Delivery Lead

Delivery Lead

Purpose of the Role

At UnderStory, we believe sustainable delivery starts with people, is supported by the right process, and is enabled by technology.

The Delivery Lead brings that philosophy into our client work every day.

This is a leadership role responsible for creating the conditions in which clients and delivery teams can do their best work. The Delivery Lead owns the details of delivery and the day-to-day connection between UnderStory, the client, and the delivery team for technical implementations.

Success requires more than managing a plan. It means building trust, creating clarity and accountability, recognizing where teams need support, and introducing the right amount of structure to keep work moving.

The Delivery Lead brings a broad toolkit across traditional project management and Agile delivery, but is not attached to a particular methodology. They know when a detailed project plan is useful, when a backlog or iterative approach makes more sense, when a meeting is necessary, and when process is simply getting in the way.

What You'll Own

• Lead the day-to-day delivery of technical implementation engagements.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with client stakeholders and delivery team members.
• Create clarity around goals, priorities, responsibilities, decisions, and commitments.
• Maintain visibility into scope, milestones, dependencies, risks, blockers, and progress.
• Establish delivery rhythms and practices appropriate to the work and the people doing it.
• Serve as the primary day-to-day connection between the client and UnderStory delivery team.
• Surface difficult issues early and help the right people work through them.
• Facilitate planning, prioritization, decision-making, status conversations, retrospectives, and other working sessions when they add value.
• Coordinate across technical, product, business, external partner, and client stakeholders.
• Help teams make realistic commitments and follow through on them.
• Protect teams from unnecessary process while adding structure where it improves delivery.
• Help clients build stronger delivery capability through the work we do together.

How You'll Work

People First

Strong delivery starts with the people doing the work.

You'll pay attention to communication, relationships, ownership, team dynamics, and the conditions people need to succeed. You'll build trust with clients while being willing to surface uncomfortable truths, challenge assumptions, and address problems before they become delivery failures.

The Right Process

Process should help people deliver, not become the work itself.

You may use project plans, backlogs, RAID logs, milestones, sprints, Kanban boards, stand-ups, status reports, retrospectives, or other tools.

We care less about which tools you use than whether you understand why you're using them.

You'll adapt the approach to the engagement rather than forcing the engagement into a methodology.

Technology in Context

You don't need to be the person writing the code, but you need to be comfortable leading technical work.

You'll work closely with engineers and technical leaders to understand dependencies, risks, tradeoffs, and constraints well enough to help the team and client make good decisions.

Technology enables the outcome. It is not separate from the people and processes required to deliver it successfully.

What Success Looks Like

• Clients and delivery teams trust one another and have clarity about what they own.
• People have the information and context they need to make good decisions.
• Risks, dependencies, and misalignment become visible before they become emergencies.
• Commitments are realistic and progress is transparent.
• The work has enough structure to create accountability and predictability without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Technical complexities and tradeoffs are understood and communicated clearly.
• Delivery practices evolve as the needs of the engagement evolve.
• The client is stronger and more capable because UnderStory was there.

What We're Looking For

• Experience leading complex software, technology, or technical implementation work.
• Strong client-facing leadership and communication skills.
• Experience working closely with engineers and technical teams.
• Working knowledge of both traditional project management and Agile delivery approaches.
• A broad delivery toolkit and the judgment to know what to use, when to use it, and when to leave it behind.
• Ability to move comfortably between delivery details and the larger outcome.
• Confidence navigating ambiguity, competing priorities, changing conditions, and difficult conversations.
• Strong instincts around team dynamics, communication, and accountability.
• A bias toward ownership, transparency, practicality, and action.

Engagement Structure

This role is expected to begin as an independent consulting engagement dedicated to an UnderStory client engagement. The scope will be tied to the duration and needs of that project, with no guarantee of permanent employment or a long-term direct-hire commitment from UnderStory.

This is expected to be a part-time engagement averaging approximately 20 hours per week. Actual weekly hours may vary based on project phase, client needs, meeting cadence, and delivery priorities.

The work will include a mix of remote and onsite participation. Because some onsite client and team work is expected, the ideal candidate will be located in the Rochester, NY area or within a reasonable driving distance.

The consultant will be expected to participate in relevant client and team meetings, manage agreed delivery responsibilities, and meet defined commitments and deadlines. Outside of those requirements, they will have flexibility in how and when the work is completed.

Candidates who already operate independently through an LLC, DBA, or similar business structure are preferred.