Program Manager - HOS

Job Description
Overview
We are seeking an experienced and strategic Head of Section to lead software development, system integration, and digital transformation programs. The role is responsible for driving delivery excellence, project governance, SDLC execution, stakeholder management, business analysis governance, and continuous improvement across multiple programs and teams.
The ideal candidate will have 18-20 years of IT experience with strong expertise in software delivery, program management, customer engagement, and leadership of cross-functional teams.
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Responsibilities

Roles & Responsibilities
PM & BA Team Leadership
• Lead, mentor, and manage Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Scrum Masters while establishing delivery standards, governance frameworks, and best practices across programs.
• Drive accountability, collaboration, capability development, and continuous improvement to ensure consistent project execution and delivery excellence.
Project Governance & Delivery Oversight
• Review and approve project plans, estimates, timelines, resource plans, risk registers, and delivery strategies while governing scope, WBS/project plans, schedules, milestones, dependencies, monitoring, and project closure activities.
• Monitor project health across schedule, cost, scope, quality, customer satisfaction, budgets, billing milestones, and change requests, and lead recovery plans for at-risk projects.
Software Development & SDLC Governance
• Govern all phases of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), including requirements, design, development, testing, deployment, production support, and system integration activities.
• Provide technology leadership and ensure adherence to architecture standards, security practices, quality processes, acceptance criteria, defect management, and quality gates.
Program & Project Management
• Act as Program Manager for strategic initiatives and manage cross-functional teams comprising Technical Leads, Development, QA, DevOps, and vendor teams.
• Drive delivery roadmaps, executive reporting, dependency management, governance reviews, go-live readiness, hypercare support, stabilization, and transition to operations.
Business Analysis Excellence
• Review and approve business requirements, functional specifications, user stories, use cases, solution documents, and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure effective translation of business requirements into scalable technology solutions aligned with business objectives.
Client & Stakeholder Management
• Act as the primary escalation point for project and delivery-related issues and maintain strong relationships with customers, business stakeholders, IT stakeholders, vendors, and leadership teams.
• Lead governance meetings, steering committee reviews, customer communications, stakeholder alignment, and expectation management activities.
Presales & Delivery Support
• Support solutioning, effort estimation, project planning, feasibility assessments, delivery strategy definition, and risk evaluations.
• Contribute to RFPs, proposals, customer presentations, and business development opportunities.
Risk, Dependency & Change Management
• Drive RAID management across programs, including risk identification, mitigation planning, issue resolution, dependency tracking, and escalation management.
• Govern change control, scope management, and corrective actions to minimize project risks and delivery impacts.
Process, Metrics & Continuous Improvement
• Define and monitor project and program KPIs through governance dashboards, executive reporting, and performance reviews.
• Drive process optimization, automation initiatives, AI adoption, operational excellence, and digital transformation programs.

Requirements

Skills Required
• Proven experience in Project Management, Program Governance, and Delivery Leadership.
• Strong knowledge of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Enterprise Application Delivery, Web Development, and System Integration (SI) Projects.
• Strong understanding of Software Architecture, APIs, Cloud Platforms, Databases, DevOps, and CI/CD practices.
• Experience in Project Planning & Execution, Commercial Governance, SOW Management, Budget Control, Billing Milestones, and Change Request Management.
• Strong leadership, strategic planning, decision-making, negotiation, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.
• Good understanding of Agile, Scrum, Hybrid, and Waterfall delivery methodologies.
• Exposure to AI tools, automation initiatives, and digital transformation programs is an added advantage.
• Proficiency in Jira, Asana, Confluence, MS Project, MS Office, SharePoint, and collaboration tools.
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Experience
• 18-20 years of overall IT industry experience.
• 8+ years of Project/Program Management and Delivery Leadership experience.
• Proven track record in managing large-scale Software Development, Enterprise Application, System Integration, and Digital Transformation programs.
• Experience leading geographically distributed teams and managing strategic customer engagements.
Mandatory
• PMP Certification