Senior Program Manager

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Virginia.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of the complete delivery process for Napier AI's most significant enterprise programs, which include Tier 1 engagements with national and European banks.

• Establish and manage program governance frameworks, such as steering committees, executive status reviews, RAID discipline, and decision logs.

• Define and uphold acceptance criteria for go-live as well as for regulatory or contractual milestones.

• Coordinate the delivery efforts across Professional Services, Product, Engineering, Platform, Support, and Customer Success teams.

• Serve as the primary delivery liaison for client program directors, delivery leads, and executive sponsors.

• Lead steering committees and executive status forums.

• Prevent client escalations from circumventing program governance protocols.

• Represent Napier during client executive escalations, interactions with relevant industry regulators, and third-party governance meetings.

• Manage the program's P&L, forecasts, and margins.

• Implement formal change control procedures for scope adjustments, defect classifications, and delivery obligations.

• Safeguard against uncapped commitments, unidirectional release triggers, and indefinite acceptance criteria.

• Approve product commitments that exit Napier.

• Elevate commercial and contractual risks to the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

• Maintain the program plan, dependency map, and critical path documentation.

• Manage the risk register and drive mitigation strategies.

• Establish and maintain go/no-go readiness assessments.

• Promote continuous improvement in Napier's delivery methodology.

• Oversee escrow, source-code deposits, or equivalent regulatory instruments in collaboration with Legal, Engineering, and third-party agents.

• Manage client expectations regarding trigger events, deposit content, and verification cycles.

• Ensure successful implementation, adoption, and realization of business value.

• Transition delivery responsibilities to Customer Success and Support, ensuring comprehensive documentation and no unresolved commitments.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 12 years in leading large-scale enterprise software delivery programs, with at least 5 years in a senior program director or equivalent role.

• Direct, extensive, and up-to-date experience in the financial crime compliance domain: AML, KYC, Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions Screening, or Case Management platforms.

• At least one enterprise implementation experience within a Tier 1 or systemic bank in the UK, EU, or US, chairing steering committees at the C-1 level.

• Demonstrated turnaround experience in taking over an ongoing enterprise program, restoring client confidence, re-baselining credibly, and achieving a successful outcome.

• Experience in delivering cloud-based enterprise SaaS platforms, ideally in Azure, AWS, or GCP-hosted environments.

• Proven multi-vendor program experience involving clients, primary vendors, hyperscalers, and system integrators.

• Strong background in commercial and contractual matters, including defensive change control, scope management, margin protection, and distinguishing enhancements from defects.

• Familiarity with regulatory or contractual hard deadlines, including go/no-go gates, DORA, PRA/FCA supervisory dates, or their equivalents.

• Strong presence and credibility at C-1 and C-suite levels of client organizations.

• Experience with escrow, source-code deposits, or equivalent third-party regulatory instruments is highly desirable.

• Exposure across various geographic regions: EMEA, Americas, APAC is highly desirable.

• Possession of program management certifications such as MSP, PgMP, PMP, or Prince2 is highly desirable.

• Experience with Private Equity-backed software companies that operate according to a defined value creation plan is highly desirable.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits package.

• Competitive salary with performance-based bonuses.

• Opportunities for professional development and certifications.

• Flexible working arrangements.

• Engaging company culture focused on innovation and collaboration.