The Program Manager is central to the daily operations of NPR Digital Media, a group whose mission is to conceive, design, develop and deliver a portfolio of experiences that help NPR grow, know, engage and activate audiences across platforms ranging from the web to mobile to smart speakers, while also working closely with internal and external stakeholders to identify and explore new directions for the renewal of public radio’s value proposition to the next generation of its audience.
The PM will be responsible for driving the end-to-end delivery of a suite of world-class technology solutions by keeping all initiatives on time, within scope and ensuring that they all have the right resources to be successful. The role will lead a small team of project managers / scrum masters in crafting project milestones and release schedules for the Digital Media efforts, while continuously innovating and collaborating with others at NPR to identify and implement best-in-class methodologies for cultivating innovation and aligning process with outcomes.
- Reports to the Director, Digital Strategy & Operations, and coordinates with all Digital Media leaders (product, design, technology) to drive alignment on program scope, release plans and securing cross-functional support.
- Owns the release planning process across all Digital Media products and services.
- Shepherds projects through their lifecycle and manages their path to success, including clear goal setting, continuous monitoring and best-in-class execution / timely delivery.
- Manages processes for high-level project planning, including crafting milestones, tasks and schedules, finance projection and reconciliation, and resource management.
- Aggressively removes obstacles that slow down or prevent scrum teams from delivering on objectives and key results.
- Manages and continually assesses activities to ensure that projects and programs remain in alignment with organizational goals and strategy.
- Ensures clarity of communication and understanding of strategic goals and programmatic dependencies among project teams.
- Regularly provides visibility to program status including key decisions, dependencies, issues, risks and metrics to all stakeholders and team members.
- Leads and mentors a team of four project managers / scrum masters.
- Understands technical subjects and technologies relevant to the programs.
- Contributes to a culture of collaboration and innovation across all disciplines.
- Leadership skills: Demonstrated success coaching and mentoring small team of project managers / scrum masters
- Excellent customer experience intuition: Service-oriented mindset and the ability to always put the audience and primary users first.
- Strong analytical and quantitative skills: Thorough facility with data-driven decision making and ongoing operational analysis.
- Implementation proficiency: Proven ability to drive implementation in a culture of ownership, delivery and innovation
- Excellent communication skills: Ability to quickly establish credibility and rapport with leadership and technical and non-digital team members alike
- Technical aptitude: Ability to understand and discuss technical concepts, schedule tradeoffs and new opportunities with team members.
- Passion for public media’s digital future.
Qualifications:
- 8+ years of proven enterprise, technical program management experience.
- Experience building, motivating and leading highly productive teams with a positive attitude and contagious enthusiasm.
- Thorough grounding in agile methodologies and principles of product development.
- Experience with Portfolio Management.
- Position is based in NPR’s Washington, DC, headquarters.
Bonus Points:
- Thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced, environment where you must take on multiple responsibilities and do what it takes to get things done.
- Experience with content management systems, ad server operations and business intelligence tools.
- Fluency with the challenges facing journalism organizations in the digital media space.
- Experience working within a network or federated system.