Program Manager

Do you want to be part of a mission driven organization shaping Canadas innovation future Do you thrive in collaborative environments where creativity continuous improvement and strategic thinking are valued Are you motivated by work that strengthens Canadas competitiveness and delivers meaningful impact for communities and businesses

At Mitacs we take a talent first approach to building Canadas innovation capacity. We connect researchers with organizations across every region of the country to help solve pressing challenges and accelerate economic growth. By enabling business academic collaboration and supporting the development of highly skilled talent we contribute to a resilient future ready Canadian economy.

Guided by our values Impact Integrity Collaboration Excellence and Talent we work with partners nationwide to advance research commercialization and innovation.

Position Summary:

As Mitacs undergoes a multi-year enterprise transformation we are building the capabilities systems and culture to deliver greater impact at scale. We are seeking a highly experienced Program Manager (1-year contract) to lead the orchestration and delivery of programs under the Transformation Management Office (TMO) Portfolio including but not limited to Mitacs Enterprise Transformation (MET).

Reporting to the Director Enterprise Transformation this role is accountable for ensuring alignment integration and delivery across multiple corporate initiatives. The Program Manager serves as the central coordination point across programs enabling effective prioritization managing cross-program dependencies reporting on the integrated project plan and ensuring leadership has clear visibility into progress risks issues and required decisions.

This is a hands-on leadership role supporting leadership and driving execution. The successful candidate will bring strong judgment the ability to navigate ambiguity and a track record of driving trade-offs and outcomes in complex multistream environments.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Leadership and Execution:

• Provide leadership and governance across the TMO portfolio ensuring enterprise transformation initiatives are aligned with organizational priorities
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of Enterprise Transformation programs including planning execution risks and issues management dependency management budget management stakeholder engagement and delivery of key program outcomes.
• Work closely with sponsors workstream leads and cross-functional teams to integrate multiple workstreams ensuring a coordinated integrated roadmap to achieving program milestones and successful adoption and outcomes.
• Manage vendor coordination and governance including day-to-day management of consulting partner relationships.
• Prepare materials for the Executive Steering Committee (ESC) on program delivery.
• Ensure that project and program-level risks issues dependencies and opportunities are identified assessed and mitigated throughout the program lifecycle.
• Provide regular updates in both written reports and verbally to senior leadership workstream leads and stakeholders on program progress Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and risks.

Governance and Program Oversight:

• Own the development and maintenance of the enterprise transformation roadmap aligned to strategic priorities.
• Track and report on KPIs to ensure that program goals are met.
• Ensure adherence to program governance frameworks ensuring consistency and efficiency across the transformation Portfolio.

Stakeholder Engagement Risk Management and Delivery Alignment:

• Serve as the central point of contact for program communication ensuring transparent clear and timely updates across all levels of the organization.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with business units sponsors and workstream leads to ensure alignment on program goals priorities and outcomes.
• Work closely with the Change Management Advisor to integrate change and communication strategies into the integrated program roadmap ensuring effective messaging that supports organizational buy-in and successful change adoption.
• Facilitate cross-functional meetings to maintain alignment on project deliverables and ensure stakeholder alignment on critical priorities. throughout the program lifecycle.
• Contribute to iterative planning and execution using Agile delivery frameworks (Scrum and SAFe) ensuring dependencies priorities and risks are actively managed.
• Support consistent application of Agile practices across programs to enable predictable delivery and effective value realization.

Team Leadership and Development and Continuous Improvement:

• Lead coach and develop a small project management & delivery team.
• Set clear objectives performance expectations and development plans for direct reports.
• Monitor workload distribution and raise resource risks proactively.
• Foster a culture of excellence collaboration continuous improvement and innovation.
• Partner with the Change Management Advisor and Organizational Change Management working group to drive adoption of new processes tools and ways of working.
• Leverage AI tools and automation to drive personal and team productivity across program delivery reporting planning and communication.

Qualifications and Experience:

• 8 years of experience in program management within complex multi-stakeholder environments. Demonstrated experience coordinating multiple concurrent initiatives or portfolios.

• Minimum 5 years of experience directly managing Project Managers or similar roles.
  
• Program Management (PgM) or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent.
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) SAFe Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
• Expertise in project management tools such as Smartsheet MS Planner Jira or other industry-leading platforms.
• Experience managing portfolio budgets in excess of $10M.
• Experience in managing strategic risks program and project governance.

• Proven ability to lead and coordinate small cross-functional teams and collaborate across multiple business units and workstreams to achieve transformation goals.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to engage and manage relationships with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Excellent communication negotiation and stakeholder management abilities including experience presenting to executive steering committee (ESC).
• Active user of AI tools for productivity (e.g. Copilot ChatGPT Claude or similar) with a mindset of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Experience managing external consulting partners (e.g. Big 4).

Preferred:

• Professional certification in Change Management (e.g. Prosci ADKAR).
• Proficiency and/or certification in Benefits Realization Management.
• Experience in managing large-scale transformation programs within the technology sector or not-for-profit sector.
• Expertise in Lean Six Sigma or other process improvement methodologies.
• Experience stepping into a function during a period of organizational transition or leadership change.
• Familiarity with Power Platform tools (Power BI Power Automate Power Apps).

What Success Looks Like

In the first 90 days the successful candidate will have:

• Taken ownership of transformation program delivery and established relationships with sponsors external vendors and key stakeholders
• Onboarded their team and set clear expectations for performance and collaboration
• Delivered at least one reporting cycle independently. Managed the integrated workstream visual revised governance revised roadmap and product board

Equity diversity and inclusion and reconciliation are strong commitments at Mitacs:Equity Diversity and Inclusion - Mitacs. We believe a diverse workforcecomprisedof individuals with different lived experiences ideas strengths and backgrounds (e.g. gender identities and expressions Indigeneity race abilities sexual orientation and other identities) are crucial to our success. We welcome everyone to apply and encourage you to connect with us if yourequireaccommodations during the recruitment process.

Hiring Range: $103105 - $115235

Hiring and Salary Range Transparency

Typically employees are hired transferred or promoted within the salary range specifically between the minimum and midpoint in the hiring range.

The salary range refers to the range of base salaries for a given position encompassing the minimum andmaximumamounts. The midpoint of the range is positionedapproximately halfwaybetween the minimum and maximumindicatinga fully qualified employee with comprehensive job knowledge and experience for the role.

Only in rare and exceptional circumstances where a candidate has the experience skills andexpertisethat far exceed thoserequired for the position would we consider paying above the hiring range for this role.

Required Experience:

Manager