Director of Program Management
The Group: The Products group is the home of manufacturing and innovation at Morningstar. The individuals in this group transform our high-quality data, independent research, and technological expertise into well-designed products that delight our clients. The group’s product management, product development, and service teams collaborate with our Client Solutions group to provide clients with relevant products and bundled solutions.
The Role: We seek an enthusiastic, results-driven candidate to serve as the Director of Program Management within the Product Success group to lead the execution of key strategic programs. This person will work with internal partners in Product Management, Technology, Marketing & Communications, Customer Success, Support, Service, and Sales to drive forward large and complex initiatives. This role will work on highly visible, complex projects across the software business and beyond, and is responsible for accelerating program delivery.
An ideal candidate has a strong background in both software delivery and process improvement and is experienced in delivering highly complex strategic projects across cross-functional teams using hybrid project management practices. Experience planning and leading complex projects across multiple teams, including the oversight of multiple project plans and key metrics, as well as the ability to work in a fast-paced technical environment is critical. The person in this role must be able to identify, navigate and ultimately reduce risk throughout the program in order to deliver high value programs on time with high impact. The ability to communicate clearly at all levels, form strong relationships with stakeholders and proactively identify and manage risks is essential in this role.
This position is located in our Chicago office.
Responsibilities
- Lead Program Management for large-scale product initiatives.
- Plan and schedule project goals, milestones, and deliverables across internal stakeholders to ensure that project tasks are completed on schedule with high quality.
- Communicate regular updates across all stakeholder groups.
- Manage dependencies between multiple development teams.
- Coach teams to identify and solve project issues effectively. Lead efforts to manage and support conflict resolution across priorities and squads.
- Develop key performance indicators and lead monthly program review with business stakeholders to report on and facilitate conversations regarding KPI status, progress, resources, and risks.
- Establish and maintain trusted advisor relationships with product managers, technology teams, and stakeholders.
- Ensure that the program embraces Agile methodology and other relevant project/program management best practices and toolkits (SAFe, Lean, etc).
Qualifications
- Proven track record as a senior project or program manager
- 7+ years of experience in project and/or program management experience
- Interest in and understanding of the investment industry
- Proven ability to lead a cross-functional team
- Ability to manage differing opinions while contributing consistently and positively in a dynamic, high-paced, and often unpredictable work environment
- Desire to work in a collaborative environment
- Well-versed in Agile methodology
- Bachelor's degree
- Project/Program Management Professional certification is a plus
- Experience leading data, research, regulatory or software product development is a plus