The Director, IT Program Management is a hands-on working leader responsible for establishing, enforcing, and continuously maturing portfolio and program governance to ensure technology initiatives are prioritized, funded, and delivered on time, within scope, and aligned to measurable business outcomes.
This role leads a high-performing team of Project and Program Managers and serves as a trusted partner to IT and business executives. The Director ensures delivery discipline through robust governance, transparent reporting, benefits realization, and continuous improvement across an active portfolio.
This role will work a Hybrid work arrangement with 3 days in office each week and report to an Acosta Office in either Lewisville, TX; Jacksonville, FL; Mississauga, Ontario (Canada).
- Portfolio Management & Prioritization
- Lead portfolio intake, quarterly prioritization, and demand management processes across technology initiatives.
- Facilitate business cases, capacity planning, dependency management, and portfolio-level risk and issue escalation.
- Oversee scope, schedule, budget, and quality across programs; conduct health checks, phase-gate reviews, and corrective action planning.
- Champion lessons learned and continuous improvement to increase predictability and delivery performance.
- PMO Governance & Standards
- Define, maintain, and continuously evolve PMO policies, stage-gate requirements, templates, and change control standards.
- Ensure compliance through audits, reviews, and executive governance forums.
- Partner closely with the Enterprise PMO to align governance models, portfolio frameworks, and common toolsets while incorporating best practices and shared standards across the organization.
- People Leadership & Capability Building
- Lead, coach, and develop up to 10 Project and Program Managers across multiple geographies (U.S. and Canada).
- Foster a culture of accountability, empowerment, and continuous learning.
- Establish clear role expectations, career paths, and training plans; build communities of practice focused on predictable delivery and outcomes.
- Financial Management & Benefits Realization
- Serve as a steward of portfolio financial performance, including forecasting, actuals, variance tracking, and capitalization.
- Ensure initiatives are prioritized based on ROI and EBITDA impact.
- Track and report on value delivery and benefits realization post-implementation.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting
- Deliver clear, concise portfolio reporting to senior leaders through dashboards and executive readouts.
- Communicate status, risks, trade-offs, and decisions in business-focused, non-technical language.
- Tools & Methods Enablement
- Optimize PPM tools and reporting capabilities (e.g., Microsoft Project Operations, Azure DevOps, Jira, ServiceNow, Power BI).
- Drive standardization of metrics including schedule performance, burn rate, risk exposure, and benefit attainment.
- Lead the transition away from legacy or misaligned tools and reduce manual reporting.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field.
- 7 or more years of progressive experience in project, program, and portfolio management.
- Prior experience leading a PMO or managing Project/Program Managers at scale.
- Demonstrated success implementing governance frameworks, portfolio prioritization, and benefits realization practices.
- Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, capitalization, and ROI tracking.
- Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority.
- Advanced experience with PPM tools, KPI design, and executive dashboarding.
- Hands-on experience operating in both Agile and traditional (hybrid) delivery models.
Preferred
- PMP, SAFe/Agile, Scrum, ITIL, or similar certifications.
- Experience leading cross-functional, multi-vendor technology initiatives
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Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field
- 7+ years progressive experience in project, program, and portfolio management
- Prior experience leading a PMO or managing Project/Program Managers at scale
- Proven success implementing governance frameworks, portfolio prioritization, and benefits realization
- Strong financial acumen including budgeting, forecasting, capitalization, and ROI tracking
- Ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority
- Advanced experience with PPM tools, KPI design, and executive dashboarding
- Hands-on experience operating in both Agile and traditional (hybrid) delivery models
- Willingness to work hybrid (3 days in office weekly) and report to an Acosta office in Lewisville TX, Jacksonville FL, or Mississauga ON
- PMP, SAFe/Agile, Scrum, ITIL or similar certifications
- Experience leading cross-functional, multi-vendor technology initiatives
What We Do
Acosta is an integrated sales and marketing services provider that enables consumer packaged goods brands and retailers to win in the modern marketplace by delivering progressive solutions and exceptional service. With more than 90 years of experience, Acosta understands evolving consumer needs and helps its clients and customers stay a step ahead, fueling their accelerated performance. For more information, please visit www.acosta.com.
