Director, Program Management Office

Voleon; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

The Voleon Group in Berkeley is seeking a Director of the PMO to scale delivery across Research and Engineering as the company grows. You will build PMO structure, establish planning standards, and partner with executives to translate strategy into executable programs.

You will lead senior teams, drive metrics, and foster a culture of psychological safety and continuous improvement. This role requires 10+ years in leadership, a technical bachelor's, and experience in hyper-growth environments

Qualifications

• 10+ years in program, portfolio, or delivery leadership roles.
• 5+ years of people management experience.
• Experience building or scaling a PMO in a hyper-growth environment.
• Experience with geographically distributed teams.
• Hands-on experience with Agile/Scrum at scale.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale the Program Management Office with structure, defined roles, career paths, and leadership layers.
• Establish scalable planning, delivery, and reporting standards to improve consistency and outcomes.
• Adapt delivery models and tooling for growing size and geographic distribution.
• Partner with executives to translate strategic goals into executable programs and projects.
• Define and operationalize metrics to improve predictability and decision-making.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team of PMs and PMOs, including coaching and succession planning.

Skills

Program management

Leadership

Agile / Scrum

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Smartsheet

Excel/Google Docs

GenAI tools

Job description

• Base Salary $250K - $300K Offers Bonus

The listed base salary range for this position is based upon the location(s) of this posting. Individual salaries are determined through a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and geography. Base salary does not include other forms of total compensation such as bonus compensation and other benefits.

Our benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, life and AD&D insurance, 20 days of paid time off, 9 sick days, and a 401(k) plan with a company match.

Voleon is a technology company that applies state-of-the-art AI and machine learning techniques to real-world problems in finance. For nearly two decades, we have led our industry and worked at the frontier of applying AI/ML to investment management. We have become a multibillion-dollar asset manager, and we have ambitious goals for the future.

Your colleagues will include internationally recognized experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning research as well as highly experienced finance and technology professionals. In addition to our enriching and collegial working environment, we offer highly competitive compensation and benefits packages, technology talks by our experts, a beautiful modern office, daily catered lunches, and more.

The Director of the Program Management Office (PMO) will build and scale a PMO that drives delivery and successful outcomes as Voleon experiences rapid growth. This role focuses on improving how work gets planned, prioritized, and delivered - while strengthening alignment across our Research and Engineering teams during a period of significant expansion.

Responsibilities

Build & Scale the PMO

Build and scale the Program Management Office, including organizational structure, role definitions, career paths, and leadership layers, while maintaining a high hiring and onboarding bar during rapid growth

Establish scalable, lightweight standards for planning, delivery, and reporting that improve consistency and outcomes without slowing teams down

Adapt delivery models, processes, and tooling to support increasing organizational size, complexity, and geographic distribution

Strategic Partnership & Execution

Partner with executive leadership to translate strategic goals into executable programs and projects

Establish visibility into priorities, capacity, dependencies, risks, and delivery progress

Define and operationalize meaningful metrics to improve predictability, transparency, and decision-making

Lead and evolve operational practices in scaled environments while adapting frameworks to organizational context

Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of Technical Program Managers and Program Managers, including hiring, coaching, mentoring, and succession planning

Advocate for PMO capacity, workload, and professional development with senior leadership

Create an environment of psychological safety, continuous improvement, and shared ownership during periods of growth and change

Organizational Influence & Change Leadership

Navigate and align stakeholders with differing priorities and opinions, driving clarity and decisions with diplomacy and conviction.

Communicate clearly with executives about progress, risks, trade-offs, and required decisions

Lead organizational change thoughtfully, challenging existing processes when they no longer serve the organization while respecting what works

Requirements

10+ years in program, portfolio, or delivery leadership roles, with at least 5 years of people management experience

Proven experience building or scaling a PMO in a hyper-growth environment (startup scale-up or high-growth division)

Demonstrated ability to design organizational structures, career ladders, and leadership layers, including experience with geographically distributed teams

Hands-on expertise with execution and delivery frameworks, such as Agile methodologies, particularly Scrum, including experience adapting frameworks for different organizational contexts and operating at scale

Experience with setting up and driving adoption of modern project management and productivity tools (Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Excel/Google docs, genAI) to support prioritization, resourcing and delivery insights

Strong human-centric leadership skills, including coaching, mentoring, and advocating for team with senior leadership

Proven ability to influence across levels and functions without formal authority, with high emotional intelligence

Bachelor's degree in a technical field

"Friends of Voleon" Candidate Referral Program

If you have a great candidate in mind for this role and would like to have the potential to earn $7,500 if your referred candidate is successfully hired and employed by The Voleon Group, please use this form to submit your referral. For more details regarding eligibility, terms and conditions please make sure to review the Voleon Referral Bonus Program.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Voleon Group is an Equal Opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other factors prohibited by local, state, or federal law.