Principal Program Manager Jobs

The Principal Program Manager for Store Development reporting to the Strategic Management & Project Administration Team. This position provides program management for overall financial planning and coordination. This PPM also leads and supports cross functional working groups and executes projects that drive progress in team goals and initiatives with financial implications, including alignment, coordination and launch of programs with a high number of extended stakeholders across the business.

• Examples of focus initiatives: Speed to market and Cost to build improvement Initiatives, Project WATER (Work Order Asset Tagging Equipment Replacement) north star platform and SOP implementation, and Preopening alignment.
• Examples of financial/coordination management: Annual SDT Team and Program spend/forecasting, financial alignment within SDT & Amazon, Monthly/Quarterly program tracking & reporting.

The PPM is responsible for the development of project work back plans to meet deliverable criteria expectations, ensuring a consistent approach across enterprise with a holistic approach, service-mindset, and accountability for successful project execution. This TM oversees launch and implementation planning and reporting development, , acts as pen holder for strategic planning documents and cyclical updates to senior leadership, and provides overall support for overall team financial planning/reporting.

Must be well versed in responsibilities of all disciplines essential to completing a successful project. This TM will be a key-business partner for our extended stakeholders, including but not limited to Finance & Accounting, Operations, etc.

This TM must have a passion for moving at the speed of retail, great communication skills, an optimistic and solution-oriented approach, and proven ability to successfully manage numerous projects occurring concurrently. Deep understanding of how to successfully manage a project/initiative with complex business, operations, technical and other dependencies is required. Key performance indicators include successful cross-functional project coordination with effective communication, accountability and follow-through, maintenance of accurate project data/status/deliverables, and overall high level of service and quality of work.

Responsibilities:

• Lead end to end project lifecycle, ensuring project scope, planning, and implementation align with program expectations and business needs.

• Primary point of contact for financial and accounting coordination efforts, including program-level budget to actual performance.
• Implement and document controls and processes to manage the transfer and sharing of accurate data.
• Work with cross-functional partners to establish best practices, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and proactively identify and remove roadblocks.
• Identify areas of risk to project timelines and escalate to program leadership in a timely manner.
• Present and articulate responsible program project status and progress to senior leadership and cross workstreams.
• Consistently challenge practices to ensure the team is raising the bar on its performance and operational excellence.
• Earn trust, establish credibility, build partnerships, and champion an innovation culture with leaders across the organization.
• Support processes to gather legal, policy and other requirements, assess them for completeness, and translate them for teams, stakeholders, and sponsors who will address and implement those requirements.
• Responsible for program KPI and goal tracking, reporting on status of monthly, quarterly and annual goals to leadership.

• Upholds and reinforces company standards in project execution, turnover for end users, and postmortem analysis to provide continual improvement. Reinforces expectation of strong partnerships and communication with all key stakeholders, ensuring accurate planning to minimize system downtime and support financial accuracy.
• Schedules and leads regular project coordination meetings, to ensure communication path and feedback loop with Discipline POCs and any relevant stakeholders.
• Plays an active role in defining scope and managing cost and capacity estimates for projects and initiatives; informs budget and resourcing requests.
• Ownership and accountability are required for successful project coordination, including budget development and adherence, planning, design, overall communication, and quality of work.

Professional/ Project Management Knowledge:

• Advanced ability to develop program guidance with input from stakeholders and implement effectively.
• Advanced proficiency with project management software, as well as internal tools for project financials and document management – MS Suite, Procore, Workday and Smartsheet.
• Advanced ability to prepare and guide schedules effectively- from scoping through design to scheduling to execution to postmortem.
• Demonstrated knowledge of preparing budgets, supporting forecast loading on OP cycles, reporting on Budget to Actual performance, and providing key insights to leadership.
• Expert ability to keep multiple projects on track, with a high quality of work, and in accordance with stakeholder creative intent and deadlines.
• Passion for reducing and normalizing cost data across the program for insight driven analysis and performance improvement, crafting action plans to mitigate risk.
• Able to oversee or advise on project management issues and assist in overcoming barriers.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills:

• Provides process and policy advice to TMs and customers
• Regularly interacts with colleagues or customers up to the senior leadership level.
• Effectively presents information and responds to questions, in both one on one and group settings
• Collaborates with others to achieve objectives and ensure information flow
• Communicates structured information in a clear, concise, and organized fashion.
• Conveys or consults on issues of moderate to significant complexity
• This TM must have a service mindset, with ability to find alignment amongst stakeholders in a dynamic environment with competing priorities.

Teamwork & Collaboration

• Impacts overall team effectiveness
• Participates in cross functional projects and provides senior-level support to team
• Provides informational support and guidance to less experienced TMs
• Builds and nurtures relationships with senior-level stakeholders and leaders

Judgment and Problem Solving

• Presents problem analysis and recommended solutions in a creative and logical manner
• Uses experience, innovation, and judgement to make decisions that may be based on partial information.
• Considers enterprise-wide implications of decisions and recommendations
• Develops complex and creative solutions to business problems through in-depth analyses and coordination/ negotiation with key decision makers.
• Applies analytical skills to evaluate and interpret complex situations and identify risks
• Identifies and shares opportunities for process/ procedural enhancements to drive efficiency and improve service levels.

Organization & Business Knowledge:

• Applies business and project understanding to focus project team’s efforts
• Demonstrates exceptional knowledge of the WFM product mix, supply base, retail operations, and relevant innovations requiring SDT support.
• Leverages understanding of the customer base, market, and industry to drive project-related decisions and recommendations

Education & Experience:

• BA/BS degree and 6-8 years relevant experience OR equivalent education and relevant experience

Physical Requirements / Working Conditions

• Ability to physically perform general office requirements, as well as those required on construction site.
• Ability to travel to project sites across the enterprise is required. This position may require travel up to 20%.
• Must be able to perform essential responsibilities with or without reasonable accommodations.

At Whole Foods Market, we provide a fair and equal employment opportunity for all Team Members and candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, disability, or any other legally protected characteristic. Whole Foods Market hires and promotes individuals solely based on qualifications for the position to be filled and business needs.

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