What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Program Management position at Clearwater Analytics?
Job Summary:
About The Role
We are seeking an accomplished senior leader, Head of Program Management Office (PMO) to lead and scale our enterprise program execution capability within the R&D organization. This is a senior leadership role that sits at the intersection of Product, Engineering, and Client Delivery. You will inherit and lead an established PMO team of 9-10 Technical Program Managers and take them to the next level of execution maturity. The ideal candidate brings deep domain knowledge in investment management and capital markets, strong business acumen, and a track record of driving complex, multi-workstream programs to successful delivery in a SaaS / platform environment.
You will be the connective tissue between our senior Product and Engineering leadership and our clients, ensuring that our R&D investments translate into measurable business outcomes with predictable, high-quality execution. This role reports directly to the VP of R&D Strategy and is a key member of the R&D leadership team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic Program Leadership
About The Role
We are seeking an accomplished senior leader, Head of Program Management Office (PMO) to lead and scale our enterprise program execution capability within the R&D organization. This is a senior leadership role that sits at the intersection of Product, Engineering, and Client Delivery. You will inherit and lead an established PMO team of 9-10 Technical Program Managers and take them to the next level of execution maturity. The ideal candidate brings deep domain knowledge in investment management and capital markets, strong business acumen, and a track record of driving complex, multi-workstream programs to successful delivery in a SaaS / platform environment.
You will be the connective tissue between our senior Product and Engineering leadership and our clients, ensuring that our R&D investments translate into measurable business outcomes with predictable, high-quality execution. This role reports directly to the VP of R&D Strategy and is a key member of the R&D leadership team.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic Program Leadership
- Lead and evolve the Program Management Office (PMO) as a center of excellence for program execution across the R&D organization, managing a team of Technical Program Managers.
- Define and own the program governance framework, including intake, prioritization, milestone tracking, risk management, and executive reporting.
- Drive alignment between product roadmap commitments, engineering capacity, and client delivery timelines to ensure the organization delivers on its promises.
- Serve as a senior point of accountability for high-visibility client implementations, platform migrations, and strategic delivery programs.
- Translate complex client requirements rooted in investment management workflows (e.g., portfolio accounting, NAV calculation, reconciliation, compliance reporting) into actionable program plans for R&D teams.
- Proactively managing client expectations, programming risks, and escalation paths, working together with Client Onboarding, Client Servicing and Sales leadership.
- Leverage deep understanding of the investment management life cycle (front, middle, and back office) to inform program priorities and trade-off decisions.
- Speak the language of our clients — portfolio managers, operations teams, compliance officers, and CIOs/ CROs (Risk) and translate their needs into technology delivery strategies.
- Stay current with industry trends, regulatory changes (e.g., SEC, MiFID II, T 1 settlement), and competitive dynamics to advise R&D leadership on market-driven priorities.
- Champion the disciplined execution of AI-powered product initiatives, ensuring these high-complexity programs are delivered with appropriate rigor, experimentation frameworks, and stakeholder communication.
- Collaborate with Product and Engineering teams to manage programs involving intelligent automation, predictive analytics, NLP-driven document processing, and AI-assisted investment workflows.
- Lead, mentor, and elevate an established team of Technical Program Managers embedded across product and engineering teams, raising the bar on execution discipline, domain fluency, and stakeholder management.
- Develop individual growth paths for TPMs, fostering specialization in investment management domains while maintaining cross-functional versatility across the R&D portfolio.
- Foster a culture of transparency, ownership, and proactive communication within the PMO and across the R&D organization.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the VP – R&D Strategy and R&D leadership team on organizational effectiveness, resource planning, and strategic execution.
- Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. MBA or advanced degree (strongly preferred)
- 12 years of progressive experience in program management, product operations, or delivery leadership within financial services technology, investment management, or capital markets.
- Deep domain knowledge of the investment management life cycle — including portfolio management, trading, order management, performance attribution, risk management, fund accounting, investor reporting, and regulatory compliance.
- Proven ability to partner with and influence senior Product and Engineering leaders in a technology-driven, fast-paced environment.
- Track record of running large-scale, cross-functional programs in a SaaS or platform product company, with direct accountability for client-facing delivery outcomes.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to connect technology execution to business value, revenue impact, and client satisfaction.
- Experience managing programs that involve AI/ML, data engineering, or advanced analytics initiatives.
- Demonstrated experience leading and developing a team of Technical Program Managers (10 direct reports), with a focus on raising execution quality and domain expertise.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills; comfortable presenting to C-suite executives, clients, and senior leadership audiences.
- Direct experience working at or with buy-side firms (asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds, wealth management platforms) or sell-side technology providers serving these segments.
- Familiarity with investment management platforms and systems such as OMS/EMS, portfolio accounting systems, data warehouses/lakes, and client reporting engines.
- Experience with Agile at scale and modern delivery tooling (Jira, Aha! Confluence, etc.).
- PgMP, PMP, SAFe SPC/RTE, or equivalent program management certifications.
- Background in navigating regulatory and compliance-driven delivery requirements (SOC 2, GDPR).
- Experience scaling and maturing an existing PMO function in a growth-stage or mid-market SaaS company.
- This role is based in New York City. Occasional travel (up to 15-20%) may be required for client engagements, leadership meetings and engagements.
- Business casual atmosphere in a flexible working environment
- Team focused culture that promotes innovation and ownership
- Access cutting edge investment reporting technology and expertise
- Defined and undefined career pathways allowing you to grow your own way
- Competitive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits
- Maternity and paternity leave
- Personal Time Off and Volunteer Time Off to give back to the community
- RSUs as well as employee stock purchase plan and 401k with match
- Work from anywhere 3 weeks out of the year
- Work from home Fridays