Program Director / Delivery Head

Chennai City Corporation, India | Posted on 02/26/2026

Location: India | Experience: 18–25 Years | Delivery Team Size: 200+

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.

- 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 on‑site‑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.

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