Job Description

The AI Program & Product Delivery Manager is responsible for driving the day-to-day execution of the AI acceleration program — ensuring all squads (AI Skunk Works, Data Foundations, and Engineering Excellence) deliver on time, unblock efficiently, and maintain alignment with business priorities.

This role sits at the operational center of gravity between engineering, data, and leadership combining the precision of a Program Manager, the empathy of a Product Owner, and the discipline of an Agile Delivery Lead.

Your mission: keep the engine running smoothly — orchestrate sprints, remove blockers, and ensure every experiment, pipeline, and improvement moves from idea to measurable outcome.

Key Responsibilities

Executive Leadership & Alignment

Program Cadence & Delivery Management

• Own the day-to-day rhythm of all squads: standups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Maintain a master schedule across all squads and ensure delivery commitments are met.
• Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and blockers — and clear them through coordination with leads or ELT sponsors.
• Keep the Director and ELT informed of progress, delays, and decisions requiring escalation.
• Track sprint health metrics: velocity, cycle time, blocker rate, completion trends.

Deliverables: Sprint calendars, daily tracker, dependency logs, risk register, and status dashboards.

Product & Experiment Coordination

• Collaborate with Skunk Works Leads to prioritize experiments and define clear acceptance criteria for each 2-week sprint.
• Manage the AI Experiment Backlog ensuring each use case has a hypothesis, dataset, owner, and KPI.
• Ensure deliverables from Data Foundations and Engineering Excellence are sequenced correctly to support active experiments.
• Maintain visibility across all pilots: goals, timeline, status, and outcomes.
• Partner with the AI & Data Strategy Lead to measure and report experiment results.

Deliverables: Experiment backlog board, sprint goals, KPI dashboard, ELT experiment su mmary

Communication & Alignment

• Serve as the connective hub across squads and stakeholders — ensuring consistent communication and clarity.
• Prepare concise weekly updates and sprint summaries for the Director and Program leadership.
• Document decisions, retrospectives, and lessons learned in a structured, shareable format.
• Keep the team focused on outcomes, not activity — reinforce priorities each sprint.

Deliverables: Weekly status summaries, updated roadmaps, sprint retrospectives.

Tools & Process Excellence

• Own project-management tools (e.g., Jira, Asana, ClickUp, or Monday).
• Define and enforce consistent sprint and reporting templates across squads.
• Monitor resource utilization and team capacity — balance workloads with leads.
• Continuously refine process efficiency and eliminate friction in collaboration.
• Build lightweight automation (dashboards, templates) for progress visibility.

Deliverables: Jira boards, process guides, capacity tracker, and continuous improvement log.

Team Empowerment & Culture

• Ensure engineers, analysts, and data scientists have what they need to succeed — from access permissions to decision clarity.
• Keep the team grounded in the “2-week experiment mindset” speed + learning > perfection.
• Encourage open communication and healthy retrospectives.
• Reinforce accountability while celebrating wins and learnings.

D.

Qualifications

• 8–12 years of experience in program or product management within technology, data, or AI domains.
• Proven success managing multi-squad or multi-stream engineering programs (10–30 engineers).
• Strong understanding of Agile / Scrum and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience in AI, data, or cloud-native software programs preferred.
• Familiarity with retail or consumer-facing operations is a plus.
• Proficiency in project tools (Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Asana, Power BI dashboards).
• Excellent communication, risk management, and facilitation skills.
• Highly organized, proactive, and capable of managing through influence.
• Location: Based in or near Phoenix, AZ (client HQ proximity preferred).

Success in the First 90 Days

• Stand up a consistent sprint cadence across all squads (2-week cycles).
• Deliver clear visibility dashboards (Jira/Power BI) showing program progress.
• Launch 3 AI pilots and track their full delivery cycle (scope → measure → review).
• Reduce blockers and context-switch delays across squads by 30%.
• Publish a Program Playbook documenting roles, routines, and reporting rhythm.

Success Profile

This person is:

• 60% Delivery Leader: runs the day-to-day machine, ensures no surprises.
• 25% Product Thinker: connects delivery work to measurable outcomes through metrics tracking, reporting and review.
• 15% Coach & Communicator: keeps the team motivated and aligned.
• A force of calm discipline — the metronome of the AI Practice.

Our Process

• Schedule a 15-minute Video Call with someone from our Team
• Interview with the Advisory/Leadership team
• 1 Proctored GQ (Q&A) & Slideware (Google Slide Presentation) Assessment
• 30-45 min Final/Tech Video Interview
• Receive Job Offer

If you are interested in reaching out to us, please apply and our team will contact you within the hour.

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