Director, Data & AI Program Management

LLP; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 232,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

Sidley Austin LLP seeks a Program Management Director to act as the operational backbone of its Data & AI organization, leading a ~100-person team across AI Engineering, Data Engineering, UX Design, Product Management, and Data Governance.

Reporting to the Product Management Senior Director, you will inherit two Program Managers and partner with senior leadership to drive milestones, KPIs, OKRs, and governance across initiatives.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, CS or related field.
• 10+ years program or project management experience, including 5+ years in leadership.
• Experience managing large cross-functional programs (100+ people).
• Deep proficiency with Jira, Confluence, and roadmapping tools.
• Proven expertise implementing and scaling agile delivery across multi-disciplinary tech teams.
• OKR/KPI frameworks with accountability.
• Experience developing program management professionals.
• Executive presence with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to hold teams accountable and drive decisions.
• Operate in a matrixed, fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end program management framework for Data & AI, ensuring delivery, visibility, accountability.
• Standardize Agile practices: Jira workflows, sprint planning, backlog management, reporting.
• Develop exec dashboards to track portfolio health, milestones, resources, risks, dependencies.
• Collaborate with Data & AI leadership to define, track, report OKRs, KPIs, priorities.
• Drive governance with weekly, monthly, quarterly program reviews.
• Identify risks, remove blockers, implement corrective actions.
• Lead, mentor, and grow PMs; foster accountability and operational excellence.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Product, UX, Data Governance, IT on dependencies.
• Advise senior leadership on execution planning and capacity.
• Drive adoption of Jira, Aha!, Confluence as enterprise systems of record.
• Improve processes for efficiency, scalability, and delivery.

Skills

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Judgment

Interpersonal communication

Analytical thinking

Discretion

Pressure management

Multitasking

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, CS

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Roadmapping tools

Job description

Sidley Austin LLP seeks a Program Management Director to act as the operational backbone of its Data & AI organization, leading a ~100-person team across AI Engineering, Data Engineering, UX Design, Product Management, and Data Governance.

Reporting to the Product Management Senior Director, you will inherit two Program Managers and partner with senior leadership to drive milestones, KPIs, OKRs, and governance across initiatives.