Senior Program Manager (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area)

We are looking for a Senior Program Manager who can lead high-visibility, large enterprise implementations that span both critical business and technology workstreams. This is a 12 months contract to hire hybrid (onsite/remote) position with our client in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In this role as a Senior Program Manager, you will be Operating at the intersection of executive strategy and execution, you will oversee multi-million-dollar portfolios—including insurance core-system and Policy Administration System (PAS) transformations.

As a Senior Program Manager your primary responsibility is to drive delivery through a complex ecosystem of internal teams and external providers. This role requires an expert in multi-vendor integration, scope/change control, and strict contract/SOW governance. Crucially, you must possess the unique leadership ability to challenge vendors, when necessary, without destroying the partnership. We prioritize candidates with a proven track record of successful implementation experience, not just certifications.

Responsibilities as a Senior Program Manager:

• Vendor-Led Delivery Oversight: Serve as the primary accountability partner for external system integrators (SIs), software providers, and consultants.
• Contract & SOW Governance: Manage the execution of complex vendor agreements, ensuring all deliverables, milestones, and SLAs are met before signing off on invoices.
• Multi-Vendor Integration: Orchestrate delivery across multiple distinct technology and consulting vendors, ensuring seamless collaboration and minimizing finger-pointing.
• Healthy Friction Management: Advocate strongly for the organization’s interests by constructively challenging vendors on delays, quality issues, or cost overruns while maintaining a collaborative, long-term working partnership.
• Rigorous Scope & Change Control: Establish tight program boundaries. Evaluate all incoming change requests for their impact on timelines, regulatory requirements, and the broader enterprise architecture to eliminate scope creep.
• Dependency & Risk Management: Proactively map and track cross-functional interdependencies between business units (underwriting, claims, actuarial) and technical teams. Maintain a comprehensive risk and issues register with active mitigation strategies.
• Proven Delivery Execution: Own the delivery lifecycle from inception to go-live, leveraging practical, battle-tested methodologies to pull failing initiatives back on track.
• Financial & Program Forecasting: Direct capital and operational budget tracking. Deliver precise monthly financial forecasts, burn-rate metrics, and variance analyses.
• Executive Steering Committees: Act as the strategic voice of the program. Prepare and deliver transparent, data-driven status updates, risk trade-offs, and critical decision frameworks to executive leadership and steering committees.

Required Skills and Qualifications as a Senior Program Manager:

· 10+ years of dedicated program management experience leading large enterprise

• Demonstrated history of bringing complex, multi-year programs to successful production go-live. Real-world delivery experience
• Expertise: Extensive background managing offshore/onsite vendor models, reviewing SOWs, and negotiating performance recoveries.
• Bachelor’s degree required.
• PMP, PgMP, or agile certifications
• Deep familiarity with Property & Casualty insurance workflows. Core-system or Policy Administration System (PAS) implementation experience is a huge plus.