Sr Director Engineering Operations

At HMH, we are on a journey to change K-12 education landscape through a groundbreaking learning platform designed to empower teachers and students. We are building agile software development teams filled with innovative, passionate professionals dedicated to creating products that will revolutionize our industry.

Our Technology Solutions Group (TSG) is driving the development of next-generation services by leveraging modern cloud platform development technologies and cutting-edge technologies, including microservices, progressive web apps, advanced data platforms, machine learning, and cloud-native solutions.
 

Overview:

The Senior Director of Portfolio Planning and Program Governance (TSG) is a strategic leadership role, reporting directly to our Chief Technology Officer. In this high-visibility position, you will oversee the planning, execution, tracking and governance of TSG's Programs, ensuring alignment with strategic business objectives while delivering projects on time, within scope, and on budget.

You will collaborate closely with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and present to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), requiring exceptional relationship-building and strong communication skills at all organizational levels.

We’re seeking entrepreneurial, innovative leaders who thrive on solving complex challenges. Join a select team making history producing one of the most highly rated products in HMH’s history.

Primary Responsibility:

Portfolio Planning, Management and Reporting:

• Develop and manage the TSG Program portfolio, ensuring alignment with business strategy and organizational objectives.
• Partner with key stakeholders across product lines - including leadership, business units, product teams, and TSG teams - to prioritize projects based on business value, strategic goals, and resource availability.
• Design and implement a comprehensive portfolio management framework, incorporating best practices and tools to streamline programs and project selection and prioritization. 
• Collaborate with lines of business (LOBs) to create, maintain and publish product release calendars.
• Develop and maintain an executive-level dashboard that provides a consolidated view of all product releases.
• Establish cross-departmental metrics to enhance transparency around releases and product development health - incorporating both leading indicators for early insights and lagging indicators to assess past performance.    

Governance and Compliance:

• Establish a clear, agreed-upon structure and processes to manage the TSG portfolio, ensuring strategic alignment with organizational goals.
• Ensure the portfolio adheres to all relevant organizational policies and compliance requirements.
• Promote best agile practices, fostering continuous improvement opportunities across all processes.
• Lead project audits and assessments to verify program performance, quality standards and compliance are consistently met. 

Stakeholder Communication:

• Own and manage all communications related to the program portfolio, keeping key stakeholders informed of status, risks and opportunities.
• Leverage your influence to build consensus on direction, approach, execution and outcomes through effective engagement with line-of-business leaders. 

Financial Management:

• Collaborate with senior TSG leaders to represent TSG perspectives in the organization’s financial decision-making process.  
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of financial models and budgeting principles.
• Accurately represent portfolio budget utilization, identifying areas of over- or under-spending and recommending corrective actions.

Risk Management:

• Maintain awareness of portfolio-level risks affecting deliverables, working closely with engineering leaders to develop and communicate mitigation plans.
• Support resource allocation discussions with engineering leadership to ensure alignment with the portfolio’s priorities and workload.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field
• Minimum of 10 years of engineering experience.
• Proven experience in software product management
• Track-record of working cross-functionally across multiple engineering centers to successfully deliver products to market.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience delivering technology products or services in a high-growth environment, with the ability to translate business and product needs into actionable engineering requirements.
• Strategic thinker with a tactical mindset, capable of balancing long-term version with immediate priorities.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to analyze data, solve complex problems, define technical requirements and effectively prioritize project work.
• Strong business acumen with a proven ability to influence stakeholders and make sound decisions backed by data and analytics.
• Effective communicator at all organizational levels, capable of tailoring messages to diverse audiences.
• Hands-on, results-driven mindset with an entrepreneurial spirit and ownership mentality – willing to dive in, get things, done and inspire teams with a positive, action-oriented attitude.
• Proven history of successfully launching innovative products.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with the ability to use data and metrics to validate assumptions and develop robust business cases.
• Ability to deeply understanding products, business objectives, and the competitive landscape.
• A computer science or equivalent background is strongly preferred.

Physical Requirements:

• Might be in a stationary position for a considerable time (sitting and/or standing)
• The person in this position needs to move about inside office to access file cabinets, office machinery, etc
• Constantly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, copy machine, and computer printer
• Must be able to collaborate with colleagues via face to face, conference calls, and online meetings