Senior Project Manager, Special Programs

AFS•Exton, PA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Project Manager, Special Programs leads AFS’s most complex cross-functional initiatives from strategy through implementation, ensuring measurable business impact. The role establishes the structure, governance, and executive coordination needed to deliver programs such as M&A integrations, platform modernization, enterprise application implementations, and other strategic transformations. It translates high-priority business objectives into executable plans, aligns teams around shared outcomes, and helps ensure AFS realizes the intended value of its investments. The position owns assigned enterprise programs end-to-end, including definition, integrated planning, governance, execution, risk management, executive reporting, change readiness, and value realization. It establishes operating cadence, drives decisions within approved scope and budget, holds workstream leaders accountable, and escalates material changes, unresolved cross-functional conflicts, and risks that could affect business outcomes. The role partners with executive sponsors and leaders across enterprise functions. Programs must comply with AFS governance, contractual obligations, security requirements, and applicable regulatory and audit standards. Success in the first 12 months means establishing a trusted enterprise program management capability and making measurable progress on AFS’s highest-priority transformation initiatives while maintaining disciplined governance, stakeholder alignment, and operational continuity. The role is expected to establish an integrated view of assigned programs and consistent governance and executive reporting within the first 90 days; deliver milestones on time or through an approved re-baseline; maintain active risk, issue, dependency, and decision logs; align sponsors and workstream owners; provide an executive program dashboard; and complete transition plans that include business ownership, adoption measures, support expectations, and post-launch value tracking. The ideal candidate is a practical, trusted program leader who creates structure in ambiguity without unnecessary bureaucracy, moves between executive strategy and detailed execution, and aligns stakeholders around shared outcomes. The role operates primarily in a professional office environment during normal business hours, follows AFS’s hybrid work schedule, and may require occasional flexibility and periodic travel for program, customer, vendor, or internal business needs. Frequent use of computer systems and collaboration tools is required.

Requirements

Experience leading large, complex enterprise programs or transformations from concept through implementation, stabilization, and value realization.
Background working in technology, financial services, fintech, commercial banking, or similarly complex B2B environments with demanding customer, compliance, and operational requirements.
Demonstrated ability to build integrated plans, governance models, decision frameworks, and executive reporting that improve visibility, accountability, and delivery confidence.
Strong business and operational judgment, including the ability to understand technical, financial, customer, legal, security, and people-related considerations well enough to drive practical decisions.
Proven ability to influence senior leaders and cross-functional teams, resolve ambiguity, manage tradeoffs, and maintain progress amid competing priorities.
Comfort operating in regulated, audited, or security-conscious environments, with an understanding of governance, documentation, risk management, and control expectations.
Executive presence and communication skills to advise sponsors, facilitate decisions, and present complex information clearly to leadership audiences.
High ownership, strong follow-through, and the ability to create forward momentum while maintaining trust, transparency, and partnership.
Ability to perform the essential duties satisfactorily; reasonable accommodation may be made for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Responsibilities

Lead complex, enterprise-wide programs from strategy and business case through implementation, adoption, stabilization, and value realization.
Translate strategic objectives into integrated program roadmaps with clear scope, outcomes, milestones, dependencies, resources, decision points, and success measures.
Leverage AI and other tooling to build scale in strategic program execution.
Establish fit-for-purpose governance, decision rights, workstream structures, operating cadences, and executive reporting.
Align and coordinate cross-functional workstream leaders, manage dependencies, and hold teams accountable for agreed outcomes.
Identify, assess, and manage program risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies; escalate material concerns with options and recommendations.
Manage program budgets, resource plans, vendor commitments, and delivery forecasts, maintaining visibility into financial performance and capacity constraints.
Partner with business and functional leaders to define change impacts, stakeholder engagement, communications, training, and adoption plans.
Provide concise, decision-oriented updates to executive sponsors and governance forums, communicating progress, tradeoffs, risks, required decisions, and expected business impact.
Define and track program outcomes, adoption measures, and value-realization indicators, and ensure ownership transitions to the business and benefits are sustained.
Establish an integrated view of assigned enterprise programs, including scope, milestones, dependencies, resources, risks, decisions, and expected outcomes.
Implement governance and executive reporting cadences with clear decision rights, accountable owners, and documented escalation paths.
Maintain active risk, issue, dependency, and decision logs and escalate material items through appropriate governance forums.
Stand up an enterprise program dashboard for executive sponsors.
Complete transition plans for implemented capabilities, including business ownership, adoption measures, support expectations, and post-launch value tracking.
Operate with clarity and discipline, lead through influence, communicate for action, balance urgency with sound judgment, and maintain an outcome-oriented mindset.