Manager, Program Management & Strategic Execution

The Imagine Group•Grayslake, IL

1d•$90,100 - $129,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Program Management & Strategic Execution is responsible for leading the governance, planning, execution oversight, and cross-functional coordination of Imagine's largest and most strategic retail graphics, branding, deployment, and installation programs. This position serves as the central owner of program governance, change management, integrated scheduling, risk management, and executive reporting to ensure customer commitments are delivered on time, within budget, and at expected quality levels. The Manager partners with Account Management, Engineering, Procurement, Production, Logistics, Project Management, and external installation partners to drive accountability, improve execution discipline, and support program profitability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Project Management, Construction Management, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
10+ years of program management, project management, operations leadership, or strategic execution experience.
Demonstrated success leading large, complex, cross-functional customer programs in a deadline-driven environment.
Experience developing and managing integrated schedules, risk management processes, and customer-driven change control.
Proven ability to influence stakeholders and drive accountability across functions without direct reporting authority.
Ability to lead and influence cross-functional teams, driving accountability and alignment without direct authority.
Strong program leadership capabilities, including governance, scheduling, risk management, and change management.
Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, including interaction with customers and executive leadership.
Strong business acumen with the ability to analyze performance, support profitability, and drive operational improvement.

Nice To Haves

PMP, PgMP, Lean Six Sigma, and/or Change Management certification.
Experience supporting retail graphics, branding, signage, fixture, visual merchandising, or other large-scale deployment programs.
Experience within manufacturing-to-installation, multi-site rollout, construction, or field services environments.
Experience leading strategic customer programs requiring coordination across engineering, procurement, production, logistics, and installation teams.

Responsibilities

Lead execution oversight for the company's largest, most complex, and strategically significant customer programs.
Establish and maintain program governance processes, standards, and reporting structures.
Develop and manage integrated master schedules across all project phases including engineering, procurement, production, logistics, and installation.
Drive accountability for milestone completion and program deliverables across all functional departments.
Lead cross-functional program review meetings and executive-level status reviews.
Ensure alignment between customer commitments and operational execution plans.
Own and administer formal change management processes across strategic customer programs.
Evaluate scope modifications for schedule, cost, resource, and operational impacts.
Coordinate cross-functional impact assessments and recovery plans associated with customer-driven changes and schedule risks.
Ensure all customer changes are documented, approved, communicated, and tracked through completion.
Monitor critical path activities and proactively identify schedule risks and delivery constraints.
Facilitate installation readiness reviews to ensure successful deployment execution.
Establish and maintain program risk registers and coordinate mitigation strategies with stakeholders.
Escalate critical delivery, quality, operational, and financial risks while providing resolution recommendations to leadership.
Develop executive dashboards, program scorecards, forecasts, and reporting tools.
Deliver monthly and quarterly business reviews related to strategic programs.
Provide visibility into key performance indicators, operational trends, customer commitments, and program health.
Support margin protection initiatives and monitor change-order opportunities and recovery efforts.
Improve forecast accuracy and financial visibility across strategic programs.
Identify opportunities to reduce expedited freight, rework, and other program-related costs.
Establish best practices for large-scale retail rollout execution and improve coordination across operational functions.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on execution excellence, scalability, and decision-making effectiveness.
Perform other duties as assigned.