Director, Enterprise Program Management

Thank you for taking time to stop by and take a look at the Enterprise PMO role I posted here on LinkedIn, I appreciate it. If you have seen my Job Descriptions before, welcome back. If you are new to my Job Descriptions, allow me to introduce myself a bit...Because this will - hopefully - be a welcomed change from the normal.

Allow me to introduce myself a bit. My name is Tom Welke. I am Partner & Vp here at RSM Solutions, Inc. I have been recruiting technical talent for almost 25 years (it will be 25 in January) and been in the tech sector since the 1990s. So, like many of you reading this, I have been at this for a while. So, I am a real live breathing human..Not a bot, not an Ai engine, not an 'optimized approach to attracting candidates'.

So...All hands and feet inside the ride at all times...Let's start the ride.

As with just about any other role like this, social fit is going to be pretty important. So, you might ask...What are those social fit characteristics for this one? I am glad you asked...Here are a couple points:

• The hiring manager for this role is actually a close and personal friend of mine, so I know him well. His road to success has had challenges...This leads to something. He is looking for people with humility. We all know this...It is not the good times that challenge you, it is in the tougher times where you figure out what you are really made of.
• Honesty and integrity are paramount. It's ok if you say 'you know...This project isn't going that great'...Like the great Alan Mulally speech at Stanford (if you haven't heard it, go ahead and give it a listen, it just might change how you lead...I know it did for me), not every project is 'green' in terms of status...It's ok to admit to it (granted, it is from 2011, but it is incredibly relevant today).

This role is being done onsite Monday through Friday in Cleveland (Mayfield Heights, actually). This role is permanent, and fully benefitted. If you are outside of the Cleveland area and need to relocate, there are relocation benefits available for this role.

The client for this role cannot provide immigration sponsorship now or in the future. As a result, I’m only able to work with candidates who have permanent authorization to work in the U.S. and will never require sponsorship (typically U.S. citizens or Green Card holders). With that in mind, I cannot work with anyone that would need sponsorship at any point to continue working in the U.S., including under H1, H4, EAD, STEM, OPT, or other time-limited work authorization.

For this role, we are seeking someone to be something of the right-hand to the Vp of IT for this firm (that's who you would report to). This client is in the world of supply & distribution, so experience in the manufacturing and distribution arena will be paramount to success in this role. You will be responsible for 3 'groups'. Those three groups are:

• Project Management - there are 2 PMs
• Business Relationship Managers (there are 7 Business Relationship Managers)
• Budgeting for Projects

This organization has a lot of incumbents...Lots of people that have been there for a long long time. So, organizational change management will be a big function for success in this role. You will be working with project intake and resource planning, as you might expect. The IT department for this firm is roughly 60 people.

As you look across those first key months of this role, you will be asessing the organization from a change management standpoint and start building that plan around the fundamentals of change management, the project intake process, and an overall grasp of the projects that are ongoing. Essentially, starting that process of a resource assessment and attack plan.

You might be asking...So, what kind of org is this from a size standpoint. They have about 800M in annual revenue, roughly 5,000 employees, and 80 distribution centers globally (including Europe and Asia). They don't really manufacture anything. They distribute fun stuff like fasteners, nuts, bolts etc.... (this is why experience in that manufacturing and distribution arena is critically important). They have grown through acquisition...So, another neat thing to see in your background is experience working with organizations that have grown through M&A.

Here, in a nutshell are the things you will be doing (yep, the official JD has a bunch of bullets, as you might expect. Rather than stating them all here, I thought it would be more beneficial to hit the key ones):

• Define and execute the enterprise PMO strategy, operating model, governance framework, and project delivery standards.
• Establish consistent project management methodologies, templates, policies, and best practices across the organization.
• Select, implement, and continuously improve enterprise project and portfolio management (PPM) tools to increase transparency, efficiency, and execution excellence.
• Ensure appropriate governance through project stage gates, risk management, issue escalation, change control, and executive reporting.
• Develop meaningful KPIs, dashboards, and portfolio metrics that enable executive visibility into delivery performance and business outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement of project and portfolio management maturity across the enterprise.
• Lead the enterprise project intake, evaluation, and prioritization process to ensure alignment with strategic business objectives.
• Develop and coach Business Relationship Managers to serve as strategic partners between business functions and Information Technology.

Here is what we are seeking (all of these are gotta haves):

• At least 10 years of PMO experience. This needs to include either building PMOs from the ground up, or refining PMOs that already existed.
• At least 10 years of experience in the Manufacturing or Distribution space.
• PMP Certification
• Experience in organizations that have international presence