criteria and benefit metrics.
- Ensure projects establish an appropriate baseline for measuring intended outcomes.
- Incorporate benefit measures and expected outcomes into project reporting and closure processes.
- Support post-implementation benefit reporting where established metrics and data are available.
- Maintain visibility into stated versus reported benefits for applicable initiatives.
Portfolio Management & Reporting Partnership
- Partner closely with Portfolio Management to ensure project and program information is complete, timely, accurate, and consistent.
- Establish clear expectations for Program and Project Managers regarding data maintenance within Planview and other applicable project and portfolio management tools.
- Ensure delivery teams comply with required portfolio reporting cycles and data standards.
- Work with Portfolio Management to improve executive reporting, portfolio visibility, and the quality of information used for decision-making.
- Support consistent definitions and reporting standards for project health, milestones, financials, resources, risks, issues, and delivery outcomes.
- Address recurring project data quality or governance issues within the PM organization.
- Provide delivery expertise into portfolio planning, sequencing, prioritization, and scenario discussions.
Leadership & Organizational Responsibilities
- Serve as a senior leader for the project and program management profession within IT.
- Build strong partnerships across Business Relationship Management, Portfolio Management, IT leadership, Finance, and business functions.
- Represent project and program delivery in IT leadership forums and governance bodies.
- Create an environment in which Project and Program Managers can surface delivery concerns objectively and transparently.
- Establish clear accountability between the centralized PM CoE and functional dotted-line leadership.
- Influence senior stakeholders across organizational boundaries to resolve delivery impediments and improve execution.
- Champion disciplined delivery without creating unnecessary administrative burden or process complexity.
Qualifications
Experience:
Required
- 10+ years of progressive experience in project management, program management, PMO, technology delivery, or related disciplines.
- 5+ years of leadership experience managing Project Managers, Program Managers, or comparable delivery professionals.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional technology programs in a large or matrixed organization.
- Strong knowledge of project and program management methodologies, governance, financial management, resource planning, risk management, and executive reporting.
- Demonstrated ability to establish standards while adapting delivery approaches to different project types and business needs.
- Experience working with senior business and technology executives.
- Strong leadership, influencing, communication, and organizational change capabilities
Preferred
- Experience establishing, leading, or transforming a Project Management Office or Project Management Center of Excellence.
- Experience with Planview or comparable enterprise portfolio and project management platforms.
- Experience operating in environments utilizing multiple delivery methodologies, including predictive, Agile, hybrid, and product-oriented approaches.
- PMP, PgMP, Agile, or other relevant professional certifications.
- Experience within complex global or multi-business-unit organizations.
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree Required (Information Technology, Business, Project Management, or a related discipline), or equivalent relevant experience.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Enterprise Leadership: Operates beyond individual programs or functions and makes decisions based on overall IT and business priorities.
- Delivery Excellence: Creates an environment of disciplined planning, transparent reporting, proactive management, and reliable execution.
- People Leadership: Builds a strong project management organization through coaching, development, accountability, and talent management.
- Executive Communication: Translates complex program conditions into concise, decision-oriented information for senior leadership.
- Influence Without Direct Authority: Effectively navigates a matrixed environment in which delivery resources, business stakeholders, and technology leaders have shared accountabilities.
- Risk-Based Judgment: Differentiates normal delivery challenges from risks requiring leadership intervention and directs attention accordingly.
- Continuous Improvement: Uses delivery results, metrics, lessons learned, and stakeholder feedback to improve organizational delivery capability.
Measures of Success
- Predictability of delivery against approved scope, milestones, schedule, and budget
- Timeliness and accuracy of project status and Planview information
- Percentage of projects operating in accordance with established PM CoE governance standards
- Effectiveness and timeliness of delivery risk escalation and remediation
- Accuracy of project financial forecasts
- Visibility and management of project resource constraints
- Reduction in recurring systemic delivery issues
- Stakeholder satisfaction with Program and Project Management services
- Development, retention, and effectiveness of Program and Project Management talent
- Percentage of applicable projects with documented business outcomes and measurable benefit criteria
Work Environment:
- List all the environmental factors noteworthy of the Job. Some examples may include:
- Occasionally lift to 35 Kilograms
- Prolonged sitting in front of a computer
- Potential exposure to caustic chemicals
For U.S. locations that require disclosure of compensation, the starting base pay for this role is between $154,903 and $238,312 per year and may include cost of living adjustments. The actual base pay includes many factors and is subject to change and modification in the future. This position may also be eligible for other types of compensation and benefits.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.
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