Program Manager at Equity Bank Kenya

Job Purpose

The role of the Program Manager is responsible for the strategic planning and effective management of the program's output/product and ensure proper governance and successful delivery. S/he will supervise and organise activities and ensure that the project goals align with the company's objectives. S/he will optimize the program, balance capacity against demand, and connect plans and resources for project execution.

In this role, s/he will be responsible for gathering resources, generating schedules, establishing teams to fulfil initiatives; you will interface with project members, vendors, managers, executives, and stakeholders to manage risk and ensure projects are completed on time and under budget.

Job Responsibilities/ Accountabilities

• Leads planning and management of small to large cross-domain initiatives and activities, including conducting analyses, developing the project and change management plans, and driving execution.
• Oversee requirements management processes including requirements elicitation, analysis, validation, and ongoing scope management.
• Owns project planning, work breakdown structure (WBS) / Scheduling, financial management, and quality and performance management. 
• Identify key requirements for cross-functional teams and external vendors.
• Work closely with project sponsor, cross-functional teams, and assigned project managers to develop the scope, deliverables, required resources, work plan, budget, and timing for new initiatives.

Budget and costing

• Oversee the Budget utilization at Program level. 
• Develop and manage budget for projects and programs. 
• Be accountable for delivering against established business goals/objective.

Reporting & Tracking

Ensure adequate and constant communications management and reporting, utilizing multiple channels including daily standups, regularly scheduled steerco meetings as well as standard reports to include ongoing updates, monthly progress reports.

Implementation

• Develop, produce and deliver executive presentations, program updates, and set and articulate goals and timelines to executive leadership. · Drive implementing the full software development life cycle (SDLC).
• Oversee multiple project teams, ensuring program goals are reached.
• Manage program and project teams for optimal return on investment, and coordinate and delegate cross-project initiatives.

Communication

• Coordinate with other project teams and stakeholders to gather project status, performance and communicate policy where required.

Risk Management

• Work with the risk leadership, individual project managers, 3rd party vendors, cybersecurity staff, and other external stakeholders to identify, assess, and mitigate risks.
• Maintain and update risk Register.
• Analyze, evaluate, and overcome program risks, and produce program reports for managers and stakeholders.

Project Closure

• Review overall project governance and project closure.
• Developing an evaluation method to assess program strengths and identify areas for improvement.

Qualifications

Required Skills/Experience

• Demonstrated successful mastery of major components of the Project Lifecycle Development in the context of major systems implementations. 
• Demonstrated mastery on project scheduling on MS Project or an equivalent project Management Tool like Smartsheet. 
• Ability to organize and direct quality time-bound work efforts in a matrixed environment.
• Experience with financial services systems preferred.
• Demonstrated high level of analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Outstanding client relationship management skills.
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Must have experience managing large scale projects and budgets exceeding $1M+. 
• Ability to translate technical concepts into non-technical terms.
• Comfortable working with executive management. 
• Demonstrated ability to drive crucial conversations across stakeholders of varying seniority.
• Ability to manage multiple medium to complex business & projects.
• 8+ years of professional experience.
• 7+ years of professional project management experience on projects.
• 3+ years of experience in running projects in an agile environment.
• PMP certification preferred.
• Must demonstrate an understanding of financial services. 
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience is required.