Program Manager

Please note: The candidate must be open to work in Global hoursProject Manager - Product LaunchPosition Responsibilities :Manages the cross-organizational readiness project for a release from concept to success measurement after General Availability.Partners with Product Development Project Manager to ensure Software Development Lifecycle project is on track and monitors and evaluates risks to the release schedule driven by SDLC project.Assembles the cross-functional release team, works with the team to establish measureable goals for the release, and establishes a controlled release schedule that includes Beta, Limited Availability, and General Availability releases, an Early Adopters Program, and all cross-functional readiness activities.Leads the release team through the execution of the Release Plan ensuring the project is on schedule, on budget, and achieving the defined goals.Identifies, mitigates, prioritizes, manages and drives resolution of project issues, constraints, dependencies and risks. Proactively identifies risk areas and critical items that need to be done to keep project on track.Facilitates project status meetings, captures meeting minutes, reports weekly status to executives, and presents to Executive Steering Committee on a regular basis.Creates and manages the overall release readiness project planManages project changes to schedule, budget, and scope through change control processCoordinates cross-org team, proactively ensuring that teams are "in sync" in terms of communication, schedules, issues, etc.Champion and a key contributor of continuous improvement of project management and release readiness process best practices, using innovative ideas to increase effectiveness of organization.Key Requirements of the Successful Candidate:The Product Launch Project Manager position is a very hands on project manager - this is NOT an administrative project management positionDeltek is a fast-paced environment; the ability to multitask on different projects concurrently and react deftly to movements in the business is criticalThe PM also serves as leader for the team; a strong positive attitude and the ability to motivate both junior and senior team members is importantA strong communicator, ability to pull out and summarize information, tailor communication style and content for executives, comfortable and confident presenting to and building relationships with executives.Driven, proactive and a do-erHave an understanding of the "bigger picture". Be able to conceptualize where and how the project fits into the company's mission. Must be able to establish project goals, validate and confirm acceptance, challenge stakeholders, and hold stakeholders accountable.Ability to evaluate the project's health, understanding the issues and risks and create a plan to mitigate the risks; not just a tracker of issues, but a resolver.Ability to facilitate resolution of software product issues. Capable of interpreting some technical information and present/speak the information to different audiences (business owner, etc.), conveying the message in a way the audience can understand.Understanding of process, potential issues, consequences of changes during Product LifecyclePossesses confidence with navigating an escalation processQualifications :8-10 + years experience in project management; of which at least 2 years in software product lifecycle managementProven project management in the software industry using project management best practices.B.S., Computer Science, Business Administration or equivalent experience.Proven experience managing projects with remote teamsProduct Launch/Release Readiness/GA process experience. Working with cross functional teams to ensure a software product and the organizations are ready to release the product to the market (desired)Experience working with a Product Marketing and/or Product Management organization (desired)Experience working in a PMO (desired) PRB