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.