Principal Program Manager, Finance Digital Enablement

UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group); Dover (DE); On-site; EUR 115,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

UKG seeks a Principal Program Manager to lead enterprise-scale transformations within Finance Digital Enablement. You will partner with Finance leaders, IT, and business stakeholders to drive strategy, governance, and delivery across core finance processes and automation initiatives.

You will bring structure to ambiguity, manage risks, and guide programs from planning through deployment and value realization, delivering measurable business outcomes and adoption across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Project Management, or a related field.
• Proven success leading complex transformation programs with cross-functional teams.
• Experience with governance, risk management, and executive reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead large-scale transformation programs with significant business impact and visibility.
• Translate strategy into actionable delivery plans and sequencing with dependent activities.
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery across Finance, IT, Procurement, Sales, Treasury, HR, Internal Audit, and partners.
• Establish governance models, steering committees, and executive reporting focused on outcomes and risks.
• Identify and mitigate risks, dependencies, and scope changes to maintain momentum.
• Align technology implementation with business objectives and ensure successful deployments.
• Drive change management, communications, and readiness to maximize adoption of new processes.
• Track benefits and value realization across deployment and stabilization phases.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication

Influence without authority

Delivery leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/Finance/IT/PM

MBA or advanced degree

Job description

Why UKG:

At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That's what we do.

We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you'll get flexibility that’s real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters—and so do you.

About the Team:

Finance Digital Enablement exists to reimagine how Finance operates by combining process excellence, digital technologies, AI, automation, and data to build a simpler, smarter, and more scalable Finance organization.

Working in close partnership with Finance, IT, and business leaders, we drive the strategy, governance, and transformation of Finance’s core business processes and technology capabilities. We identify opportunities to modernize how Finance works, accelerate the responsible adoption of AI and intelligent automation, and ensure technology investments deliver measurable business value.

The Transformation Delivery & Enablement team serves as the delivery engine for Finance Digital Enablement, ensuring strategic initiatives are executed effectively, adopted successfully, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

About the Role:

The Principal Program Manager, Finance Digital Enablement is a senior individual contributor responsible for leading complex, enterprise-scale transformation programs across UKG’s Finance organization.

Reporting to the Director, Transformation Delivery & Enablement, this role drives strategic initiatives from planning through deployment, stabilization, and value realization. You will partner closely with Business Owners, Global Process Owners, IT Product Owners, and cross-functional stakeholders to align priorities, manage interdependencies, mitigate risks, and ensure successful execution.

This role goes beyond traditional project management. As a trusted transformation leader, you will bring structure to ambiguity, connect business and technology teams, facilitate critical decisions, and keep programs focused on delivering meaningful business outcomes.

You will lead some of Finance Digital Enablement’s most strategic initiatives, including Finance transformation, enterprise technology implementations, AI and automation programs, operating model changes, and cross-functional business initiatives.

What You'll Do:

Lead Complex Transformation Programs:

• Lead large-scale Finance transformation programs with significant business impact and organizational visibility.
• Define program objectives, scope, governance structures, milestones, resource requirements, and success measures.
• Maintain an integrated view across business processes, technology, data, controls, organizational readiness, and operational impacts.
• Drive execution from mobilization through implementation, stabilization, and transition to operational ownership.

Translate Strategy into Execution:

• Convert strategic objectives and transformation roadmaps into actionable delivery plans.
• Partner with Finance leaders, Global Process Owners, and technology teams to define sequencing, dependencies, implementation approaches, and success criteria.
• Bring clarity and structure to complex initiatives while adapting to changing priorities and business needs.

Orchestrate Cross-Functional Delivery:

• Align stakeholders across Finance, IT, Procurement, Sales, Treasury, Human Resources, Internal Audit, and external partners.
• Coordinate business and technical workstreams to ensure successful delivery across multiple teams.
• Resolve competing priorities and facilitate timely decision-making to maintain program momentum.

Drive Governance and Executive Alignment:

• Establish effective governance models, steering committees, escalation paths, and decision frameworks.
• Deliver concise, executive-level reporting focused on outcomes, risks, dependencies, resource considerations, and business impacts.
• Provide leadership with transparency into program health and recommendations for action.

Manage Risk and Complexity:

• Proactively identify and manage risks, issues, dependencies, resource constraints, and scope changes.
• Apply structured problem-solving and root-cause analysis to address challenges before they impact delivery.
• Develop mitigation strategies and provide clear recommendations to stakeholders and leadership.

Integrate Business and Technology Delivery:

• Partner closely with IT Product Owners, delivery teams, architects, and vendors to align technology implementation with business objectives.
• Coordinate activities related to requirements, solution design, integrations, testing, deployment, controls validation, cutover, and stabilization.
• Ensure clear ownership and accountability across business and technical teams.

Drive Business Readiness and Adoption:

• Partner with change management, business leaders, and stakeholders to prepare teams for successful adoption.
• Integrate communications, training, stakeholder engagement, readiness assessments, and adoption planning into overall program execution.
• Monitor readiness and adoption outcomes and implement corrective actions when needed.

Deliver Measurable Business Value:

• Keep programs focused on achieving business outcomes rather than simply meeting milestones.
• Partner with business leaders to establish success metrics, benefits, KPIs, and value realization plans.
• Track outcomes through implementation and stabilization to ensure expected benefits are achieved.

Advance Delivery Excellence:

• Contribute to the continued evolution of Finance Digital Enablement’s delivery methodologies, governance practices, tools, and standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve program management effectiveness and organizational execution capabilities.
• Share lessons learned and best practices across the transformation portfolio.

What Success Looks Like:

Within your first 12-18 months, you will:

• Establish credibility as a trusted advisor to Business Owners, Global Process Owners, IT Product Owners, and Finance leaders.
• Successfully lead multiple complex transformation programs through critical delivery milestones.
• Improve governance, transparency, and executive decision-making through effective program leadership.
• Drive strong integration across business, technology, data, controls, testing, readiness, and adoption workstreams.
• Deliver programs through deployment, stabilization, and operational transition with measurable business outcomes.
• Demonstrate progress toward value realization and business benefits beyond traditional schedule and budget metrics.
• Strengthen Finance Digital Enablement’s program management standards, methodologies, and delivery practices.
• Become a recognized leader in driving successful Finance transformation outcomes.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Project Management, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience leading complex business transformation, Finance transformation, enterprise technology, or cross-functional programs in large organizations.
• Demonstrated success leading highly visible programs involving multiple stakeholders, business functions, and technology teams.
• Experience supporting Finance transformation initiatives and working knowledge of key Finance processes such as Record-to-Report, Procure-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash, Revenue, Treasury, Tax, or related areas.
• Experience with enterprise technology implementations, system integrations, testing, deployment planning, business readiness, cutover, hypercare, and stabilization.
• Strong expertise in program governance, integrated planning, dependency management, risk management, executive reporting, and stakeholder alignment.
• Experience partnering with organizational change management and communications teams to support successful adoption.
• Strong business and financial acumen with the ability to evaluate business cases, expected benefits, investment tradeoffs, and value realization.
• Experience working within Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery environments.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority and lead through complexity and change.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or other advanced degree.
• PMP or equivalent program/project management certification.
• Experience leading Finance transformation initiatives within a SaaS or technology organization.
• Experience supporting AI, automation, or emerging technology programs.
• Experience working with enterprise ERP, Finance, or business process platforms.
• Experience operating within highly matrixed, global organizations.

Company Overview:

UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry - because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.

Equal Opportunity Employer

UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.

View The EEO Know Your Rights poster (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/EEOC_KnowYourRights_screen_reader_10_20.pdf)

UKG participates in E-Verify. View the E-Verify posters here (https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf) .

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email [e-mail] .

The pay range for this position is $129,500 to $186,100. The actual base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and work location. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible to participate in a performance-based bonus plan and to receive restricted stock unit awards as part of total compensation. Learn more about UKG’s benefits and rewards at https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits

It is the policy of Ultimate Software to promote and assure equal employment opportunity for all current and prospective Peeps without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, veteran status, and any other legally protected status entitled to protection under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws. This policy governs all matters related to recruitment, advertising, and initial selection of employment. It shall also apply to all other aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, compensation, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-offs, terminations, leave of absence, and training opportunities.