Director, Business Support and Program Management Office

Pearson Education

Hoboken, NJ Full-time

130K–180K a year

Apply Now via Ladders

Job Description

sident of Content Strategy & Digital Delivery.

In your strategic & operational co-ordination capacity, you will act as a strategic partner to the VP, ensuring focus on the highest priorities, driving operational excellence, and improving organizational effectiveness. You will help orchestrate leadership routines, prepare key communications, drive alignment across the leadership team, and proactively manage follow-through on decisions and strategic initiatives.

In your PMO capacity, you will lead a team of Program Managers responsible for portfolio planning, prioritization, and program-level delivery tracking. You will ensure portfolio health, governance, and capacity management while providing a single source of truth across Content Delivery Pods, Centers of Excellence, and other functions. This role is pivotal in ensuring that content development supports broader business and digital transformation goals.

You will be responsible for guiding your team through complex project lifecycles from concept to release, focusing on quality, efficiency, innovation, and customer experience; while ensuring all programs are delivered on time, within scope, and with outcomes that meet business needs.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic & Operational Support Responsibilities:

Operate as a trusted advisor and strategic partner to the VP, ensuring their time, focus, and priorities align with the most critical business needs.

Drive leadership team routines, including agenda-setting, meeting facilitation, action tracking, and follow-up.

Coordinate cross-functional alignment of strategic priorities, operating rhythms, and key business processes.

Lead the preparation of executive communications, presentations, reports, and operational reviews for senior leadership, including quarterly business reviews and transformation updates.

Manage the leadership team's operating cadence, fostering accountability and transparency across the organization.

Anticipate risks, challenges, and bottlenecks in both operational and strategic initiatives, and proactively resolve or escalate them.

Support change management activities, ensuring messaging, buy-in, and execution are consistent across the Content Strategy & Digital Delivery team.

Program Management Office Leadership:

Define the overall vision and strategy for program management, ensuring initiatives align with business goals and drive long-term value.

Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Program Managers, fostering a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, accountability, and innovation.

Oversee the portfolio of content development projects, ensuring they are delivered on time, within budget, and to quality standards, while supporting digital-first delivery.

Maintain visibility into program health (RAG status, risks, dependencies, milestones) and proactively manage escalations.

Act as a key liaison between Program Management, Content Operations, Portfolio Management, Product, and Senior Leadership, ensuring alignment, transparency, and issue resolution.

Continuously improve program management processes, tools, and reporting to drive efficiency, predictability, and delivery excellence.

Partner with Operations to introduce and refine workflows, governance models, and standards needed to support digital transformation and operational efficiency.

Manage budgets, resource allocation, and capacity planning, ensuring sustainable utilization of people and financial resources.

Business Support Operations:

Oversee key operational functions, including management of content operations processes, purchase orders, contracts, ISBNs, productivity tools, and internal systems.

Ensure operational excellence through effective processes that enable the content development team to deliver at scale and speed.

Experience, Skills and Knowledge:

Bachelor's degree in Business, Project Management, or a related field; PMP certification or advanced degree preferred.

10+ years of experience in program management, operations, or Chief of Staff roles, ideally within digital product or content delivery environments.

Demonstrated ability to operate as a thought partner to senior executives and lead through influence.

Proven experience managing and scaling program management functions in complex, matrixed organizations.

Exceptional organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex information for executive audiences.

About Us

Who we are:

At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: https://plc.pearson.com/

Pearson is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit and business need. All 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 strive for a workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities.

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.

To learn more about Pearson's commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce, navigate to: http://www.pearson.com/careers/diversity-and-inclusion.html.

Note that the information you provide will stay confidential and will be stored securely. It will not be seen by those involved in making decisions as part of the recruitment process.

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience in program management, operations, or Chief of Staff roles, ideally within digital product or content delivery environments
  • Demonstrated ability to operate as a thought partner to senior executives and lead through influence
  • Proven experience managing and scaling program management functions in complex, matrixed organizations
  • Exceptional organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex information for executive audiences

Benefits

Responsibilities

  • The Director of Business Support and Portfolio Management Office (PMO) is a critical leadership role within the Content Strategy & Digital Delivery team, that will combine leadership of the Business Support and PMO function with a strategic coordination & operational role supporting the Vice President of Content Strategy & Digital Delivery
  • In your strategic & operational co-ordination capacity, you will act as a strategic partner to the VP, ensuring focus on the highest priorities, driving operational excellence, and improving organizational effectiveness
  • You will help orchestrate leadership routines, prepare key communications, drive alignment across the leadership team, and proactively manage follow-through on decisions and strategic initiatives
  • In your PMO capacity, you will lead a team of Program Managers responsible for portfolio planning, prioritization, and program-level delivery tracking
  • You will ensure portfolio health, governance, and capacity management while providing a single source of truth across Content Delivery Pods, Centers of Excellence, and other functions
  • This role is pivotal in ensuring that content development supports broader business and digital transformation goals
  • You will be responsible for guiding your team through complex project lifecycles from concept to release, focusing on quality, efficiency, innovation, and customer experience; while ensuring all programs are delivered on time, within scope, and with outcomes that meet business needs
  • Strategic & Operational Support Responsibilities:
  • Operate as a trusted advisor and strategic partner to the VP, ensuring their time, focus, and priorities align with the most critical business needs
  • Drive leadership team routines, including agenda-setting, meeting facilitation, action tracking, and follow-up
  • Coordinate cross-functional alignment of strategic priorities, operating rhythms, and key business processes
  • Lead the preparation of executive communications, presentations, reports, and operational reviews for senior leadership, including quarterly business reviews and transformation updates
  • Manage the leadership team's operating cadence, fostering accountability and transparency across the organization
  • Anticipate risks, challenges, and bottlenecks in both operational and strategic initiatives, and proactively resolve or escalate them
  • Support change management activities, ensuring messaging, buy-in, and execution are consistent across the Content Strategy & Digital Delivery team
  • Define the overall vision and strategy for program management, ensuring initiatives align with business goals and drive long-term value
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Program Managers, fostering a high-performance culture grounded in collaboration, accountability, and innovation
  • Oversee the portfolio of content development projects, ensuring they are delivered on time, within budget, and to quality standards, while supporting digital-first delivery
  • Maintain visibility into program health (RAG status, risks, dependencies, milestones) and proactively manage escalations
  • Act as a key liaison between Program Management, Content Operations, Portfolio Management, Product, and Senior Leadership, ensuring alignment, transparency, and issue resolution
  • Continuously improve program management processes, tools, and reporting to drive efficiency, predictability, and delivery excellence
  • Partner with Operations to introduce and refine workflows, governance models, and standards needed to support digital transformation and operational efficiency
  • Manage budgets, resource allocation, and capacity planning, ensuring sustainable utilization of people and financial resources
  • Business Support Operations:
  • Oversee key operational functions, including management of content operations processes, purchase orders, contracts, ISBNs, productivity tools, and internal systems
  • Ensure operational excellence through effective processes that enable the content development team to deliver at scale and speed
  • Note that the information you provide will stay confidential and will be stored securely