Senior Program Manager

Napier AI•Wilmington, VA

About The Position

Imagine catching criminals before they strike - that’s exactly what Napier’s AI-powered platform does! By analysing transactions and customers in real time, Napier AI’s technology empowers financial institutions to spot suspicious activity, like money laundering, and stops it in its tracks. Napier AI’s technology works like a digital detective, combining AI with smart analytics to outthink criminals and protect people’s money from becoming criminal proceeds. It’s not just about stopping crime - it’s about making the financial world safer and more trustworthy for everyone. Collaboration, innovation and wonderful people are just some of the reasons to bring your career to Napier. Our culture is shaped by our core values that promote equality, creativity, and opportunity in everything we do.

Requirements

12+ years leading large-scale enterprise software delivery programs, with at least 5 years at senior program director or equivalent level
Direct financial crime compliance domain experience: AML, KYC, Transaction Monitoring, Sanctions Screening, or Case Management platforms. Not adjacent, not learned on the job during a stint - deep and current
Delivered at least one enterprise implementation into a Tier 1 or systemic bank in the UK, EU, or US, chairing steering committees at C-1 level
Proven turnaround experience: taken over a live enterprise program mid-flight, restored client confidence, re-baselined credibly, and landed a successful outcome
Cloud-based enterprise SaaS platform delivery experience, ideally including hyperscaler-hosted environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
Multi-vendor program experience across client, primary vendor, hyperscaler, and system integrator
Strong commercial and contractual instincts: has run defensive change control, held scope, defended margin, and defeated attempts to reclassify enhancements as defects
Experience of programs with regulatory or contractual hard deadlines (go/no-go gates, DORA, PRA/FCA supervisory dates, or equivalent)
Presence and credibility at C-1 and C-suite client levels
You bring calm authority and structured judgement to programs under pressure.
You are equally comfortable in a technical defect triage, a commercial change control meeting, and a bank executive steering committee.
You know when to push and when to protect, and you are willing to hold uncomfortable positions internally to protect the commercial and delivery outcome
You do not need consensus to act.
You do need clarity of accountability, direct access to executive decision-making, and the trust to run your program.

Nice To Haves

Experience of escrow, source-code deposit, or equivalent third-party regulatory instruments in a live client engagement
Experience across multiple geographic regions (EMEA, Americas, APAC)
Program management certifications (MSP, PgMP, PMP, Prince2) - useful, but not a substitute for the experience above
Experience in Private Equity-backed software companies operating to a defined value creation plan

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end delivery of Napier's largest enterprise programs, including Tier 1 National and European bank engagements
Establish and run program governance: steering committees, executive status reviews, RAID discipline, decision logs
Define and defend the acceptance criteria for go-live and any regulatory or contractual milestone
Coordinate delivery across Napier's Professional Services, Product, Engineering, Platform, Support, and Customer Success functions
Act as the single senior Napier delivery contact with the client's program director, delivery leads, and executive sponsors
Chair steering committees and executive status forums with authority and credibility
Prevent client escalations bypassing program governance
Represent Napier at client executive escalations, industry regulator interactions where relevant, and third-party (hyperscaler, SI) governance
Own program P&L, forecast, and margin
Run formal change control against every scope movement, defect classification, and delivery obligation
Defend Napier against uncapped commitments, one-sided release triggers, and unbounded acceptance criteria
Hold the defect versus change request line: no product commitment leaves Napier without your sign-off
Escalate commercial and contractual risk to the CCO before it becomes a client-facing position
Maintain the end-to-end program plan, dependency map, and critical path
Own the risk register and drive mitigations with named accountable owners
Establish and maintain go/no-go readiness assessment against agreed criteria
Drive continuous improvement in Napier's delivery methodology from evidence in the field
Manage the operational side of any escrow, source-code deposit, or equivalent regulatory instrument on your programs, working with Napier Legal, Engineering, and the third-party agent
Manage client expectations on trigger events, deposit content, and verification cycles
Ensure customers achieve successful implementation, adoption, and business value realisation
Manage a clean transition from delivery into Customer Success and Support with complete documentation and no orphaned commitments