Senior Lead Program Manager, Client Project Delivery - Professional Consulting Services (RapidScale)

Cox Communications; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 134,900 - 224,900; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible vacation policy

Paid time off for holidays

Wellness hours for employees

Job summary

Cox Communications is seeking a Senior Lead Project / Program Manager based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The successful candidate will lead large, complex enterprise initiatives, providing strategic leadership across the entire project lifecycle. This position requires exceptional project management skills, a strong technical understanding, and the ability to influence stakeholders effectively.

With responsibilities spanning multiple technical teams and business functions, this role demands a proven track record in managing complex initiatives while ensuring delivery excellence and operational efficiency. We offer a competitive compensation package and a supportive work environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience leading complex engineering projects.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-scale projects.
• Strong understanding of project and program governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead large, complex projects and programs.
• Provide strategic leadership across project lifecycle.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver initiatives.
• Coach and mentor project managers and teams.

Skills

Leadership

Project Management

Risk Management

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Technical Understanding

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Business or related field

Master's degree

Ph.D.

Job description

At RapidScale, exceptional technology is powered by exceptional people. We deliver secure, reliable managed and advisory services across private, public, and hybrid clouds, helping organizations innovate, adapt, and grow. As an Elite Broadcom VMware VCSP Partner and top partner with AWS, Azure, and Google, our solutions focus on business outcomes with embedded cyber resiliency and AI to protect today and enable tomorrow backed by the strength of the Cox family of companies.

Senior Lead Project / Program Manager

The Senior Lead Project / Program Manager leads large, complex, enterprise initiatives that span multiple technical teams, business functions, and organizational priorities. This role provides strategic leadership across the full project and program lifecycle while serving as a trusted partner to professional services leadership, Operations, Architecture, and executive stakeholders.

As a recognized subject matter expert, the Senior Lead Project / Program Manager drives execution of highly complex technical initiatives, establishes scalable governance and delivery frameworks, pilots new operating models, and influences strategy through disciplined program management, risk mitigation, and operational excellence. This role owns strategic portfolios of related initiatives, balances competing priorities across multiple stakeholders, and continuously improves how Engineering delivers business value.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead large, complex projects and strategic programs involving multiple technical teams, cross-functional dependencies, executive stakeholders, and organizational priorities.
• Provide leadership across the complete project and program lifecycle, including intake, planning, estimation, governance, dependency management, risk assessment, execution, implementation, scope management, change management, and post-implementation review.
• Partner closely with Professional Services leaders, architects, Operations, and business stakeholders to successfully deliver complex technical initiatives involving cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, networking, security, software delivery, automation, and operational systems.
• Apply strong technical judgment to understand engineering architecture, delivery dependencies, implementation risks, and operational impacts while facilitating informed decision-making and removing delivery obstacles.
• Serve as a recognized subject matter expert within Engineering, Sales, and Project Management, providing guidance on delivery strategy, governance, prioritization, issue resolution, and organizational execution.
• Own strategic portfolios of related initiatives, balancing competing priorities, organizational risk, resource constraints, funding considerations, and executive expectations to maximize customer and business value.
• Pilot new project workflows, delivery methodologies, governance models, and project types; document lessons learned; and operationalize successful practices across the Professional Services organization.
• Define, implement, and continuously improve enterprise project and program management standards, governance frameworks, and delivery best practices that improve consistency, predictability, and execution quality across Professional Services.
• Build strong partnerships with senior leaders, directors, vice presidents, and executives by developing business cases, executive presentations, ROI analyses, status reporting, and strategic recommendations that support informed decision‑making.
• Identify systemic delivery risks, organizational dependencies, and process improvement opportunities that enhance engineering execution, operational efficiency, customer outcomes, and business performance.
• Manage scope across multiple engagements and prevent scope creep through proper documentation, escalation and change control processes.
• Establish meaningful success metrics across engineering programs, including delivery predictability, customer satisfaction, operational performance, resource utilization, financial outcomes, quality, and organizational effectiveness.
• Coach and mentor project managers and cross‑functional team members by sharing best practices, strengthening delivery capabilities, and advancing project and program management maturity across the organization.

Qualifications & Attributes

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or a related field and 8 or more years of experience leading complex engineering projects, enterprise programs, technical product delivery, or management consulting. The right candidate could also have a master's degree with 6 or more years of experience, a Ph.D. with 3 or more years of experience, or 12 or more years of related professional experience.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise‑scale engineering projects and strategic programs spanning multiple organizations, technologies, executive stakeholders, and business functions.
• Strong understanding of engineering delivery methodologies (waterfall and agile), project and program governance, portfolio management, dependency management, risk management, tight scope management, software development lifecycles, cloud infrastructure, and operational delivery models.
• Demonstrated technical credibility with the ability to understand technical architecture, infrastructure modernization, cloud platforms, software delivery, technical dependencies, and implementation risks without serving as the technical design authority.
• Proven ability to influence strategy, delivery approaches, governance decisions, and organizational priorities through data‑driven recommendations and executive‑level communication.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable project management frameworks, governance processes, operating models, playbooks, and delivery standards that improve organizational effectiveness.
• Demonstrated ability to oversee the coordinated work of multiple teams and individuals, influence without direct authority, and successfully lead complex cross‑functional initiatives in highly matrixed organizations.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to build trust and influence decisions at all organizational levels.
• Strong business acumen with experience applying financial analysis, ROI evaluation, prioritization frameworks, and strategic planning to engineering investments and delivery decisions.
• Demonstrated success operating independently in ambiguous environments while managing competing priorities, organizational change, and evolving business objectives.
• Passion for continuous improvement, operational excellence, and advancing the maturity of consulting and professional services project and program management practices across the organization.

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary in the range of $134,900.00 – $224,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

Benefits

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company's needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.

Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship.

EOE, including disability/vets