Program Lead

Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive.

At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.

**Our Team**

The Programs and Delivery group exists to make sure that the people, processes, and priorities are in place to help Xero to operate as a world-class business and to lead the transformation of Xero into a modern delivery organisation. We deploy the best Portfolio, Program, Project and Delivery practices to help teams and accelerate the delivery of value and ensure we have all of the practices in place to effectively prioritise, plan and monitor the execution of our strategic objectives.

**How you’ll make an impact**

In this role, you will lead critical Programs and projects from concept through to delivery and benefit realisation, largely related to Xero’s OKRs.
- This role will be the conduit between Xero’s Executive Leadership Team, the Program, project and governance teams, and be responsible for the overall planning and scoping to deliver the Program objectives. You’ll ensure the project teams utilise appropriate project delivery methodologies, frameworks, and processes to deliver the Program successfully.

**What you’ll do**:

- Lead the overall strategy and direction of the Program to ensure our OKRs are achieved
- Ensure that the outcomes and deliverables for the Program are well defined and understood by all key stakeholders
- Establish, lead and chair Program and project governance group/s
- Key liaison between Xero’s Executive Leadership Team (XLT), Board, governance/steering groups, senior leadership and Program/project sponsor/s
- Identify internal dependent teams and influence/drive prioritisation for the delivery of your program
- Continuously identify ways to accelerate delivery and define The Ask on behalf of your program
- Collation and simplification of detailed Program plans to senior leadership
- Ensure that Program benefits are defined and that an appropriate realisation plan is developed to track benefit delivery
- Review and manage overall Program risks
- Lead the development of initiatives and projects into structured Programs
- Report on the progress of the Program, including risks and issues/problems and solutions
- Embrace and champion the Program and related projects and drive the delivery of the change to a high standard
- Have sight across the spectrum of project delivery activity from coordination to management, owning the outcome
- Develop repeatable processes where practicable to increase efficiency in Program delivery
- Vendor recruitment and management where required
- Be a part of recruitment, staff induction and training where required
- Be a point of escalation for project staff across the Program
- Leadership and mentoring of project and portfolio teams
- Travel as required, most likely nationally.

**Success looks like**:

- Program scope, objectives, timelines and all supporting project resourcing and structures are well-documented, clear, concise and complete
- Project teams have a clear understanding of the scope and definition of their projects and deliverables
- Product teams are engaged early, with Program activities scheduled and on product team roadmaps
- Program objectives are achieved within agreed parameters
- Contribution and participation in company values, culture and wider team
- Great stakeholder feedback from the wider organisation.

**What you'll bring with you**:

- Experience working within a modern software company and understand SaaS models and principles
- Experience leading high-profile, complex transformational programs of work and projects
- Experience using Agile/iterative and waterfall based delivery methods
- Demonstrated experience in working in either Tech, Product or Customer focused areas
- 10+ years demonstrated experience leading and delivering projects
- 2 + years demonstrated experience of leading and delivering programs
- Demonstrated vendor management
- Demonstrated stakeholder management across C level / senior leadership.

**Why Xero**
- Offering very generous paid leave to use however you’d like (plus statutory holidays), dedicated paid leave to care for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as an Employee Assistance Program to access mental health care for you and your family, free medical insurance, wellbeing and sports programmes, employee resource groups, 26 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers, an Employee Share Plan, beautiful offices, flexible working, career develo