Director, Program Management

Company: Vivint
Location: Lehi
Posted on: April 1, 2021

Job Description:

Vivint Smart Home is aware of and addressing the rapidly evolving situation with the COVID-19 virus. We want you to know that we are monitoring the virus and impact closely and taking actions to keep our workplace healthy and minimize disruptions to our customers. Now more than ever we appreciate the importance of coming together to protect families and their homes. Some of these measures that relate to candidates include virtual interviews, and work-from-home opportunities. We value you as a candidate and hope you and your families stay healthy and appreciate your support in keeping our global community safe during these unprecedented times. Thank you. The Program Management Lead will work with a high performing program team within Vivint SmartHome's Innovation group as they look to deliver innovative and leading services via technology (incl software, hardware, analytics and strategic partnerships). They will work across operational and product/engineering groups to deliver outcomes while contributing to improving the way we work together. The Program Management Lead supports the Vertical Lead, being their go-to partner for all items relating to program delivery and management/risk or product delivery and execution. They will line manage other program managers in the vertical as well as represent them in leadership forums as appropriate. They will also have overall responsibility for the portfolio of programs within each vertical and ensure related objectives and deliverables are met by the team. It is expected that the Program Management Lead spend approx.. two thirds of their time working directly on programs in the vertical either as a program manager in their own right or direct support of the other program managers for escalations or more complex assignments. The remaining one third would be split between team leadership and leading out approved cross-business improvement initiatives with appropriate sponsorship. The Program Management Lead will also support the respective vertical by facilitating strategic planning and budgeting for programs within the vertical working closely with product, design, ux and engineering on the what needs to be delivered and what is required to deliver it (incl how). The Program Management Lead will oversee delivery of a set of programs of varying size and complexity including multiple project streams across Vivint's Innovation Center teams (product management, hardware and software engineering, UX, design, QA) as well as Vivint's broader operational groups (Sales, Supply chain, Operations, VT, marketing, Finance). The role will cover projects from full new product development, product feature development, revisions of hardware or software updates or product pilots. Depending on the size and complexity of the program a program manager may lead all the above aspects or may be part of a team with a lead program manager to deliver the scope. At the fundamental level, the program manager's role in Vivint is to lead a broad team and manage scope, budget, schedule and quality with high order ability to bring people and teams together, identify risks, necessary tradeoffs to maintain track with program goals and negotiate between those stakeholders to deliver a product that will meet our business goals to delight our customers, provide peace of mind and be business accretive (value accretive, channel ready, service smart) JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• OWNERSHIP: Own the plan, schedule and budget for your portfolio of programs. Understand priorities and follow our delivery framework which focus's on identifying and mitigating risks up front to create clear, committed plans to deliver. Communicate with stakeholders and partners. Set and meet commitments. Set specific release dates and milestones with the team and keep them focused on owning those accountabilities while communicating needs for support or issues that put those at risk.
• LEADERSHIP: Know Vivint's strategic priorities, and make sure the team's work is aligned to the top priorities. Partner with engineering teams to deliver working solutions in software, products and systems. Set schedules with input from those teams and create strong execution plans to develop products and features to bring to market. Partner with the Product, Engineering, Supply Chain, external partners and Operations team to cause accountability for delivery of the program. Work across teams to review proposed scope and provide Level of Effort (LOE) estimates as well as suitable tradeoffs for quality and business risk.
• COMMUNICATION: Create appropriate communications to update the business regularly on status, risks and support needed to be successful. Provide weekly status updates communicating progress towards commitment in terms of scope, schedule, and cost.
• RISK AND ISSUE MANAGEMENT: Lead the team to identify risks up front, manage and mitigate them and monitor residual risks and any issues that arise. Track tasks and lead a culture of accountability in the team and across the business. Setup excellent change and risk management practices to keep work on track.
• ADDITIONAL ITEMS FOR PROGRAM MANAGEMENT LEAD: Represent vertical overall in matters relating to program delivery, risk, program budgets and strategic planning. Recruiting and management of vertical program team members. Leadership role within vertical partnering with the Vertical Lead and Tech Lead. Leading the process for strategic program planning and budgeting relating to program delivery. DAY 2 DAY & TOOLS:
  • Facilitate and chair relevant program meetings, participate in agile activities where appropriate, develop communications and deliver to stakeholders. Hold regular risk reviews and accountability tracking meetings. Work with stakeholders as risks and issues arise. Develop partner relationships and manage performance of partners relating to program delivery. Work with team to monitor and keep program on track or escalate risk and support needed as required.
  • Draw on professional experience of scheduling, risk and task tracking platforms (MS PROJECT, SMARTSHEETS, EXCEL, etc) as well as content and engineering tracking systems (e.g. JIRA, CONFLUENCE, SHAREPOINT, etc)
  • A bias to strong leadership, communication and interpersonal skills along with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment where change and pivots to priorities occur occasionally. REQUIRED SKILLS:
    • Team Leadership, ability to establish a leadership identity within the respective groups and overall stakeholder organizations and partners.
    • Demonstrate the ability and track record of leading in project delivery and excellence in communication.
    • Demonstrate passion to succeed, inspire and motivate the team.
    • Strong listening and negotiation skills as well as ability to facilitate informed and timely decisions and mediating tradeoffs with various groups to deliver a product on time and ready for market.
    • Deliver clear, concise professional verbal and written communication that is appropriate to the situation and audience. Including commitment to transparency, and stakeholder-based communication.
    • Exceptional collaboration, listening, written and verbal communication skills, including an ability to clearly communicate with both business and technical audiences.
    • Encourage participation & decision-making by all team members and effectively manage group dynamics.
    • Experience working with remote and overseas teams and ability to engage across various cultural and language environments.
    • Willingness to travel and participate in after-hours calls as required when working with partners in other geographic locations. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
      • Min. 8-10 years professional experience leading large programs, including hardware, services platform and software projects, with internal and external design, development, and quality teams. Hardware and Software experience is not mandatory but a clear aptitude and willingness to work with those domains is needed. The experience in program leadership may be blended with leadership of other operational or delivery functions.
      • Bachelors' degree in Business, Engineering or a related field with formal project management training (preferably PMP or similar qualifications).-- MBA or master's degree also preferred.
      • Previous experience managing strategic relationships with external suppliers or partners as part of program delivery (preference to outsourced SW engagements or CM/JDM/ODM management).--
      • Strong preference for experience with devices, consumer electronics, manufacturing and consumer facing hardware, and/or software products.--This includes working experience with hardware and software development processes.
      • Track record of leading others & positive change in project definition, project delivery, and process improvement. Experience in roles where delivery was a responsibility with demonstrated experience in making trade-off decisions to meet targets and goals.
      • Working experience with project methodologies such as agile and related hardware development processes incl EVT/DVT/PVT framework awareness.
      • Past success in creating high performance teams, inspiring and empowering them to achieve results. REPORTING RELATIONSHIP:
        • Vertical Program Leads reports to VP, Product Programs and Analytics
        • They line manage program managers in their respective vertical.
        • MATRIX (or CROSS-FUNCTIONAL) STRUCTURE / PRODUCT PORTFOLIO VERTICALS: The program manager's primary relationships and responsibility are to the team they work with on a daily basis and they are co-located within a product portfolio 'vertical' or team (incl product, engineering, UX, etc) where they support the Vertical Lead and team to execute on their roadmap and plans.
        • REPORTING LINE: The program roles report up through the Program Management organization for support on methodologies, tools, skill development, escalation and best practices/performance management etc. A program manager will typically report to the Vertical Program Lead, who reports to the VP, Product Programs.
        • VIVINT OPERATIONS AND OTHER TEAMS: The Program Manager will assume a broader responsibility for leading the respective programs they own across all of Vivint and interface with representatives or leads from each of the operational units (Supply Chain, Finance, Field Services, Sales, Customer Care, IT, Marketing) and relevant channels (Direct to Home, NIS, Retail) to ensure coordinated and aligned product launches and decisions.
        • EXTERNAL PARTNERS: For vendors or suppliers, the Program Manager partners with our supply chain organization (who lead partner/vendor selection, ongoing relationships, commercial agreements and broader performance) to manage partner performance in relation to their specific program. This will include developing appropriate relationships and accountability mechanisms to monitor status, schedule performance and risks and issues. In the scenario where a program includes working in partnership with an external channel partner the Program Manager also support sales and teams and develops a relationship with them as it pertains to execution of the program milestones and goals. WORKING CONDITIONS:
          • This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines. SAFETY: Vivint enforces a safety culture whereby all employees have the responsibility for continuously developing and maintaining a safe working environment. Each new employee is responsible for completing all training requirements. Additionally, the employee must accept they have responsibility for maintaining the safety of themselves, their co-workers, and the public. Employee must adhere to all written and verbal instructions, promptly report and correct all hazards or unsafe conditions, question non-standard operations or unmitigated hazards, and provide feedback to management on all safety issues. If you are an active-- Vivint-- employee, please apply through Workday by searching "Find Jobs". Vivint Smart Home is a leading smart home company in North America. Vivint delivers an integrated smart home system with in-home consultation, professional installation and support delivered by its Smart Home Pros, as well as 24/7 customer care and monitoring. Dedicated to redefining the home experience with intelligent products and services, Vivint serves more than 1.4 million customers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Vivint is on the Forbes 2018 list of "America's Best Employers," the Forbes 2019 list of "America's Best Employers for Diversity" and is one of Fast Company's World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. The company is--the largest tech employer in Utah, the state's #1 patent company and a certified Great Place to Work. For more information, visit www.vivint.com . Vivint Smart Home is aware and addressing the rapidly evolving situation with the COVID-19 virus. We want you to know that we are monitoring the virus and impact closely and taking actions to keep our workplace healthy and minimize disruptions to our customers.--Now more than ever we appreciate the importance of coming together to protect families and their homes.--Some--of these measures--that relate to candidates--include virtual interviews, and work-from-home opportunities. We value you as a candidate--and--hope you and your families stay healthy and appreciate your support in keeping our global community safe during these unprecedented times.--Thank you.

Keywords: Vivint, Lehi , Director, Program Management, Executive , Lehi, Utah