Head of Program Delivery & Business Operations
Secaucus, NY
About the Position
The Vice President of Program Delivery & Business Operations will be a results-oriented technology executive with proven experience in program delivery, business operations, budget planning and vendor/events management. Reporting to CTO, this role will be responsible for a team focused on handling delivery of technology solutions/services across the NBA and at its various events – with a specific focus on improving customer satisfaction, optimizing delivery velocity, boosting productivity and adherence to budgets.
You are able to manage/mentor direct reports, as well as collaborate and deliver through powers of influence, persuasion and trust. You will be equally competent and comfortable around strategic business plans and product roadmaps, as well as detailed project plans and agile backlogs/burndown charts. We are looking for someone with experience in technology general management and skilled at cultivating high-performing program delivery teams with an extraordinary client satisfaction record. This person will be a trusted and respected evangelist for the technology department while firmly grounded in business operations prowess with respect to budget, headcount and timelines.
We are a nimble organization – and we expect leaders to have a player-coach mind-set, an in-the-trenches style and a willingness to roll up their sleeves to dive into details as needed. Sharing contemporary ideas and experiences is welcomed; creating and setting industry standards, while constantly raising the bar internally is ideal. This is a role for a creative individual who is excited about inventing the future with us!
Responsibilities
- Drive effective partnership, communication, collaboration and commitment across multiple groups with parallel priorities.
- Lead and cultivate a high-performing team that will be the glue to understand, plan, and lead cross-functional interdependencies for complex system/service rollouts and events
- Lead cross organizational program reviews, focusing on business levers that simplify operating models, and find opportunities for standardization/consolidation
- Apply standard methodologies across technology projects & services based on experiences with several methodologies – waterfall, agile and blended approaches – with the goal of establishing predictable delivery models and ensuring visibility to partners.
- Accelerate transition to Agile/Iterative system delivery across application development portfolio; serve as an internal champion within the technology organization to define standard methodologies and socialize them with internal and customer groups.
- Partner with leaders across the organization (e.g., Business, Finance, HR, Legal & Marketing) as well as external (e.g., vendors, industry groups, etc.) to review impact of technology projects, calibrate success metrics and develop dashboards to assess and report on IT performance and service delivery on both periodic and ad-hoc basis.
- Communicate frequently with executive stakeholders in concise, accurate, and business friendly terms.
- Develop professional and polished documents/presentations/newsletters that are engaging and informative to staff/business partners across the company.
- Develop a sound understanding of the NBA’s strategic objectives to build consensus required to make decisions on maximizing impact of resources/budgets for the greater good of the organization.
- Focus on continuous process improvement through frequent feedback loops, retrospectives and by keeping in touch with emerging industry trends and best practices.
- Act as the lead for the CTO’s office in handling budgets and business operations across the department – including regular updates to technology leadership team on financial projections and actuals.
- Lead technology planning, budgets, vendor negotiations, and personnel needs for events services provided by the department: site visits, infrastructure planning and equipment setup/breakdown at various NBA events & conferences – including marquee events like the “All-Star Game”, “Finals” and “Draft”.
- Serve as an advocate for data-driven decisions, have an openness to evolving priorities and be comfortable with “updating flight plans mid-flight” if needed.
- Set high but reachable goals, clearly communicate those goals to employees and then infuse the team with a sense of purpose and urgency in pursuit of those goals; serve as a coach/mentor and find opportunities for individual & team growth.
- Identify, track, mitigate and call out risks at multiple levels across the portfolio; provide options for trade-offs between business needs and technical constraints to minimize delivery impacts.
- Commit to growth of talent within the Program Delivery & Business Operations team by developing a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, instant feedback and training.
Required Skills/Knowledge
- Extraordinary critical thinking, analytical, data and quantitative abilities gained through leading/delivering large scale, high impact technology-driven projects.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills including experience in developing and delivering C-suite/executive presentations.
- Skilled in business & technical management, staff training and people leadership.
- Understanding of industry trends and emerging systems delivery technologies.
- Excellent communication skills (written and verbal) with the confirmed ability to create business cases/ ROI statements that will gain support from business partners.
- Considerable experience in technology/service-driven organization with a strong focus on delivering technology services, products and solutions.
- Skilled at identifying & removing roadblocks to success and raising for executive decisions as needed.
- Ability to champion lofty standards and to coach, inspire and lead team members.
- Consistent track record of success in influencing executive agendas and enacting change.
- Possess several years of experience delivering technology projects and strong understanding of multiple methodologies: Waterfall, Agile, Scaled Agile (including SAFe and LESS) or hybrid models.
- Ability to operate at a strategic level, and command strategic influence across cross-functional teams and client/partner groups throughout the organization.
- A solution-driven work ethic coupled with extraordinary program/portfolio management skills and a demonstrated ability to effectively handle multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
- A leader who drives continuous learning and improvement motivated by feedback and data.
- Excellent research, analytical, financial and creative problem-solving skills – including multi-year budget/business planning to meet strategic goals.
Education
- At least 12+ years of work experience in program delivery/product management roles with at least 5-7 years in a leadership capacity.
- A bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business or related field is required and a master’s degree, ideally an MBA, is strongly preferred. Scrum or PMP certifications are a plus.
Interested in applying to this career opportunity?
Please email Taylor Frank, [email protected], and include NBA Head of Program Delivery & Business Operations in the subject line.
About the NBA
At the NBA, we’re passionate about growing and celebrating the game of basketball. Through the intensity of the game and the amazing athletic skill of our players, we deliver excitement to hundreds of millions of fans around the world.
As a global sports and media business, the NBA is so much more. While Basketball Operations runs the league’s on-court activities, other departments manage relationships with television and digital media partners, develop marketing partnerships with some of the world’s most recognizable companies, oversee the licensing of NBA merchandise, and handle a wide range of responsibilities that drive the NBA’s success.
Off the court, we’re also deeply committed to social responsibility. NBA Cares leads the league’s involvement in addressing important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.
