Senior Program Manager, Data Insights

We are looking for an experienced Senior Program Manager to lead a high-visibility Data Insights Program for a large payments client. The ideal candidate will have 10+ years of program management experience, a strong background in data products, analytics platforms, data architecture, and data engineering, and the ability to establish program roadmaps and governance structures in a fast-moving environment.

This is a data-focused program leadership role requiring strong stakeholder management, enterprise delivery, regulatory compliance, and financial management capabilities.

Experience: 10+ years
Work Mode: Remote
Working Hours: Must overlap with US Eastern Time
Certification: Active PMP certification is mandatory

Key Responsibilities

1. Data Program Leadership

• Lead complex, cross-functional data programs from initial scoping through implementation and go-live.
• Define program roadmaps, governance structures, priorities, and delivery plans.
• Coordinate data product, analytics and insights platform, data architecture, and engineering teams.
• Translate business requirements into actionable data and insights deliverables.
• Align business and technology stakeholders on program objectives and expected outcomes.

2. Program Management and Delivery

• Manage large-scale enterprise portfolios worth $10M+ across scope, schedule, budget, forecasting, risks, and change management.
• Own program vision, strategy, and roadmaps.
• Translate business, regulatory, and compliance requirements into API-first, cloud-native, and data-driven solutions.
• Drive delivery using Waterfall, Agile, and SAFe methodologies.
• Coordinate engineering, data, AI/ML, UX, and DevOps teams.
• Define and monitor OKRs and KPIs and validate business value after go-live.
• Manage vendors, contracts, Statements of Work (SOWs), and onshore/offshore delivery teams.

3. Program Governance and PMO

• Maintain project plans, RAID logs, action trackers, and dependency trackers across multiple workstreams.
• Conduct governance meetings, steering committee reviews, and leadership discussions.
• Establish program reporting standards and governance best practices.
• Manage change-control processes, Change Advisory Board activities, and intake workflows.
• Monitor risks and issues, conduct risk-register reviews, and escalate critical concerns with mitigation options.

4. Executive Reporting and Stakeholder Management

• Prepare weekly, monthly, and senior-management status reports, executive presentations, and program dashboards.
• Use Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint for reporting and performance tracking.
• Work closely with senior business leaders, technology leadership, C-suite stakeholders, risk, legal, and compliance teams.
• Maintain accountability for program delivery and business outcomes.

5. Risk, Compliance, and Data Governance

• Deliver audit-ready solutions in regulated environments.
• Support compliance with applicable regulatory and control frameworks, including OCC, Federal Reserve supervisory expectations, SOX, SOC 1/SOC 2, and PCI-DSS.
• Lead data governance initiatives, including data-domain identification, lineage tracking, data-quality controls, and data-gap remediation.
• Monitor controls, conduct risk reviews and quarterly attestations, and manage remediation of control deficiencies.
• Apply knowledge of relevant financial regulations, including Dodd-Frank, ECOA, BSA/AML, KYC, GDPR, and CCPA.

6. Resource and Financial Management

• Manage resource planning, capacity, budget tracking, and program financials.
• Monitor expenditure and program health against agreed targets and milestones.
• Maintain portfolio data and program information using PPM tools such as Clarity PPM.

Mandatory Requirements

• 10+ years of program management experience leading complex, cross-functional programs from initiation through delivery.
• Strong hands-on experience in data products, analytics and insights platforms, data architecture, and data engineering.
• Proven ability to establish roadmaps, governance, and structure when program scope is still evolving.
• Experience managing large enterprise portfolios, budgets, risks, schedules, and multiple vendors.
• Hands-on knowledge of Waterfall, Agile, and SAFe delivery methodologies, including PI planning and release planning.
• Strong PMO discipline, including project plans, RAID logs, dependency tracking, governance forums, and executive reporting.
• Active PMP certification.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Working knowledge of financial regulations, data privacy, and compliance controls.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Availability to work hours that overlap with US Eastern Time.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in payments, merchant services, banking, or financial services.
• Direct experience leading data governance or data-controls programs under regulatory oversight.
• Experience with cloud migrations involving Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS.
• Exposure to Identity and Access Management (IAM) programs.
• Experience with AI/ML, analytics, and generative AI use cases in financial services.
• Experience managing merger or integration programs, hyper-care, and major-incident frameworks.
• Additional certifications such as PSM I, CSM, PSPO I, SAFe PO/PM, SAFe Scrum Master, ITIL Foundation, Azure AZ-900/DP-900, or Google Cloud Foundations.

Tools and Technologies

JIRA, Confluence, Clarity PPM, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Waterfall, data governance, analytics platforms, cloud technologies, and data engineering.