Program Implementation Manager Jobs in Waterloo, IL

The Implementation Manager is responsible for orchestrating the end-to-end customer onboarding journey, ensuring new clients successfully implement and launch the Readybuild platform. This role serves as the primary strategic partner for customers during their critical transition period — from initial Kickoff through the Hyper-Care period.

TRAINING & ENABLEMENT

• Develop and perform role-appropriate training programs for administrators, power users, and end users.
• Create and maintain training materials, quick reference guides, and customer-specific configuration documentation.
• Perform both full team training and train-the-trainer sessions depending on client size and structure, building internal champions and ensuring sustainable adoption.

IMPLEMENTATION EXECUTION

• Coordinate activities across internal teams and customer stakeholders, managing timing, dependencies, and real-time issue resolution.
• Conduct implementation retrospectives to capture lessons learned and feed insights into continuous process improvement.
• Transition clients into the Hyper-Care period — maintaining availability as an escalation path for the support team and providing client context as needed, while the client moves into live maintenance and ongoing customer care practices.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP & EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT

• Serve as the client’s trusted advisor throughout the implementation lifecycle, leading regular cadence calls and building relationships with key decision-makers and executive sponsors.
• Manage customer expectations proactively while maintaining momentum toward adoption — including confidently redirecting unnecessary scope additions that would delay delivery or create technical debt.
• Anticipate and address customer objections using active listening, data-driven responses, and collaborative problem-solving; escalate blockers to internal teams with appropriate context and urgency.
• Maintain composure and professionalism in difficult conversations, balancing customer advocacy with project integrity.

PROGRAM REPORTING & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

• Maintain accurate project documentation, timelines, and On Track / Off Track customer health status reports.
• Identify at-risk implementations early and develop mitigation strategies; report onboarding trends to leadership.
• Continuously evolve implementation strategy and processes alongside the growth of the Readybuild platform.

SCOPE, CHANGE & RISK MANAGEMENT

• Partner with Sales during late-stage conversations to begin building client context early; translate desired business outcomes into the Company Setup, Configuration Data, and Data Migration requirements needed to achieve them.
• Proactively identify and flag risks that could jeopardize success or long-term adoption — including technical blockers, resource gaps, organizational readiness issues, and phased rollout gaps where parts of the business may onboard ahead of others.
• Communicate scope changes clearly and in writing — providing transparent analysis of how expanded requirements affect timelines and negotiating revised dates that reflect true delivery effort.

SUPPORT TRIAGE & ESCALATION

• Act as the primary triage point for customer questions and issues during onboarding, assessing and prioritizing requests based on urgency and impact on success.
• Identify patterns in support requests that indicate gaps in training, documentation, or product functionality.
• Coordinate with the team on contingency planning during critical phases — ensuring alignment, risks are anticipated, and the right resources are in place before these events occur.

CORE SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Exceptional communication skills — able to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and write clearly for executive and operational audiences alike.
• Strong influence and capabilities without direct authority.
• High emotional intelligence with the ability to navigate difficult conversations, de-escalate tension, and find mutually beneficial solutions.
• Outstanding problem-solving and critical thinking abilities; comfortable navigating ambiguity with the support of the broader team and leadership.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, with a customer-centric mindset and commitment to delivering exceptional experiences.
• Demonstrated project management discipline — able to build and maintain structured project plans, manage multiple concurrent workstreams, hold stakeholders accountable to milestones, and keep complex implementations moving forward without losing sight of the details.
• Strong time management and self-awareness around capacity; able to manage multiple concurrent implementations while proactively communicating workload constraints or resource needs to leadership before they become delivery risks.

EXPERIENCE

• 3–5 years of experience in customer onboarding, implementation management, project management, or a related client-facing role.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder implementation projects from kickoff through Hyper-Care.
• Familiarity with project management software (e.g., Jira, Asana, Salesforce, HubSpot) – Smartsheet in particular is helpful.
• Background in construction or field operations software is a plus.