Program Manager

Company: WPP PLC Global
Location: Memphis
Posted on: August 7, 2022

Job Description:

Description

Position at VMLY&R

About Us: VMLY&R

VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands. But what does that mean? It means we're a creative agency that is built on the promise of collaboration and human connection. Creating connected brands isn't just what we do - it's what we're known for and who we are. We empower our clients to excel at the intersection of "brand" and "customer experience," starting with simple goals: Create work that becomes part of people's lives; promote value for our clients; and, in the best of cases, help the world.

We're committed to building a united global network of creators and thinkers, regardless of their age, race, skin color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. With over 12,000 employees across the globe, our influence is made stronger by applying our collective experiences to tell stories that not only sell products and experiences, but also guarantee positive representations of all communities.

Our unique culture is rooted in a great deal of care for you and your success. Above all else, we are committed to strengthening your experience by ensuring your inner potential continues to be discovered.

We also offer about a dozen employee resource groups (ERGs) that allow you to tap into your personal identities, interests and passions. Our ERGs celebrate ethnic diversity, life as a working parent or caregiver, neurodiversity, the LGBTQ+ community, wellbeing, and more. Regardless of your interests, there is no shortage of opportunities to get involved, so tap into our global network and find where you can make your ideas come to life.

VMLY&R is looking for an experienced Program Manager who can quickly understand our client's needs and objectives with the ability to effectively manage variety sized teams in their effort to deliver services. The program manager is expected to deploy and manage against defined processes throughout a client engagement.

This individual is also responsible for building, coaching and leading teams against said process to ensure successful deliveries. VMLY&R needs individuals who are proactive problem solvers that can manage team dynamics, manage project financial performance, clearly communicate status, and drive progression towards dates.

Responsibilities

Business & Technical Analysis

* May act as a client proxy for agile teams; may also coach and support Product Owner(s)
* Manage multiple activities/projects under one or more clients
* Support/provide strategic direction related to processes and resolution paths
* Support agile teams to groom and refine user stories and acceptance criteria to meet the agile team's definition of ready.
* Provide well researched POV documents on a variety of solutions related to project work
* Analyze processes continuously for refinement; execute measures for optimization

Project Management

* Continuously monitor project health via resourcing, profitability and burn rates.
* Works with clients to define KPI's and meaningful metrics to report project health
* Works closely with Client Engagement and delivery teams to architect solutions that best meet client requirements

Leadership & Team Management

* Support creation of RFP responses with other teams within VMLY&R and new business engagement.
* Create/draft contracts and scopes of work.
* Manages internal teams and client relationships in alignment with Client Engagement team
* Maintain direct client relationships with Product Owners and client management leadership
* Responsible for interviewing and making recommendations to hire analysts at the Manager and Senior Manager levels
* Coach, mentor and manage a Delivery team in the creation of business analysis tools/techniques and business requirements (i.e. user story mapping, process maps, rules matrices, mockups, textual requirements, user stories etc.)
* Serve as a key point of contact and liaison for cross-divisional teams, agency peers and management
* Support scoping and estimation exercises with Client Engagement teams

Required Skills & Experience

Required

* College degree or equivalent Project Management and/or Business Systems Analyst experience
* 7+ years of analyst, project management, technical, and/or business experience
* Master of agile software development methodologies, amongst other methodologies
* Experience in running or working with agile teams (preferably Scrum)
* Understanding of business requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria
* Ability to provide proactive and assertive leadership in problem solving, managing financial success of projects, maintaining timelines, and reducing waste
* Strong interpersonal skills and able to resolve conflict with productive outcomes
* Ability to effectively work across departments with diplomacy and a firm understanding of other's roles and perspectives
* Ability to manage multiple work-streams (projects) effectively and efficiently.
* Extensive team management skills for teams of 5+.
* Ability to view problems in context at the system level and align solutions with the strategic direction of our clients and company
* Experience with multiple application lifecycle management solutions
* Proactive, adaptable, and flexible
* Life-long learner, demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement
* Strong attention to detail
* Demonstrable ability to operate under tight deadline with complex business/technical solutions
* Ability to manage workload with minimal supervision
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Preferred

* Bachelor's degree in business administration, computer science, computer information systems, marketing, or equivalent experience
* Certification for or extensive experience of JIRA and Confluence

Our Benefits

As the world leader in communications services, we rely on the creativity of our people to deliver the best work for our clients. In return, we invest in our employees by offering them a diverse suite of benefits from best-in-class carriers, with enough choice and flexibility to keep them and their families healthy and happy today and tomorrow.

* Corporate gift matching program
* Paid time off for volunteering
* Paid parental leave
* Ranked No. 1 in advertising for our adoption assistance program
* Corporate discounts
* VMLY&R Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team, which guides, celebrates, and promotes cultural literacy; increases employee engagement; recruits and retains a diverse workforce; and builds internal opportunities for people to learn and grow.

VMLY&R is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal. VMLY&R is a M/F Disabled and Vet EEO/AA Employer .

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Keywords: WPP PLC Global, Memphis , Program Manager, Executive , Memphis, Tennessee