Sr. Manager, IT Agile Portfolio Management - Supply Chain

Category/Area of Expertise: IT & Technology
Job Requisition: 391331_external_USA-IL-Chicago
Address: USA-IL-Chicago-300 South Riverside Plaza
Store Code: Office of CIO - Project Managment (5145441)
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands - Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Our associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.
Primary Purpose:
This role is responsible to take the approved portfolio through execution and deliver on the commitments and business value. They are the thought leaders who enhance, support and execute Agile PMO Vision, Mission, ways of working and strategy. They will work closely with the solution delivery/engineering teams to provide coaching and guidance on processes and areas of improvement. They lead a team of internal and external Project/Program managers and scrum masters. They leverage the processes, technology, tooling, and governance needed to achieve quality deliveries and attain business value.
Our flexible/ hybrid work schedule includes 3 in-person days at one of our core locations and 2 remote days.
Our core office locations include Salisbury, NC , Chicago, IL, Quincy, MA, Carlisle, PA, Scarborough, ME, Hyattsville, MD and Mauldin, SC.
Duties & Responsibilities:

• Effectively plan, organize, and direct the completion of large, complex portfolio of projects while managing risks and issues to minimize scope, budget, and schedule impacts and ensure on time, budget and within scope delivery of the portfolio of projects.
• Act as single point of contact for managing a portfolio of projects working with the solution delivery Vice Presidents: building synergies between unrelated/related projects or programs, aligning strategic business objectives, increasing business value through people management, change control, risk management, and resource management.
• Anticipate and aggressively remove obstacles that slow down progress, escalate and mitigate risks/issues to multiple levels of management, including executive leadership teams across the organization.
• Partner with solution delivery/engineering teams to drive program planning and delivery for both waterfall and agile projects.
• Ensure compliance with project delivery methods, tools, framework, and IT controls.
• Partner with the IT Budget Management team to actively manage and deliver the financial commitments for an investment portfolio of $40-$60M. Partner with finance, project teams, and value stream owners to ensure all financial cadences (e.g., quarterly budgeting cycles, month-end closings, etc...) are supported by and aligned to portfolio financials.
• Supports the project initiator and solution team during funding approvals.
• Partner with the IT Release Management function to identify interdependencies and risks across the IT project portfolio.
• Create and maintain portfolio resource plans (in coordination with resource managers) that account for all resource capacity and utilization across the IT function while informing internal capitalization projections.
• Collaborates with other portfolio leads for cross tower dependencies and manages them with minimal impact to delivery.
• Manage supplier performance to ensure that contractual agreements are met.
• Key partner for change management to support building an organizational readiness and change management plans to successfully execute new initiatives.
• Ensure adherence to change management practices while delivering within scope, time and budget.
• Monitor portfolio health through OKRs and portfolio metrics and financial status against relevant constraints, including strategic investment guidance, portfolio budgets vendor contracts, and operating budgets.
• Apply concepts of Lean Portfolio Management, driving a focus on driving the delivery of value to customers through the creation of products and solutions
• PMO Maturity, Process & Tools:
  • Execute upon and contribute to process improvements and best practices across PMO to support delivery excellence.
  • Actively drive the transformation of waterfall projects to agile
  • Co leads PM CoP to gather feedback from the teams to ensure continuous process improvement (Waterfall)
  • Manages Agile teams and ensures adherence to Agile Playbook
  • Participates in Agile CoP to provide feedback.
• Responsible for portfolio level governance and status reporting to right stakeholders at cadence
• Accountable for right messaging regarding the status of the portfolio at right time to right people
• Escalates when required and holds the right people accountable for mitigation and resolution of risk & issues.
• Works with other organizations like Financial Planning and Budgeting, BPMO, and others for consistency of messaging
• Accountable to staff right PMO talent to manage the projects.
• Coaches, guides, and mentors the RTEs and Scrum Masters on the Agile process
• Collaborates with Agile Coaches, APMO Director, Product Owners/ Managers to resolve issues on Agile teams.
• Responsible for continuous improvement and maturity of the Agile Teams
• Collaborates with Agile Coaches to instate right metrics for Agile Teams
• Supports APMO Director in PMO vision, mission and building strategy for execution and ways of working.
• Lead and inspire IT teams in project & program management to develop and establish a high performing, service driven culture committed to failing fast, leaning out waste, and delivering business value
• Additional job duties may be assigned as needed to meet the needs of the business and support our Values.

Qualifications:

• Master's degree in computer science, Business or Technical field or equivalent years of work experience.
• 10+ years practical experience at varying levels of project/program management and 7+ years of experience on Agile portfolio management (mix of waterfall and Agile portfolio)
• Project management certification a plus, but not required. Emphasis is on the demonstrated use of PMP, Scrum, Agile, etc.
• Working knowledge of agile methodology and agile tools (Jira)
• Thorough understanding of enterprise software development lifecycle; ability to adjust and apply this knowledge in a dynamic environment using agile methodologies.
• Bring a data-driven approach to decision making, both in day-to-day activities and when helping others make strategic trade-offs.
• Self-starter with the ability to lead teams through ambiguity to solve problems and drive results.
• Strong organizational, communication, interpersonal, relationship-building skills conducive to collaboration; able to work well in a cross-functional environment.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a history of hands-on, detail orientated.
• Ability to establish credibility and rapport with senior executives and technical and non-technical team members alike.
• Financial Acumen
• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Understands the meaning and implications of key financial indicators.
• Uses financial analysis to generate, evaluate, and act on strategic options and opportunities.
• Communicates Effectively - Developing and delivering multi-mode communications (verbal and written) that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or advanced degree in relevant business-related field.
• 7+ years as a RTE
• Experience with lean portfolio management
• Experience with transforming from waterfall to SAFe
• Proficiency working in and managing agile, SAFe, scrum teams (scrum of scrums), lean teams.
• Agile / SAFe certification
• Experience delivering projects in retail industry

At Ahold Delhaize USA, we provide services to one of the largest portfolios of grocery companies in the nation, and we're actively seeking top talent. Our team shares a common motivation to drive change, take ownership and enable our brands to better care for their customers. We thrive on supporting great local grocery brands and their strategies.
We offer an experience where our associates are valued; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging are infused in our business and our employees are representative of the communities that we serve. We believe in total wellness, which encompasses a blend of physical, financial and emotional wellness.
We believe in collaboration, curiosity, and continuous learning in all that we think, create and do. While building a culture where personal and professional growth are just as important as business growth, we invest in our people, empowering them to learn, grow and deliver at all levels of the business.