Vice President of Product and Technology PMO

Workiva Inc.•Ames, IA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Workiva is seeking an exceptional PMO executive to lead and evolve our Product & Technology Program Management Office as the company enters its next phase of growth, beyond $1B ARR. This leader will drive execution excellence across R&D, ensuring that our most critical product, platform, and enterprise initiatives are delivered with clarity, discipline, and confidence. This role is for a strategic, influential leader who elevates how a product and technology organization plans, prioritizes, and delivers at scale. The VP of Product & Tech PMO will shape and operate the organization’s operating rhythm, bringing a proactive, business-driven approach to portfolio leadership and execution. As a core member of the Product & Technology leadership team, you will partner closely with the SVP & Head of Technology, the Chief Product Officer, and senior leaders across Product, Technology, and UX to lead annual and quarterly planning, clarify priorities and trade-offs, and ensure disciplined execution across the product and technology portfolio. This role serves as the connective tissue across strategy, investment, and delivery, ensuring teams are aligned on the right work, sequenced appropriately, and held to clear delivery commitments with transparent timelines and outcomes.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in Program Management, Technical Operations, R&D Operations, or Product/Technology leadership with advanced degree within high-growth SaaS, platform, or e-commerce organizations.
5+ years leading a global or enterprise PMO, Technical Program Management, or equivalent strategic operations function.
Demonstrated success evolving organizations from reactive project execution to proactive, portfolio-driven delivery and decision-making.
Strong technical fluency, with the ability to engage in high-level SaaS and platform architecture discussions, understand system trade-offs, and ask the right questions across business requirements, design, and execution.
Deep understanding of modern product development and engineering delivery models, including Agile, Lean, and hybrid approaches.
Exceptional executive communication and influence skills, with the ability to partner credibly with Product, UX, Engineering, and executive leadership.
A leadership style grounded in clarity, empathy, data-driven thinking, and the courage to challenge priorities when necessary to protect outcomes.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced technical or business degree.
Relevant certifications such as PMP, PgMP, SAFe, or equivalent Agile credentials.
Experience implementing or evolving portfolio management, planning, or workforce visibility tooling in scaled environments.

Responsibilities

Own and continuously mature the Technology and R&D planning and delivery operating model, spanning multi-year strategic planning, annual investment decisions, quarterly execution cycles, and release delivery.
Establish the PMO as a trusted strategic partner to Product, Engineering, and UX leadership, proactively shaping priorities and decisions rather than coordinating execution after the fact.
Drive prioritization and trade-off frameworks that balance customer value, business outcomes, capacity, and technical health.
Partner with business and GTM leaders on large, cross-company initiatives to ensure technology execution aligns with commercial objectives, regulatory commitments, and customer impact.
Bring commercial context into portfolio and execution discussions, proactively surfacing misalignment between strategy, investment, and expected business outcomes, and calling out high-risk areas early.
Own the definition, communication, and ongoing management of delivery commitments for the Technology portfolio, ensuring predictable timelines and early visibility into risks and trade-offs.
Elevate executive communication by translating complex delivery realities into clear, decision-oriented narratives for senior leadership.
Design, implement, and govern a lightweight, outcome-driven portfolio management approach spanning software engineering, platform, security, and infrastructure initiatives.
Lead portfolio-level planning, sequencing, and capacity alignment to ensure investments are clearly tied to strategic priorities and measurable outcomes.
Establish and maintain portfolio-level delivery confidence through clear sequencing, dependency management, and accountability for committed milestones across teams.
Provide executive-level visibility into progress, risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and resource allocation.
Partner with leaders to evolve delivery practices and tooling aligned with modern SaaS and product operating models.
Oversee critical cross-functional programs such as major product launches, platform modernization efforts, enterprise transformations, and M&A integrations.
Hold Product and Technology leaders accountable to delivery commitments with confidence, judgment, empathy, and strong executive presence.
Build, coach, and scale a high-performing PMO organization with a culture of ownership, intellectual curiosity, and constructive challenge.
Develop program and technical program managers into strategic advisors who can influence priorities, manage complexity, and protect outcomes.
Partner with Technology and Product leaders to strengthen operating discipline across the organization, including planning cadences, execution reviews, and decision forums.
Define and evolve KPIs, OKRs, and metrics that measure delivery predictability, investment efficiency, and business impact.
Identify opportunities to leverage tooling, automation, and emerging technologies, including AI-enabled capabilities, to improve planning, visibility, and execution at scale.
Lead and evolve shared delivery standards and practices across Product and Engineering, including ownership of the Product Center of Excellence and SDLC frameworks, to improve consistency, quality, and execution outcomes at scale.