Program Manager-Manhattan Active WMS

Please review the core pillars the hiring board is prioritizing:
Enterprise Portfolio Governance (15+ Years Preferred): This initiative involves managing multiple parallel, cross-functional projects simultaneously across different countries. Due to the high visibility and global scale, the client is specifically seeking a veteran leader ideally with 15+ years of experience capable of navigating multi-vendor environments and complex global stakeholders.

Mandatory Skills:

• - Manhattan Active Implementation experience as a Project/Program Manager
• - Life sciences experience
• - Warehouse Management as Process
• - Local to Dallas (Monday - Friday onsite), no travel only onsite

Strong Program Management skills

Core Warehouse Management (WM) Domain Expertise: The candidate must possess deep functional supply chain and logistics domain knowledge. You will need to speak the language of physical warehouse operations, inventory tracking, and material readiness.
Manhattan Active Cloud Platform Familiarity- Must have: The program's core goal is migrating legacy systems onto a unified cloud infrastructure. Having direct experience with Manhattan Active WMS implementations or comparable cloud-native SaaS supply chain technologies is a highly valued plus.)

Role Overview

• We are seeking a visionary and execution-focused Program Manager to take single-point leadership of a high-visibility, 3 5 year Tier 0 enterprise transformation. This mission-critical initiative aims to completely modernize, standardize, and unify our global warehouse operations onto a scalable cloud ecosystem.
• As the primary architect of the execution lifecycle, you will translate corporate strategic vision into a tactical, multi-wave rollout roadmap. You will oversee governance across complex global business and technical workstreams, ensuring operational resilience, business continuity, and definitive value realization from initial design phases through cutover, deployment, and post-go-live stabilization.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise Leadership & Program Governance

• Strategic Roadmap Ownership:Define and manage the end-to-end program strategy, unified master schedule, and cross-functional operating model aligned with enterprise growth, resiliency, and standardization parameters.
• Executive Steering Governance:Lead critical decision forums and alignment sessions across the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), program sponsors, regional site leadership, and system integrators.
• Operational Reporting:Deliver concise executive dashboards, performance metrics, and decision memos to sustain stakeholder alignment and leadership confidence.
• Program Controls:Establish and enforce rigorous baselines for scope, schedule, financial budgeting, resource allocation, and benefits tracking to guarantee predictable delivery cycles.

2. Integrated Cross-Functional Delivery

• Workstream Orchestration:Act as the central integration point across highly matrixed teams, including Warehouse Operations, Global Sourcing, Core ERP, Middleware Integration, Cloud Infrastructure, Data Engineering, Cyber Security, QA/Validation, and Change Management.
• Vendor & Partner Stewardship:Drive accountability across internal technical groups, third-party contractors, and Tier 1 system integrators. Manage contract obligations, competitive benchmarks, and milestone readiness.
• Environment & Wave Sequencing:Proactively manage complex technical interdependencies, sandbox/production environment readiness, build matrix alignments, and multi-site deployment sequencing.

3. Risk, Issue & Change Leadership

• RAID Log Management:Own the enterprise program RAID structure (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) and change control discipline. Ensure critical bottlenecks are identified early with transparent impact statements and clear mitigation paths.
• Recovery & Escalation Protocols:Lead rapid recovery planning and incident workflows for delivery delays, data sync issues, or site operational constraints without impacting active business continuity or regulatory compliance.
• Change Management:Partner with deployment readiness teams to steer global training, user adoption tracking, workflow standardizations, and process transition models for over 1,500+ users.

4. Deployment Excellence & Value Realization

• Cutover & Go-Live Management:Formulate robust cutover runbooks, validation gates, automated data migration strategies, and rollback frameworks for successive deployment waves.
• Hypercare Stabilization:Establish structured hypercare support structures, tier-1 incident monitoring, and post-go-live root cause analysis (RCA) loops to transition systems smoothly into steady-state operations.
• KPI Metrics Tracking:Track post-implementation operational KPIs and supply visibility metrics to measure direct cost savings, platform velocity gains, and value realization.

Must-Have Qualifications (Minimum Requirements)

• Experience:10+ years (ideally 15+ years) of proven technical program management experience directing large-scale, cross-functional business and technology transformations within global supply chain, logistics, or multi-site distribution networks.
• Enterprise Portfolio Scale:Demonstrated track record leading Tier 0 or mission-critical corporate programs with multi-million dollar budgets, dense dependency charts, and multi-partner system integrator tracking.
• Technical Domain Depth:Comprehensive understanding of cloud delivery frameworks, SaaS operating principles, data modeling, automated ETL data pipelines, systems integration (APIs, middleware), and enterprise change control frameworks.
• Governance Mastery:Advanced expertise in integrated master planning, financial tracking/forecasting, benefits realization tracking, and C-suite risk reporting.
• Leadership Maturity:Exceptional executive presence with the ability to operate effectively through heavy ambiguity, align deeply opinionated stakeholders, and lead cross-border, multi-timezone delivery teams without direct authority.
• Certification:Active Project Management Professional (PMP), Program Management Professional (PgMP), or equivalent globally recognized certification required.

Preferred Qualifications (The Ideal Blueprint)

• Manhattan Active Expertise:Direct experience leading or participating in a Manhattan Active WMS (Cloud), Manhattan Active Supply Chain, or comparable modern cloud-native WMS platform deployment is must
• Release Management:Familiarity with Manhattan s automated quarterly release management models, SaaS tenant configuration loops, and operational adoption planning.
• Regulated Environment Context:Background running technical portfolios inside highly integrated, regulated, or operationally intensive manufacturing/healthcare environments (e.g., FDA, compliance stage-gates, audit readiness).
• Shared Services Model:Deep understanding of global shared service delivery models, warehouse slotting, sorting automation systems, and international distribution networks.

Success Measures for the First 12 Months

• Month 1 3:Establish an executive-aligned program roadmap, baseline governance model, integrated master plan, and decision cadence across all deployment waves.
• Month 4 6:Stand up definitive program controls, including active RAID registers, centralized financial tracking, and transparent executive steering metrics.
• Month 7 9:Finalize, lock down, and confirm global scope, deployment sequencing, and definitive site readiness criteria for initial mock cutovers and solution validation phases.
• Month 10 12:Position the entire global program footprint for a flawless initial deployment wave by proactively resolving delivery blocks and building strong, trusting relationships across regional operations leads and site teams.