Program Manager – Intake & Portfolio Management

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the end-to-end POI intake process. Oversee the Jira-based intake system, ensuring that all incoming requests are promptly triaged, accurately routed, and tracked throughout their entire lifecycle from submission to delivery.

• Act as the primary intake partner for the People team requestors. Serve as a knowledgeable and approachable initial point of contact who assists teams in effectively scoping and framing requests, setting clear expectations regarding timelines, effort, and prioritization likelihood.

• Organize regular intake and portfolio cadences. Establish the rhythm for POI Intake reviews, backlog grooming sessions, and comprehensive roadmap evaluations.

• Recognize systemic patterns and present insights to leadership. Synthesize trends from intake submissions to proactively highlight capacity constraints, recurring themes, capability gaps, and emerging risks before they escalate into blockers.

• Utilize strategic judgment to prioritize the POI portfolio. Assess incoming tickets against the People team’s SOKRs, the 3-Year Plan (3YP), and develop prioritization frameworks.

• Develop and maintain visibility and capacity reporting for the portfolio. Create dashboards and reports that provide POI leadership and People team stakeholders with real-time insights into resource allocation, queue depth, and overall roadmap health. Engage in quarterly business reviews and annual planning cycles.

• Design, create, and continuously enhance an AI agent for intake. Develop an intelligent agent that automates and improves the intake experience, ultimately aimed at reducing time-to-decision and enhancing the requestor experience on a larger scale.

• Continuously refine the intake experience. Build and maintain documentation, submission guides, communication templates, and onboarding materials that minimize friction and elevate ticket quality at submission.

• Collaborate with POI leaders and People team leaders on resource allocation and prioritization discussions. Prepare and present portfolio data and recommendations to senior stakeholders, facilitating trade-off discussions with rigor, objectivity, and a definitive point of view.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in project management, business operations, strategy, or consulting, with expertise in navigating complex, matrixed organizations and managing competing priorities.

• Proven experience in designing, building, or significantly enhancing an intake, triage, or portfolio management process for a delivery team or operational function.

• Strong analytical and systems-thinking capabilities. Able to assess competing requests against strategic frameworks, make well-reasoned prioritization recommendations, and clearly communicate trade-offs to senior stakeholders.

• Proficient in Jira or similar ticketing/project management tools. Comfortable with workflow configuration, ticket lifecycle management, capacity planning, and reporting.

• Demonstrated experience utilizing AI tools (LLMs, AI agents, or automation platforms) to streamline workflows, create lightweight productivity solutions, or automate repetitive operational tasks.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. Capable of translating vague, incomplete requests into clear, actionable project briefs and presenting complex portfolio data in an accessible manner to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Proven ability to manage relationships with senior stakeholders (directors, VPs), including setting expectations, addressing pushback, and facilitating alignment discussions with confidence.

• Comfort operating in ambiguous situations where work may not always be well-defined. Able to independently determine the right approach and establish meaningful success metrics.

• Collaborative, low-ego working style. Able to function as a strategic partner and trusted advisor rather than a decision-maker, earning credibility through diligence and sound judgment.

• At least 2 years of experience working within or closely with an HR, People, or equivalent internal operations team.

🏝️ Benefits

• Health insurance

• Retirement plans

• Paid time off

• Flexible work arrangements

• Professional development