Program Manager Research Operations Jobs in Arizona

The Program Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and driving the successful execution of complex programs that may include multiple related projects, workstreams, teams, and stakeholders.

This role ensures alignment with business objectives, supports cross-functional collaboration, manages risks and dependencies, and helps teams deliver quality outcomes that meet customer and business needs.

The Program Manager also supports scalable operating practices, program governance, resource and budget planning, reporting, and continuous improvement across product, technology, and business initiatives.

The Program Manager is expected to perform the following responsibilities, adapting execution practices to the needs of the assigned program:

Program Planning & Execution

• Oversight the program's adherence to PDP (Product Delivery Process) and track engineering's deliverables to avoid delays and escalations.
• Establish and maintain program plans, delivery frameworks, standards, planning cadences, and execution workflows.
• Track milestones, dependencies, decisions, issues, and actions to support predictable program execution.
• Conduct periodic reviews to assess progress, remove blockers, and support adherence to approved delivery processes and standards.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Facilitate alignment across Engineering, Product, Operations, Support, Finance, Legal, vendors, and other internal or external stakeholders as needed.
• Lead cross-functional planning sessions, roadmap synchronization activities, milestone reviews, and operational workshops.

Process Optimization & Best Practices

• Drive process consistency, operational discipline, and improvement initiatives across engineering teams.
• Coach teams and project managers on delivery practices, process controls, and continuous improvement methods.
• Support appropriate delivery methodologies, including Agile, Scrum, SAFe, waterfall, or hybrid approaches, based on program needs.

Risk & Issue Management

• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks that may impact program success.
• Develop contingency plans and escalate critical issues when necessary.
• Constantly monitor and report program health.

Communication Management

• Serve as a key point of contact for program updates, decisions, dependencies, and escalations.
• Prepare and present clear program status reports, recommendations, and decision materials.
• Ensure alignment between business goals and technical execution.

Budget & Resource Management

• Work with leadership to allocate resources effectively across multiple projects.
• Optimize team capacity while balancing project priorities.
• Support budget tracking, forecasting, and financial reporting related to assigned programs.
• Recommend corrective actions when program plans, resources, budgets, or forecasts deviate from approved targets.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in project and/or program management, or similar roles, with a proven track record of delivering complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience managing interdependent projects and resource allocation across multiple workstreams.
• Ability to mentor project managers and provide guidance on best practices and continuous improvement.
• Proven ability to lead through influence across engineering, operations, and business functions
• Proven experience in financial planning, budgeting, and forecasting within technical organizations.
• Experience using project, program, portfolio, or work-management tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, Aha!, Confluence, Power BI, or similar platforms.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to connect technical, business, and leadership audiences.
• Understanding of product or software development lifecycles and common delivery frameworks.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to drive solutions.
• Experience working with geographically distributed or cross-functional teams.

• Experience in the mining, heavy equipment, or automotive industries.
• Education: Master's degree in Engineering, Business Administration (MBA), or related field.
• Certifications: PMP, PMI-ACP, PgMP, or SAFe.
• Experience working in a global or matrixed organization.
• Experience in cloud-based or SaaS product development.
• Experience coordinating with vendors and external business partners.