Program Manager

First Student; United States; On-site; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

First Student is seeking a seasoned Program Manager to own end-to-end governance of large enterprise programs. You will coordinate with executives and internal teams, manage partnerSOWs, and drive on-time delivery with measurable value.

You will lead requirements sessions, align senior leaders without direct authority, and supervise a matrix team through cutover, go/no-go, and post-go-live benefits tracking.

Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years in program or project management, including 3+ years as accountable lead on high-value enterprise programs.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience.
• Led at least one enterprise-system implementation through go-live.
• Managed cross-functional programs including external partners.
• PMP, PgMP, and additional certifications preferred.

Responsibilities

• Owns end-to-end program governance: integrated plan, stage gates, risks and issues, change control, and the executive steering committee cadence
• Manages the implementation partner’s milestone-based SOW: scope, phase exit criteria, deliverable acceptance within contract windows, and remediation
• Directs the partner’s requirements gathering so sessions are scoped, the right business owners attend, and requirements are traceable and signed off before build
• Secures and keeps time from senior Finance, Operations, and IT leaders serving as process owners; escalates capacity conflicts before they become schedule slips
• Brings cross-program dependencies (systems, process, and change) into a single critical path
• Leads cutover readiness: parallel cycles, data conversion, test exit criteria, go/no-go decisions, and hypercare
• Defines and tracks benefits and KPIs from charter through post-go-live
• Gives leadership decision-ready recommendations, not just status reports
• Directs a matrixed team of First Student staff and partner resources
• Other responsibilities as required or requested

Skills

End-to-end governance

Executive alignment

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Process improvements

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

PMP

PgMP

Job description

Leading transformational enterprise programs within First Student, this role is accountable for program governance, implementation-partner performance, and obtaining alignment from senior leaders to ensure programs remain on schedule and achieve committed value.

Major Responsibilities

• Owns end-to-end program governance: integrated plan, stage gates, risks and issues, change control, and the executive steering committee cadence
• Manages the implementation partner’s milestone-based statement of work (SOW): scope, phase exit criteria, deliverable acceptance within contract windows, and remediation
• Directs the partner’s requirements gathering so sessions are scoped, the right business owners attend, and requirements are traceable and signed off before build
• Secures and keeps time from senior Finance, Operations, and IT leaders serving as process owners; escalates capacity conflicts before they become schedule slips
• Brings cross-program dependencies (systems, process, and change) into a single critical path
• Leads cutover readiness: parallel cycles, data conversion, test exit criteria, go/no-go decisions, and hypercare
• Defines and tracks benefits and KPIs from charter through post-go-live
• Gives leadership decision-ready recommendations, not just status reports
• Directs a matrixed team of First Student staff and partner resources
• Other responsibilities as required or requested

Experience

• Minimum 7 years in program or project management, including 3+ years as the accountable lead on high-value enterprise programs
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience
• Led at least one enterprise-system implementation through go-live
• Managed cross-functional programs including external partners
• Aligned senior leaders without direct authority and changed executive decisions rather than just reporting to executives
• Ran testing, cutover, and go/no-go for a legacy-system replacement
• Proven ability to build and manage relationships with all levels of internal and external stakeholders
• Significant, demonstrated ability to drive process and performance improvements
• Complex problem-solving ability
• PMP, PgMP, and additional certifications preferred

Compensation ranges from $130,000 - $150,000 depending on experience.