Strategic Program & Project Delivery Lead

Canadian National Railway Company; Montréal-Est; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

CN is seeking an experienced Expert Program & Project Manager to lead the delivery of strategic IT initiatives. You will align objectives, stakeholder needs, and execution across cross-functional teams, vendors, and business partners to deliver measurable value.

You will ensure governance, risk, and dependency management, provide transparent reporting, and drive continuous improvement of project governance processes, while developing team members in a high-performing delivery culture.

Qualifications

• At least 10 years of IT project management experience.
• Knowledge of data engineering concepts and technologies.
• End-to-end delivery of mission-critical technology products/services with minimal downtime.
• Handover to operations with change management knowledge.
• Ability to think strategically while detailing technical and operational aspects.
• PMP Certification or equivalent (Prince-2, PMI-ACP).
• Agile methodologies – SAFe, Scrum, Dev-Ops, CI/CD.
• Mastery of project management best practices with strong communication.
• Coordinate interdependencies with other projects.
• Strong leadership, negotiation, facilitation and interpersonal skills.
• Quick learner, autonomous and comfortable with ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Project Professional Server (PPM/PWA).
• Intermediate to expert MS Excel or MS PowerPoint.
• Experience in IT projects in the Transportation or Rail industry is an asset.
• Fluently bilingual both written and verbal (English, French).

Responsibilities

• Accountable for the successful delivery of large-scale, complex programs and projects, driving execution, stakeholder alignment, governance, and achievement of intended business outcomes.
• Demonstrates broad knowledge of project delivery methodologies, governance frameworks, organizational change practices and portfolio management principles.
• Effectively negotiates and aligns scope, funding, timelines, and priorities with project sponsors, senior leaders, and governance committees per CN I&T model.
• Provides leadership, guidance, and direction to project teams to achieve desired business outcomes.
• Ensures transparent communication of project health through defined metrics, value realization, and delivery outcomes to executives and steering committees.
• Partners with functional leaders to identify resources required.
• Develops and monitors delivery roadmaps, milestones, and success metrics for informed decisions.
• Proactively identifies, assesses, and mitigates project risks and issues with actionable options.
• Leads operational readiness and transition activities to ensure adoption and long-term value realization.

Skills

IT project management

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Negotiation

Communication

Strategic thinking

Ambiguity tolerance

Cross-functional collaboration

Vendor management

Bilingual English/French

Education

PMP Certification or equivalent (Prince-2, PMI-ACP)

Tools

Microsoft Project Professional Server (PPM/PWA)

MS Excel

MS PowerPoint

Job description

CN is seeking an experienced Expert Program & Project Manager to lead the delivery of strategic IT initiatives. You will align objectives, stakeholder needs, and execution across cross-functional teams, vendors, and business partners to deliver measurable value.

You will ensure governance, risk, and dependency management, provide transparent reporting, and drive continuous improvement of project governance processes, while developing team members in a high-performing delivery culture.