Senior Director, Portfolio & Program Management

100 LEARFIELD; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 172,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

Health Savings Account

Life Insurance

Flexible Paid Time Off

20 Paid Holidays

401(k) + Match

Short/Long Term Disability

Job summary

Learfield is seeking a Senior Director, Portfolio & Program Management to lead the enterprise portfolio, aligning capacity with strategic priorities and guiding data-driven investment decisions. You will be the single source of truth on development portfolio state for executives.

You will build the PMO function, recruit and mentor managers, and establish scalable governance rhythms to deliver value across segments and product initiatives. The role requires strong experience shaping demand vs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years leading a portfolio or PMO in a product‑led software org.
• Proven ability to translate priorities into portfolio decisions and resource plans.
• Executive presence and ability to influence without direct authority.
• Understand engineering investment economics, including ROI and capex/opex.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver enterprise capacity scorecard and portfolio visibility.
• Build and lead the program management function and team.
• Lead portfolio review forums with executive leadership and present data-backed options.
• Oversee resource allocation and capacity planning across segments.
• Establish scalable operating rhythms and governance cadence.
• Partner with Finance to integrate investment tracking and ROI metrics.

Skills

Portfolio governance

Executive influence

Financial acumen

Data & systems discipline

Leadership / team building

Strategic planning

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Portfolio management platforms

Job description

Job Overview

Paciolan operates across multiple business segments with distinct client needs and growth trajectories. As the organization accelerates investment in new products, shared product, engineering, and design, capacity has become its most constrained and strategically valuable resource. The Senior Director, Portfolio & Program Management establishes and leads the enterprise portfolio function that governs how this capacity is allocated and deployed. This role provides end-to-end visibility into the product development portfolio, ensuring alignment between strategic priorities and execution while enabling leadership to make informed, data-driven investment decisions. This is a charter-level role, serving as the connective layer between segment demand and engineering supply, and acting as the single source of truth on the state of the development portfolio for the President, CTO, CPO, and CFO.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Portfolio Governance & Visibility Own and deliver the enterprise capacity scorecard, providing a clear and recurring view of how shared resources are allocated and whether deployment aligns with business priorities. Build and maintain the single source of truth for all product development initiatives, including scope, ownership, dependencies, risk, status, and forecasts. Surface insights on misalignment, overcommitment, and emerging delivery risks.

Team Leadership & Function Build Build and lead the program management function, aligning resources to product domains and business segments. Recruit, develop, and scale a high‑performing team of program managers. Establish a durable operating model that evolves with growth.

Executive Decision Support Lead the recurring portfolio review forum with executive leadership, structuring discussions, framing tradeoffs, and enabling prioritization decisions. Present clear, data‑backed options when demand exceeds available capacity. Capture decisions and ensure alignment and follow‑through across stakeholders.

Resource Allocation & Capacity Planning Operate the enterprise resource allocation process across segments and product initiatives, making both supply and demand transparent and actionable. Identify and elevate capacity conflicts, dependency risks, and delivery constraints early. Ensure ongoing alignment between strategic direction and weekly/monthly capacity deployment.

Operating Model & Delivery Discipline Establish scalable, lightweight standards for status reporting, risk management, and forecasting across delivery teams. Drive a consistent operating cadence that enables decision‑making without introducing unnecessary process overhead. Clearly distinguish between portfolio governance and delivery execution reporting.

Financial Integration & Investment Management Partner with Finance to integrate engineering investment tracking into portfolio reporting, including cost-per‑initiative, capex/opex classification, and domain‑level spend. Enable visibility into ROI and benefits realization for completed initiatives and incorporate learnings into prioritization. Link capacity allocation decisions to financial outcomes and investment performance.

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years of proven experience leading a portfolio or PMO function within a product‑led, software‑driven organization, with an emphasis on outcomes over process compliance.
• Demonstrated success in converting business priorities into actionable portfolio decisions, including resource allocation, sequencing, and tradeoffs.
• Executive Influence: Strong presence with senior leadership; skilled at communicating complex tradeoffs clearly and influencing decisions without direct authority.
• Financial Acumen: Demonstrated understanding of engineering investment economics, including capex/opex treatment, cost modeling, and ROI analysis.
• Data & Systems Discipline: Experience building accurate, scalable portfolio reporting using tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or portfolio management platforms, with pragmatic use of AI‑supported insights.
• Operating Cadence: Ability to design and sustain governance rhythms that drive decisions and accountability.
• Build & Scale Mindset: Experience standing up new functions and evolving them into scalable organizational capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in ticketing, sports technology, live entertainment, or comparable multi‑segment B2B SaaS environments.

Pay Transparency

The approximate national base pay range for this position is $172,000 to $215,000. Please note that this is a good faith estimate for the position at the time of posting. Individuals may also be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus and/or sales compensation based on individual and company performance. Placement on the range may vary based on factors including but not limited to job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience, and geographic location. The pay rate will comply with all minimum federal, state, and local wage/salary requirements.

Benefits

Learfield offers a full spectrum of benefits for eligible employees including Medical, Dental, Vision, Health Savings Account, Life Insurance and Other Insurance Plans, Flexible Paid Time Off (minimum 10+ days annually), including Parental Leave, 20 Paid Holidays, 401(k) + Match, and Short/Long Term Disability.

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Health Savings Account
• Life Insurance and Other Insurance Plans
• Flexible Paid Time Off (minimum 10+ days annually), including Parental Leave
• 20 Paid Holidays
• 401(k) + Match
• Short/Long Term Disability

Equal Opportunity

We provide equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race; color; sex; gender identity; sexual orientation; religious practices and observances; national origin; pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; status as a protected veteran or spouse/family member of a protected veteran; or disability.

We build leading‑edge technologies, world‑class service, and lifelong partnerships. Our people‑friendly culture is the hallmark of our approach to business. To achieve success, the company and its employees strive daily to live up to the company´s culture of Passion, Accountability, and Collaboration. Our Passion drives the organization to new heights and instills a culture that positively impacts our lives. Our Accountability creates solutions supporting our clients to succeed and enable their fans and patrons to enjoy seamless, delightful experiences from discovering an event to buying a ticket and attending. Our Collaboration is how we do it all! We achieve more and work better‑ together.