Principal Program Manager
About the role
The Principal Program Manager in the Office of the CTO’s (OCTO’s) Program Office drives shared ways of working across a portfolio of initiatives. This role emphasizes strong, transparent information flows across stakeholders and workstreams to support collaboration, shared understanding, and effective decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and evolve agentic-enabled solutions that balance autonomy, accountability, and adaptability across programs.
- Establish and sustain clear, inclusive information flow frameworks that support timely, accurate, and actionable communication among stakeholders and delivery teams.
- Develop, implement, and continuously refine shared processes and frameworks for program delivery, integrating Agile principles and project control practices.
- Create and maintain transparent tracking and reporting approaches to support visibility into program progress, risks, dependencies, and outcomes.
- Partner with cross-functional teams to gather, analyze, and synthesize data-driven insights that inform decisions and support strategic alignment.
- Support operational effectiveness by identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, coherence, and learning across program execution.
- Ensure program office activities remain aligned with OCTO’s strategic priorities and broader organizational goals.
- Communicate program status, risks, insights, and recommendations in a clear, thoughtful, and accessible manner to senior leaders and stakeholders.
- Define, track, and share KPIs and OKRs for programs and teams, supporting measurable progress and shared accountability.
Desired Qualifications
- Ability to design and support agentic workflows, reporting and tracking systems, and data-informed practices.
- Demonstrated experience in program management within technology-focused or transformation-oriented environments.
- Strong experience with process improvement, change enablement, and cross-functional collaboration.
- Solid understanding of Agile frameworks, the software development lifecycle, and project control approaches.
- Experience defining, managing, and aligning KPIs and OKRs to strategic priorities across teams.
- Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills, with a collaborative leadership approach.
Impact
To succeed in this space, the Principal Program Manager must be able to drive agentic solutions while understanding the needs and activities of program owners. This role supports the establishment of shared practices, agentic ways of working, and transparency across OCTO’s programs. By strengthening information flows, embedding Agile and project control principles, and supporting the effective use of KPIs and OKRs, the Program Manager helps enable informed decision-making, organizational learning, and resilience in a dynamic technology environment.
Skills
- Agentic Development
- Analytical Thinking
- Business Acumen
- Interpersonal Effectiveness
- Communication Skills
- Collaborative Problem Solving
- Program & Project Management
- Stakeholder Partnership
- Progress Monitoring & Sensemaking
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Facilitation & Influencing
- Program Governance
- Change Enablement
- AI & Data Literacy
Pay
The minimum full-time salary range is between $135,000 - $165,000. This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.
Who we are
We are Pearson, the world's lifelong learning company. Our purpose is to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com.