Associate Program Director - Program Management

Location: Bengaluru

Experience: 18+ Years

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Associate Program Director with 18+ years of industry experience and 5-6 years of leadership experience managing large-scale programs and strategic customer engagements.

The ideal candidate will possess strong expertise in Program Management, Delivery Management, Agile/Scrum, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, and SDLC Governance. The candidate should have a proven track record of leading large engineering programs, managing customer relationships, driving operational excellence, and delivering business outcomes.

Experience in SaaS platforms, software development lifecycle management, and AI-enabled delivery practices will be an added advantage.

Key Responsibilities:

Program & Delivery Management

- Own end-to-end delivery of large-scale programs and strategic initiatives.
- Lead multiple projects and cross-functional teams to ensure successful execution.
- Drive program planning, execution, governance, and delivery excellence.
- Ensure projects are delivered within scope, timelines, budget, and quality expectations.

Stakeholder Management

- Engage with customers, business leaders, delivery teams, and senior management.
- Manage communication related to project requirements, staffing, financials, contracts, and delivery commitments.
- Conduct regular governance reviews and executive status reporting.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

Risk & Escalation Management

- Proactively identify program risks and dependencies.
- Develop mitigation plans and drive risk resolution.
- Manage customer and delivery escalations effectively.
- Ensure timely decision-making and issue resolution.





Agile Program Leadership:

- Lead Agile and Scrum-based delivery programs.
- Drive Agile adoption and best practices across teams.
- Facilitate program governance, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and release planning.
- Monitor delivery metrics and continuous improvement initiatives.

SDLC & Engineering Governance:

- Oversee the complete Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
- Ensure adherence to engineering standards, quality processes, and release governance.
- Collaborate with technical teams to support architecture, development, testing, and deployment activities.
- Drive operational excellence and delivery maturity.

Reporting & Operational Excellence:

- Track and publish delivery metrics, project health reports, resource utilization, and program dashboards.
- Manage financial governance, forecasting, and resource planning.
- Ensure visibility of program status, risks, and dependencies to leadership.

Technology & Innovation:

- Leverage technology and automation to improve delivery efficiency.
- Work closely with engineering teams supporting SaaS-based platforms.
- Promote adoption of AI-enabled tools and practices where appropriate.
- Support AI-driven development and deployment initiatives.

Mandatory Skills:

- Program Management
- Delivery Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Risk Management
- Agile Methodology
- Scrum Framework
- SDLC Management




- Project Governance
- Customer Management
- Escalation Management
- Resource Planning
- Delivery Excellence
- Financial Management
- Team Leadership
- Executive Reporting

Preferred Skills:

- SaaS Platform Management
- Software Development Background
- DevOps and Release Management Awareness
- Automation Initiatives
- AI Tools and AI-Assisted Delivery
- Agentic AI Awareness
- SDD (Software Defined Delivery) Exposure
- Strategic Program Governance
- Digital Transformation Programs

Required Experience:

- 18+ years of overall IT industry experience.
- 5-6+ years managing large-scale programs and strategic customer engagements.
- Proven experience leading multiple projects and distributed delivery teams.
- Solid understanding of Agile, Scrum, and delivery governance frameworks.
- Experience in stakeholder management across customers, leadership teams, and engineering organizations.
- Experience managing risks, escalations, dependencies, and delivery challenges.
- Strong understanding of software development, deployment, and SDLC processes.
- Experience managing SaaS-based platforms is highly desirable.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and leadership skills.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- Strong program leader with end-to-end ownership mindset.
- Excellent customer-facing and stakeholder management abilities.
- Proven experience managing large-scale, complex delivery programs.
- Strong decision-making and risk management skills.
- Ability to lead diverse and geographically distributed teams.
- Results-oriented leader with focus on operational excellence and customer success.
- Passion for continuous improvement, innovation, and AI-enabled delivery practices.

📌 Senior Program Manager / Associate Program Director | Agile | Delivery (Bengaluru)
🏢 Happiest Minds Technologies
📍 Bengaluru