The posting
Together we make breakthroughs possible.
At OCLC, we build technology with a purpose: to connect libraries and make knowledge accessible worldwide, because we believe that what is known must be shared. Our teams work with complex global datasets, AI and machine learning, hybrid cloud solutions, and other technologies that connect people and organizations to the information they need. We value the power of unique perspectives and experiences to unlock innovation. At OCLC, your ideas matter, whether you have two years of experience or 20. You’ll learn, create, and problem-solve with technologists, product developers, librarians, researchers, marketing pros, and support teams around the world.
Why join OCLC?
OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs. We recognize and reward people and results with a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.
- We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs.
- Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room
- Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC
- Health and wellness events
- Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools
- Paid parental leave and adoption assistance
- Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility
- Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships
Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact.
The job details are as follows:
The Senior Manager, Program Delivery leads a team of Senior Delivery Managers and Delivery Managers and is accountable for the successful delivery of a portfolio of strategic projects and large-scale programs. This role combines people leadership with portfolio oversight: building and developing a high-performing delivery team, partnering with senior leadership to align delivery with OCLC's strategic goals, and setting the standards, practices, and governance that drive delivery excellence across the organization. The role requires advanced program and portfolio management expertise, strong executive presence, and the ability to balance strategic direction with hands-on support for complex delivery challenges.
Responsibilities
People Leadership
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of Senior Delivery Managers and Delivery Managers, including hiring, onboarding, goal setting, performance management, and career development.
- Assign delivery managers to programs and projects based on strategic priority, complexity, and individual strengths, balancing workload and capacity across the team.
- Conduct regular one-on-ones, give ongoing feedback, and create growth opportunities that build delivery expertise and leadership capability.
- Foster a collaborative, high-trust team culture that values accountability, transparency, and continuous learning.
- Serve as the escalation point for delivery managers on complex risks, issues, conflicts, and decisions.
Portfolio and Program Oversight
- Oversee delivery across a portfolio of projects and programs of significant strategic importance to OCLC, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and priorities.
- Partner with product, engineering, and senior leadership to translate strategy into executable roadmaps, delivery plans, and investment decisions.
- Provide portfolio-level visibility through executive dashboards, status reporting, and forecasts covering progress, risks, dependencies, and benefits realization.
- Manage cross-portfolio dependencies, resource constraints, and competing priorities, making or recommending tradeoffs as needed.
- Ensure program-level risk registers, mitigation plans, and early risk-sensing practices are in place and acted on across the team's portfolio.
- Oversee portfolio budgets, financial forecasting, external spend, and resource utilization, and report on financial performance to leadership.
- Directly lead select high-visibility or high-risk programs as needed.
Delivery Practice and Continuous Improvement
- Define, standardize, and evolve delivery management practices, governance, templates, and tooling across the Delivery Management team.
- Streamline work intake, planning, prioritization, and reporting processes to improve predictability and efficiency.
- Establish delivery metrics and KPIs, and use them to drive continuous improvement at the team and portfolio levels.
- Lead post-implementation reviews and lessons learned programs, and make sure insights are captured, shared, and applied.
- Champion the adoption of AI tools and automation to improve delivery efficiency, decision-making, and stakeholder communication.
- Lead innovation in delivery and management practices to uplift the Delivery Management profession at OCLC.
- Represent Delivery Management in leadership forums and build trust in the team's role and value across the organization.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or higher in a technical or business discipline (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering, Business).
- 8–10+ years of program and project management experience, including 8+ years working with software development teams.
- 3+ years of people leadership experience, including direct management of project, program, or delivery managers.
- Proven track record of leading large-scale, cross-functional programs and portfolios on tight deadlines.
- 5+ years of Agile implementation experience, including coaching at the team and program levels.
- Broad technical breadth and depth, including familiarity with mobile technology, web services, and back-end application infrastructure.
- Experience with strategic planning, portfolio management, budgeting, and financial forecasting.
- Deep experience with Lean and Agile principles, scaled Agile practices, and process improvement.
- Demonstrated experience leveraging AI tools to improve delivery efficiency, support data-driven decision-making, automate routine tasks, and enhance stakeholder communication and reporting.
- PMP, PgMP, SAFe, or similar certification preferred.
Skills
- Strong people leadership, with a passion for coaching, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
- Strategic vision and ability to align programs and portfolios with organizational goals.
- Executive presence, with excellent communication, presentation, and influencing skills at all levels of the organization.
- Exceptional problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, including making tradeoffs with incomplete information.
- Ability to manage complexity and interdependencies across multiple programs and teams.
- Ability to engage in healthy conflict and drive consensus so the best solutions prevail.
- Strong business acumen and ability to build rapport and trust quickly.
- Demonstrated ability to understand and discuss technical concepts, manage tradeoffs, and evaluate new ideas.
- Thought leadership in delivery governance, work intake, planning, and reporting processes.
- Ability to lead change in processes, policies, procedures, training, and tooling.
- Highly organized, with the ability to prioritize well, communicate clearly, and drive focus and excellence.
- Experience with Jira, portfolio management tools, dashboards, and reporting systems.
Working Conditions: Normal office environment.
ADA/EAA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.
