Senior Program Manager

Overview

Engages with customer stakeholders to develop partnerships, leveraging broad technical expertise. Drives customer satisfaction by engaging with customers stakeholders in a positive manner, reviewing and analyzing customer feedback, and leveraging trusted relationships with key internal resources to act as the voice of the customer. Adheres to project compliance standards and requirements of the contract and accommodates customer compliance standards. Drives project initiation for projects of medium complexity by delivering a workstream within a larger project/program. Facilitates contracting process for partner resources by briefing partners, coordinating partner candidate interviews, and identifying and acclimating partner resources to the team. Develops detailed project management plan to drive predictable delivery for projects of medium complexity or supports senior colleagues in projects of high complexity. Provides review of defined metrics, proactively monitors and tracks risks, ensures timely completion and quality of deliverables, and manages stakeholder communications. Drives timely project closure by ensuring completion of project sign off tasks. Applies advanced knowledge across project management principle areas, contributes at local team-wide level to share knowledge and support others, serves as a mentor colleagues to grow identified skill gaps, and participates in cross-border mentoring and peer alignment to share lessons learned on challenging projects.

Responsibilities

Account Delivery Management

• Drives and maintains obligations to customer across the delivery lifecycle including envisioning, solution development, delivery planning, cloud consumption and usage, delivery management while ensuring adherence to security best practices in partnership with Solution Area SMEs. Ensures that customer-required or market-required security certifications are active. Leads or participates in steering committee meetings with strategic customers to discuss progress toward delivery success.
• Contributes to consumption activities, through others (e.g., Customer Success resources), for customers by identifying blockers to consumption goals and enabling customers, through internal teams, to get the full value of their purchases. Holds accountability for project delivery forecast.
• Supports relationships with key stakeholders in the customer portfolio to ensure service delivery is on track and issues are being anticipated, identified, and managed. Communicates current view of delivery to customer stakeholders, as appropriate.
• Collaborates with Sales to support contract setup, signature, compliance, and execution from deal approvals to invoicing and closure. Manages areas of fiscal responsibility within project portfolio, staying within budget while driving engagement profitability and risk management.

Business Growth

• Demonstrates accountability for the financial health of a project or program (e.g., revenue attainment, accurate forecasting, cost management, and utilization, skills, and capacity planning). Identifies opportunities to accelerate and drive consumption and delivery. Owns and drives backlog risk management. Drives incremental business on top of existing projects and programs through next step proposals, conducts customer discussions related to next stage proposal (NSP) and other opportunities. Engages in the pursuit cycle to ensure deals are structured appropriately. Supports and contributes to rhythm of business (ROB) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) forecasting.
• Looks for or creates opportunities to maximize timely cloud consumption through current deliveries. Identifies new opportunities with customers and facilitates follow up conversations with customers on Consumption both strategically and operational, and to accelerate delivery or prevent delivery delays.

Closure

• Applies advanced knowledge across project management principle areas to execution and delivery, contributes at local team-wide level to share knowledge and support others, serves as a mentor to less experienced colleagues to grow identified skill gaps, and participates in cross-border mentoring and peer alignment to share lessons learned on challenging projects.
• Drives timely project closure by ensuring completion of project sign off tasks (e.g., system closeout updates, deletion of customer data, Deliverable Acceptance Form). Drives incremental process improvement by reflecting on and sharing lessons learned across teams, creating and suggesting improvements to intellectual property (IP), providing feedback to managers on team member performance, and conducting closeout interviews with team members.

Contracting

• Facilitates contracting process for customer and partner resources (e.g., contractors, vendors) by briefing partners, coordinating partner candidate interviews, and identifying and acclimating partner resources to the team. Supports negotiation and structuring of fixed-fee subcontractor contracts with oversight from senior colleagues. Monitors and initiates Amendments, Delivery Acceptance, Proof of Delivery, and Invoicing processes. Reviews contracts according to security and data governance standards.

Initiation

• Balances needs across projects in challenging situations (e.g., scarce technical resources), with support from senior colleagues as needed, and collaborates with other groups (e.g., resource managers, Global Delivery Center) on integrated planning and organization of projects.
• Drives project initiation for projects of medium complexity (e.g., multiple offerings, and/or supports projects of high complexity (e.g., tailored offerings, high visibility, high impact, market making) by delivering a workstream within a larger project/program, by driving commitment of delivery resources, assigning resources, assisting in sourcing and qualifying partner resources, and creating work breakdown structures (WBSs) with delivery team.

Intellectual Property (IP)

• Researches and proactively shares intellectual property (IP) and provides recommendations for improvement including submitting new IP. Holds others accountable for reusing appropriate IP and collective knowledge by enforcing use of processes and artifacts with team members.

Monitoring and Controlling

• Orchestrates and oversees a broad range of project metrics on midsize to large projects with high visibility (e.g., Vice President-level). Proactively ensures adherence to key performance indicators (KPIs) and provides strategic direction to drive success throughout project lifecycle.
• Discusses and confirms Microsoft change control processes at kickoff with customer. Anticipates changes and proactively addresses by probing to ensure change can happen smoothly early in the process. Tests process before initiating formal change.
• Ensures timely completion and quality of deliverables (e.g., documents) and tracking of agreed upon metrics for projects of standard complexity by applying quality management techniques (e.g., benchmarking, interviews) for collecting data. Uses analyses to identify solutions to systemic issues.
• Proactively manages risks (including security risks) and issues within projects of standard complexity, leveraging technical knowledge and previous experience to evaluate risks, perform qualitative analyses (e.g., probability, impact, urgency), create risk management plans, establish processes, and work with cross-functional groups and leaders to mitigate identified risks. Contributes to recovery efforts and ensures tools are updated. Manages issue closure as a high priority. Ensures that the mandatory Information Security Risk Assessment (ISRA) is completed during project initiation, is regularly reviewed, and is signed off by accredited InfoSec Delivery Compliance Leads during delivery. Reports Security and Data Compliance breaches in a timely manner (using ReportItNow and other pertinent customer reporting outlets as applicable), informing both internal and external stakeholders.
• Manages stakeholder communications on project health, issues, and financial performance for mid-size to large deals throughout entire project lifecycle, tailoring communications to the audience. Tracks and maintains customer deliverables.
• Manages finances for projects with mid-size to large scopes and budgets by balancing funding and resources across workstreams, performing analyses, and leveraging cost management experience and expertise. Aims to reduce cost and improve delivery margin without impact to quality or customer experience and understands impact of decisions on the broader business (e.g., profits and losses [P&L], accrual-based accounting).

Planning

• Develops detailed project management plan to drive predictable delivery for projects of medium complexity or supports senior colleagues in projects of high complexity, leveraging existing materials and experience to drive scope, resources, and Microsoft project schedule in alignment and collaboration with customer plan. Ensures use of baselining, resource load balancing, and application of work effort, dependency management, contingency planning, and utilization of software (e.g., Timeline).
• Establishes clear expectations and accountabilities (e.g., reconfirm scope, Responsible-Accountable-Consulted-Informed matrix) with all project team members (e.g., consultants) and stakeholders for teams of medium complexity by leading internal and external kick-off meetings (e.g., sales to delivery handoff, formal kick-off meetings). Integrates security-first mindset into expectations for self and others. Proactively engages broad set of internal and external stakeholders, including those who are impacted by project scope/outcome, but not directly involved (e.g., Enterprise Operating Unit, India Global Delivery, customer stakeholders) and engages subject matter experts in holistic planning activities, including team validation.

Presales

• Contributes to pre-sales for medium-impact projects by articulating the business value proposition associated with the project/change and considering associated complexities and risks to ensure feasibility of commercial offer. Participates in review of proposed scope and assists in developing Statement of Work (SOW), Work Breakdown Structures (WBSs), estimates, preliminary risk assessments, etc. Ensures that ISD consulting deal appropriately includes Delivery Compliance, Privacy & Security (DCPS) package to fund Secure by Default activities.

Relationship Development

• Engages with customer stakeholders to develop partnerships, leveraging broad technical expertise. Manages escalations or ensures resolution of escalations with customer stakeholders through tailored corrective action (e.g., education) and overcomes ambiguous situations as needed. Learns to leverage project sponsors and internal network to influence stakeholders and resolve situations.
• Drives customer satisfaction by engaging with customers stakeholders in a positive manner, reviewing and analyzing customer feedback, and leveraging trusted relationships with key internal resources to act as the voice of the customer. Manages expectations with political sensitivity by leading Success Expectation discussions with customer, and documenting, executing, and monitoring through customer and partner experience (CPE).
• Adheres to project compliance standards (e.g., confidentiality, privacy, security) and requirements of the contract and accommodates customer compliance standards, including managing compliance-related complexities (e.g., high sensitivity to confidentiality). Champions compliance by contributing to knowledge sharing across teams to build compliance capability of others.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum qualifications

Consulting Project Management IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $101,800 - $193,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $126,100 - $207,600 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

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Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.