Program Manager

First Student•Cincinnati, OH

9d•$130,000 - $150,000

About The Position

The Program Manager leads transformational enterprise programs within First Student and is accountable for program governance, implementation-partner performance, and senior-leader alignment to keep programs on schedule and achieve committed value. The role directs a matrixed team of First Student staff and partner resources and provides leaders with decision-ready recommendations. The position oversees end-to-end governance, including the integrated plan, stage gates, risks and issues, change control, and executive steering committee cadence. It manages the implementation partner’s milestone-based statement of work, directs requirements gathering, coordinates senior process-owner capacity, integrates cross-program dependencies into a critical path, and leads cutover readiness through hypercare. The Program Manager also defines and tracks benefits and KPIs from program charter through post-go-live. Other responsibilities may be assigned or requested. English proficiency is required for training, safety communications, company policies, employment documents, and other job-related communications.

Requirements

Minimum 7 years of program or project management experience, including 3+ years as the accountable lead on high-value enterprise programs.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience.
Led at least one enterprise-system implementation through go-live.
Managed cross-functional programs involving external partners.
Aligned senior leaders without direct authority and influenced executive decisions.
Ran testing, cutover, and go/no-go for a legacy-system replacement.
Demonstrated ability to build and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
Significant demonstrated ability to drive process and performance improvements.
Complex problem-solving ability.
English proficiency.

Nice To Haves

PMP, PgMP, or additional certifications.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end program governance, including the integrated plan, stage gates, risks and issues, change control, and executive steering committee cadence.
Manage the implementation partner’s milestone-based statement of work, including scope, phase exit criteria, deliverable acceptance within contract windows, and remediation.
Direct requirements gathering to ensure sessions are appropriately scoped, the right business owners attend, and requirements are traceable and signed off before build.
Secure and maintain time from senior Finance, Operations, and IT leaders serving as process owners, and escalate capacity conflicts before they cause schedule slips.
Bring cross-program systems, process, and change dependencies into a single critical path.
Lead cutover readiness, including parallel cycles, data conversion, test exit criteria, go/no-go decisions, and hypercare.
Define and track benefits and KPIs from charter through post-go-live.
Provide leadership with decision-ready recommendations, not just status reports.
Direct a matrixed team of First Student staff and partner resources.
Perform other responsibilities as required or requested.