Program Director / Delivery Head

Job Overview

We are seeking an accomplished and dynamic Program Director / Delivery Head to lead and drive end-to-end delivery for multiple U.S.-based strategic client accounts with a team of 200+. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in program and delivery leadership, managing multi-disciplinary teams across technology, product engineering, IT services, and infrastructure, while ensuring superior client satisfaction. You will play a critical role in aligning delivery with client goals, maintaining operational excellence, championing process discipline, and fostering a high-performance culture through purposeful team building and strong people leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Delivery & Program Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and hands-on oversight for all programs and delivery operations across product development, application services, and infrastructure support.
• Manage and coordinate multiple delivery programs spanning various technology stacks, service lines, and business functions.
• Serve as the primary delivery contact for the client's senior stakeholders, ensuring regular governance, escalations, and status updates.
• Collaborate with client partners, technical leaders, and internal teams to define and align delivery roadmaps, SLAs, KPIs, and quality metrics.
• Drive operational excellence, ensuring all teams adhere to Agile, DevOps, or ITIL best practices as relevant.
• Proactively identify and mitigate delivery risks, resource gaps, and performance issues.
• Manage cross-functional teams comprising engineering, QA, DevOps, cloud/infra, and support functions.

Process Compliance & Governance

• Define, implement, and continuously improve delivery governance frameworks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and process playbooks across all programs.
• Ensure consistent adherence to organizational and client-mandated methodologies and drive a culture of process discipline across all delivery teams.
• Own compliance with information security policies, client-specific governance requirements, and applicable regulatory frameworks (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR).
• Lead periodic process audits, delivery health checks, and retrospectives; translate findings into actionable improvement roadmaps.
• Collaborate with internal Quality Assurance and Compliance teams to align delivery processes with organizational standards and client expectations.

Team Building & Organizational Development

• Design and execute team-building strategies that foster collaboration, psychological safety, and high performance across onshore, offshore, and hybrid delivery teams.
• Lead the hiring, onboarding, and ramp-up of delivery teams; partner with HR and talent acquisition to attract top technology talent aligned to program needs.
• Build a strong bench of delivery talent by identifying skill gaps and implementing structured training, upskilling, and cross-skilling programs.
• Establish clear team charters, roles, and responsibilities to eliminate ambiguity and promote accountability at every level of the delivery organization.
• Drive a culture of knowledge sharing, documentation, and internal communities of practice (CoPs) to elevate collective capability across the 200+ member team.
• Recognize and reward high-performing individuals and teams; embed recognition programs that reinforce desired delivery behaviors.

People Management & Leadership Development

• Directly manage and mentor a leadership layer of Delivery Managers, Engineering Leads, and Program Managers; provide regular coaching, feedback, and career development guidance.
• Set clear performance objectives (OKRs/KPIs) for direct reports; conduct structured performance reviews and support calibration processes in alignment with HR policies.
• Proactively manage attrition risks by identifying flight risks, conducting stay interviews, and working with HR to design targeted retention strategies.
• Foster a feedback-rich environment by institutionalizing 360-degree feedback, skip-level conversations, and structured one-on-one cadences across the leadership chain.
• Support career pathing and succession planning for key roles within the delivery organization; maintain a ready pipeline of future leaders.
• Resolve interpersonal conflicts, performance issues, and team dynamics challenges swiftly and with empathy, ensuring a respectful and productive work environment.
• Collaborate with HR Business Partners on workforce planning, compensation reviews, promotion cycles, and organizational design initiatives.

Client Relationship & Account Growth

• Work closely with internal account and sales teams to grow the account, identify upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and ensure renewal success.
• Drive team utilization, productivity, and cost efficiency across all programs.
• Own P&L accountability for assigned accounts; track financials, manage margins, and report on account health to senior leadership.
• Build long-term, trusted advisory relationships with client C-suite and senior stakeholders, positioning the organization as a strategic partner.

Key Requirements

Experience & Background

• 18+ years of experience in IT delivery leadership roles, with at least 5 years in a Delivery Head / Program Director capacity.
• Proven experience managing multiple concurrent programs, ideally in an onsite-offshore model with U.S. clients.
• Strong background in product engineering, application development, support services, and infrastructure management.
• Demonstrated experience in client relationship management, P&L ownership, and strategic account growth.
• Hands-on experience building and scaling delivery teams of 100+ across geographies and time zones.
• Proven track record of implementing process improvement initiatives that measurably improved delivery quality, velocity, or team satisfaction.

Technical Knowledge

• Familiarity with a broad range of technologies: Cloud (Azure/AWS), Server-side (.NET/Node.js/Java), Front-end (ReactJS, Angular, VueJS), DevOps, and ITSM tools.
• Strong knowledge of project/program management methodologies Agile, Scrum, SAFe, PMP, ITIL.
• Experience with tools like JIRA, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, and delivery reporting dashboards.

Leadership & Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to lead large, diverse, and geographically distributed teams with cultural sensitivity and adaptability.
• Strong people management skills performance coaching, retention planning, and leadership development.
• Demonstrated ability to build cohesive, high-trust teams from the ground up in complex delivery environments.
• Skilled at navigating organizational change, managing resistance, and driving adoption of new processes or structures.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• MBA or PMP / SAFe / ITIL certification is a strong plus.

Nice to Have

• Experience working with clients in BFSI, Payments, or Retail domains.
• Exposure to digital transformation programs, cloud migration, and modernization efforts.
• Experience managing remote/hybrid teams and global delivery models.
• Familiarity with CMMI, ISO 9001, or other delivery process maturity frameworks.
• Experience rolling out enterprise-wide process compliance or quality management programs across large delivery organizations.