Senior Manager, AI Program Management

Overview

About the Role & Team IDC is building an enterprise AI capability that moves beyond isolated pilots: a secure, reusable platform for deploying AI agents, connecting them to enterprise data and tools, and provingmeasurable business value. We are looking for a high-ownership Senior Manager, AI Program Management to build the AI PM function from the ground up alongside the VP of AI. This person will bring structure, transparency, and execution discipline to a fast-moving portfolio of AI platform, data, governance, and business-facing agent initiatives.This is not a traditional project-coordination role. You will help decide what gets built, turn ambiguous ideas into executable plans, establish the operating model for AI delivery, and keep cross-functional teams focused on outcomes. We need someone who does this work personally - drafting the charter, chasing the dependency, rewriting the deck before the steering meeting - not someone who assigns it and checks in later.What You’ll Do

• Build IDC’s AI program-management function, including standards, rituals, templates, portfolio reporting, intake, prioritization, decision tracking, and delivery governance.
• Partner directly with the VP of AI to translate strategy into an actionable roadmap across AI platform, agent products, governance, observability, adoption, and business use cases.
• Turn loosely defined business opportunities into clear charters with problem statements, expected value, owners, scope, dependencies, success metrics, milestones, and definition of done.
• Create and operate a portfolio view of AI initiatives, making tradeoffs and capacity constraints visible to executive leadership.
• Lead end-to-end delivery of complex AI programs involving engineering, data, security, legal, enterprise architecture, product, and business stakeholders.
• Own intake and prioritization end-to-end - run the pragmatic process that decides what enters the portfolio, in what order, and distinguishes experiments from scalable production investments.
• Work directly with delivery teams to gather deliverables, status, and artifacts, following up yourself when something is late or off-track rather than waiting for teams to report up.
• Define a repeatable delivery lifecycle for AI products-from discovery and data readiness through pilot, evaluation, production launch, adoption, and ongoing measurement.
• Drive cross-functional alignment on requirements, risks, decisions, dependencies, and timelines; escalate early when delivery, security, data, or adoption risks threaten outcomes.
• Create executive-ready communication that clearly explains progress, business value, risks, decisions needed, and next steps.
• Help establish measurement standards for AI initiatives, including adoption, quality, reliability, cost, risk, and realized business value.
• Partner with technical leaders to ensure plans account for architecture, integrations, data access, evaluation, security, governance, operational support, and change management.
• Help build the operating cadence for the AI organization: weekly delivery reviews, monthly portfolio and value reviews, and executive steering updates.
• Mentor future program and project managers as the function grows.Initial focus areas In the first year, this role will help organize and deliver a portfolio that includes:
• Enterprise AI platform and shared AWS foundations for secure agent deployment
• MCP and enterprise-tool integration standards
• AI observability, evaluation, governance, and cost-management capabilities
• Agentic business solutions across sales, research/data collection, service operations, and internal productivity
• AI adoption, training, change management, and business-value measurement
• Executive-facing visibility into the AI portfolio, operational health, and outcomes

What success looks likeFirst 90 days

• Establish a clear, trusted view of the AI portfolio, including active initiatives, ownership, dependencies, risks, investment, and expected outcomes.
• Implement a lightweight but consistent intake, prioritization, and program-management framework.
• Create working cadences for delivery teams and executive stakeholders.
• Bring the highest-priority initiatives to an agreed roadmap, with measurable objectives and cleardelivery plans.
• Identify initiatives that should be accelerated, paused, combined, or stopped.Within 12 months
• AI work is managed as a coherent portfolio rather than a collection of disconnected requests.
• Leaders have reliable visibility into delivery progress, risks, investment, adoption, and business value.
• Teams can move from idea to pilot to production through a repeatable, well-governed process.
• AI initiatives have defined owners, success metrics, evaluation plans, operating models, and adoption plans.
• The AI organization has a scalable PM function that can support a growing enterprise portfolio.What You Bring

• A demonstrated bias toward doing the work yourself - writing the charter, building the tracker, chasing the blocker - rather than assigning it and following up in a status meeting.• 8+ years of program, product, transformation, or portfolio-management experience, including ownership of complex cross-functional technology programs.• Meaningful experience delivering AI, data, analytics, cloud-platform, automation, or enterprise-software initiatives. Direct generative AI or agentic AI experience is strongly preferred.• Experience building or materially improving a PMO, program-management practice, product operations function, or portfolio-management model.• Strong ability to convert ambiguity into structured, practical plans without creating unnecessary process.• Experience working with technical teams and understanding the realities of data, integrations, cloud infrastructure, security, software delivery, and production operations.• Strong executive presence and excellent written communication; able to frame decisions and tradeoffs clearly for both technical and non-technical leaders.• A bias toward business outcomes: you know that a successful AI initiative must drive adoption and measurable value, not merely ship a model or feature.• Comfort operating in a lean, evolving organization where priorities will change and you will need to create the structure as you go.
• Strong judgment about when to standardize, when to experiment, and when to stop work that is not producing value.Preferred qualifications • Experience leading enterprise AI, data, or digital-transformation portfolios.• Experience in a consulting, research, technology, SaaS, professional-services, or data-products environment.• Familiarity with AWS, enterprise data platforms, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Jira/Confluence, and modern AI/agent architectures.• Experience with AI governance, responsible AI, model evaluation, observability, security, or change management.• PMP, PgMP, SAFe, Agile, product-management, or similar credentials are welcome but not required.Working style You are structured without being bureaucratic. You can operate at executive altitude and still get into the details when a team is blocked. You are comfortable challenging vague requests, surfacing difficult tradeoffs, and bringing clarity to a rapidly changing AI landscape. This is a hands-on role: you will personally drive plans, chase dependencies, and unblock work - not merely track status and report it upward. Most importantly, you are energized by building a new function and helping an organization turn AI ambition into real, measurable outcomes.

Why This Role Stands Out At IDC, your work helps shape how the world understands technology and where it goes next. You collaborate with curious, high-caliber colleagues who value rigor, integrity, and shared success. As the premier global provider of trusted technology intelligence, IDC equips business and technology leaders with the evidence they need to make confident decisions. Our insights inform strategy, investment, and innovation across industries and regions.

Recognized by IIAR as Analyst Firm of the Year for five consecutive years, IDC sets the standard for credibility and impact. With more than 1,000 analysts worldwide and a truly global perspective, we combine deep expertise with practical relevance. Here, your ideas matter, your voice is heard, and your contributions provide the insights leaders rely on every day. It is meaningful work, backed by a culture that supports growth, collaboration, and long-term career development with a globally respected brand.

What We Offer

• 15 vacation days (prorated based on start date)
• 12 company-paid holidays
• 6 paid sick days (prorated based on start date; may vary by state)
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 2 floating holidays (prorated based on start date)
• 1 volunteer day
• 401(k) company match (IDC matches 3% on the first 6% of employee contributions)
• Company-paid short-term disability
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid parental leave

Compensation Transparency

At IDC, we are committed to fair and equitable pay practices. Employees are compensated equitably for their work, aligned with their skills and experience. Salary and incentive structures are determined through a rigorous process that considers experience, education, certifications, role-specific requirements, internal equity, and verified U.S. market data from an independent third-party partner.The expected total annual compensation, depending on location and experience, is between $130,000 - $190,000, inclusive of base salary and variable compensation.

If this role relocates to a different country, the salary range will be updated to reflect that country's range, rather than a currency conversion of the original range. Equal Opportunity Employer

IDC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified persons. Employment eligibility verification required. We participate in E-Verify.

IDC is currently able to employ remote workers in the following states: Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), Washington D.C. (DC), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Kansas (KS), Massachusetts (MA), Maryland (MD), Maine (ME), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Pennsylvania (PA), Rhode Island (RI), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Texas (TX), Utah (UT), Virginia (VA), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA), and Wisconsin (WI).