Richmond
Job DescriptionWe’re hiring a Program Manager!Employment type: Full Time/Direct Hire (No Agencies & No C2C)Location: Washington, DC, Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA, Richmond, VA, or NYC Metropolitan RegionsLocation Type: Hybrid - Home Office/Local Ippon office (1-2 days per week onsite) About Ippon:The Ippon story started in 2002 in Paris, France - cue the accordion, berets, and crêpes. Our founder and CEO, Stéphane Nomis, drew on his experience as an international Judo champion to build a technical consulting firm rooted in the sport’s core values: ambition, discipline, and excellence. Those principles continue to shape how we support clients and deliver work today. We work alongside technical partners such as AWS and Snowflake, balancing technical advisory and hands-on delivery for clients in Financial Services and other highly regulated industries. We specialize in legacy system migrations, cloud-native design, system modernization, operational efficiency, accessibility and governance, and build scalable platforms that support long-term business success. About the position:Ippon is seeking a driven Program Manager to lead cross-functional teams in delivering high-impact technology solutions. This individual will be responsible for day-to-day project delivery, ensuring alignment across engineering timelines, business goals, and stakeholder expectations. From planning through execution and closure, the Program Manager plays a key role in driving structure amid ambiguity, fostering team collaboration, and keeping projects on track, on time, and on budget. The ideal candidate is driven, organized, and a strong communicator with a passion for becoming a trusted partner to both clients and internal teams.Roles and responsibilities: • Project Delivery & Execution, • Own end-to-end delivery governance across one or more complex, interdependent workstreams, ensuring alignment to client outcomes, product strategy, and business objectives, • Establish and oversee integrated program plans that connect product roadmaps, engineering delivery, and organizational priorities, balancing speed, quality, and risk, • Anticipate, assess, and proactively mitigate cross-program risks and dependencies, setting escalation paths and contingency strategies before delivery is impacted, • Set the standard for delivery excellence by evolving and reinforcing Ippon’s delivery playbook, tooling, and operating rhythms (e.g., Jira, Confluence, executive dashboards), • Executive Stakeholder Management & Communication, • Act as the primary liaison between client leadership, product, engineering, architecture, and Ippon leadership, during assigned projects and sales processes, • Provide executive-ready insights into program health, KPIs, financials, risks, and trade-offs, enabling informed decision-making, • Lead high-stakes planning moments, including release strategy, go/no-go decisions, and executive steering forums, • Shape narrative and expectations with stakeholders, translating complexity into clarity and confidence, • Cross-Functional Leadership & Collaboration, • Lead through influence rather than authority, aligning multiple teams and leaders around shared goals and delivery commitments, • Create structure in ambiguity by defining operating models, decision frameworks, and ownership across teams, • Proactively unblock delivery at the system level, addressing organizational, technical, or process constraints, • Model strong facilitation and decision leadership, ensuring discussions are outcome-driven and inclusive of the right voices, • Client Success & Team Development, • Serve as a trusted advisor to client stakeholders, building durable partnerships grounded in transparency, credibility, and results, • Mentor and develop Project Managers and consultants, elevating delivery maturity, communication presence, and stakeholder confidence, • Champion Ippon’s values and brand through exceptional client experiences, internal leadership, and participation in thought leadership, events, or practice initiatives, • Own program closeout and value realization, leading retrospectives, synthesizing lessons learned, and contributing insights to future engagements and pursuits, • Lead with curiosity and foresight, asking the right questions to surface unmet needs, anticipate risk, and continuously improve engagement outcomesCompetencies we are looking for:, • Minimum Qualifications:, • 8+ years of experience as a Project Manager or Program Manager in IT consulting or a technology-driven enterprise organization, including ownership of complex, multi-workstream initiatives, • 5+ years of experience supporting technical project portfolios or roadmaps, balancing delivery commitments, risk, and business priorities, • 5+ years of experience partnering closely with product, engineering, and architecture teams in an Agile or hybrid delivery environment, • Proven experience with enterprise-wide dependency management, risk escalation, and cross-team coordination, • Demonstrated success managing mixed delivery models (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid) across cross-functional and distributed teams, • Strong executive-level communication, organizational, and leadership skills, with the ability to influence decisions, manage trade-offs, and align stakeholders, • Hands-on experience with project and program management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Smartsheets, Miro, Notion), including reporting on delivery health and KPIs, • Proven ability to drive project progress, decisions, as well as conflict resolution, • Preferred Qualifications:, • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience), • Experience consulting and/or managing programs in Financial Services (Credit Unions, Commercial Banking, Capital Markets, etc), • Experience leading or governing technical delivery for Data Engineering, Analytics, Cloud, or Platform modernization and migration initiatives (e.g., Snowflake, AWS, data platforms, DevOps), • Familiarity with enterprise delivery governance, including release planning, go/no-go decisioning, and executive reporting, • Relevant certifications such as PMP, PgMP, CSM, SAFe, or Prince2, • Demonstrated experience driving delivery maturity, including improvements to communication models, tooling, release processes, or operating cadenceWhat we offer:, • Competitive salary – Great starting salaries for well qualified candidates, • Generous Paid Time Off policy - Ippon offers flexible time off to help you be your best, • Health, dental, and vision insurance – We are dedicated to helping our employees live healthier lives through comprehensive health programs, • 401k with company match - Ippon offers an industry leading 401(k) matching plan, • Family Leave - We support the importance of family and offer maternity, paternity and family medical leave plans