Sr Program Manager, Higher Ed Disciplines

Cengage Group; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 117,000 - 187,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary incentive bonus

Total Rewards package

Job summary

Cengage Group is seeking a Sr. Program Manager to drive complex, multi-functional programs across Higher Education disciplines from planning to customer rollout.

You will establish repeatable planning and governance, align priorities, dependencies, and risks, and coordinate across Product, Content, Engineering, and GTM teams to deliver compelling capabilities. The role emphasizes executive communication, strategic thinking, and ability to operate in a matrixed organization.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex programs across product strategy and multiple teams.
• Ability to translate strategy into coordinated portfolios, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes.
• Strong executive communication, decision facilitation, and stakeholder alignment.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a portfolio view across disciplines to align priorities and planned work.
• Identify common capability needs and coordinate reusable solutions.
• Define and track objectives and measurable outcomes tied to business impact.
• Identify dependencies, risks, and decisions across workstreams and drive resolution.
• Surface tradeoffs and align stakeholders on a path forward.
• Coordinate Product, Content, Engineering, Go-to-Market, and other teams through delivery and adoption of new capabilities.
• Facilitate communication across teams to remove blockers and drive execution.
• Ensure work is prioritized, well-defined, and aligned with strategic priorities.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Executive communication

Stakeholder management

Education

PMP certification

PgMP certification

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Job description

We believe in the power and joy of learning

At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping learners around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

What you’ll do here:

We are looking for an accomplished and dedicated Sr. Program Manager to join our team. Cengage is accelerating how we bring new innovations and capabilities to our Higher Education customers, and this role will be central to making that happen. You will work across Higher Education disciplines to connect priorities, identify shared capability needs, and coordinate complex, multi-functional programs from planning through customer rollout. This high-visibility role will create alignment across discipline groups and functional teams, bringing insight to priorities, dependencies, risks, and decisions. You will establish a repeatable approach for planning across disciplines and managing capability rollouts across Higher Education.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain a portfolio view across disciplines, connecting priorities, opportunities, capability needs, and planned work to create visibility and alignment across groups.
• Identify common capability needs across subjects and disciplines, surface opportunities for reuse, and coordinate prioritization and sequencing to support shared capabilities and aligned roadmaps.
• Define and track objectives and measurable outcomes, connecting program progress to business and customer impact.
• Identify and manage dependencies, risks, and unresolved questions across disciplines and workstreams, ensuring they are visible and driven to resolution.
• Surface decisions and tradeoffs, bring together the right stakeholders and information, and drive alignment on a path forward.
• Coordinate Product, Content, Engineering, Go-to-Market, and other teams through delivery, launch, and adoption of new capabilities.
• Facilitate communication and collaboration across teams to remove blockers and drive execution.
• Ensure work is prioritized, well-defined, and aligned with strategic priorities and business goals.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex programs across product strategy, content, technology, and commercial teams.
• Experience establishing operating models, governance, planning processes, and decision frameworks for complex multi-functional initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into coordinated portfolios, roadmaps, workstreams, and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to identify patterns and common needs across multiple initiatives and drive alignment around shared capabilities and reusable solutions.
• Strong relationship‑building and partner management skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across functions and levels of the organization.
• Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information, frame tradeoffs, and facilitate decisions among senior stakeholders.
• Experience operating in a matrixed organization where authority is distributed across multiple teams and leaders.
• Strong facilitation, problem‑solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast‑paced environment.

Preferred

• PMP, PgMP, or similar certification.
• Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, or similar delivery tools.
• Experience managing vendors and third‑party partners.

Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at .

About Cengage

Cengage, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range. In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.

20% Annual: Individual Target$117,100.00 - $187,300.00 USD