IT Project / Program Manager

About Ciena

As the global leader in high-speed connectivity, Ciena is committed to a people-first approach. Our teams enjoy a culture focused on prioritizing a flexible work environment that empowers individual growth, well-being, and belonging. We’re a technology company that leads with our humanity—driving our business priorities alongside meaningful social, community, and societal impact.

Ciena is looking for a Program/Project Manager to join our team, someone who is highly motivated, excited about change, and enjoys being challenged by resolving complex problems. You must work well in a team oriented, matrixed environment and possess a mixed business and technical background.

The IT Project / Program Manager is responsible for the overall management of strategic projects focused on Accounting and Financial Planning. A candidate should have experience implementing SaaS solutions and have familiarity with prevalent Accounting and Financial Planning system solutions to solve business needs. Experience with Oracle R12.X, Hyperion, and Anaplan are desired. The project teams are made up of globally distributed technical and business teams, often with a mix of internal and vendor resources to deliver solutions and services to clients.

The IT Project / Program Manager will collaborate with subject matter experts to translate project objectives and requirements into schedules and tasks and drive technical tasks through delivery and testing cycles. Candidate needs to demonstrate experience managing medium to large scale projects/programs and technical lead roles.

Additional Responsibilities Will Include

• Oversee the ongoing review of project(s) status; closely monitor project resources tasks, risks, and milestones, make course corrections when necessary, using defined change control procedures, recommend and implement solutions as appropriate.
• Partner with Business Functional Leads to prioritize requirements, and estimate effort and resources required to satisfy both - Project Execution and Tracking.
• Able to collaborate with other project managers and serve as a technical lead to support the delivery of technical functions and tasks across all work products. This includes, but is not limited to, configuration activities, integrations, technical builds, driving testing cycles, and ensuring alignment of the build to requirements.
• Responsible for overseeing the daily project activities of a team of individual contributors across multiple sites and global locations.
• Provide input into vendor negotiations and manage vendor within defined contract parameters.
• Manage projects using different methodologies as needed by the project (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid, FastFail, etc)
• Ensures alignment to strategic priorities.
• Coordinate with IT directors, Business Managers, Resource Managers and IT PMO Manager for resource assignments, creation of project deliverables, issue resolution and escalation.

Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years' experience as a Project Manager with a variety of finance related systems or solutions. Experience with Finance Planning functions and processes.
• Experience executing highly matrixed global projects with team members including Developers, Business Analysts, Business Owners and Service Owners.
• Experience managing projects with both onshore and offshore teams as part of the engagement.
• Ability to provide leadership to business analysts and collaborate with customers and develop strategies and solutions of high business value
• Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Practitioner or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred
• Strong interpersonal skills including mentoring, coaching, collaborating, and team building and ability to work independently with little hands-on supervision delivering across aggressive timelines
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills with an ability to manage competing demands
• Proven ability to lead IT development projects and ensure objectives, goals, and commitments are met
• Solid understanding of and demonstrated experience in using appropriate tools: Agile Project Management tools such as Jira, Rally or equivalent. Microsoft Project, Visio, and all Microsoft Office Tools.
• Creative approach to problem-solving with the ability to focus on details while maintaining the “big picture” view
• Candidate should be flexible to working in US and India hours if needed.

Required Experience

Highly experienced individual interested in progressing their career with proven history of successful project management and technical leadership roles with accounting and Finance applications or business processes.

Compensation & Benefits

Pay ranges at Ciena are designed to accommodate variations in knowledge, skills, experience, market conditions, and locations, reflecting our diverse products, industries, and lines of business. Please note that the pay range information provided in this posting pertains specifically to the primary location, which is the top location listed in case multiple locations are available.

Non-Sales employees may be eligible for a discretionary incentive bonus, while Sales employees may be eligible for a sales commission. In addition to competitive compensation, Ciena offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision plans, participation in 401(K) (USA) & DCPP (Canada) with company matching, Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), Employee Assistance Program (EAP), company-paid holidays, paid sick leave, and vacation time. We also comply with all applicable laws regarding Paid Family Leave and other leaves of absence.

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Commitment to Diversity

At Ciena, we are committed to building and fostering an environment in which our employees feel respected, valued, and heard. Ciena values the diversity of its workforce and respects its employees as individuals. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.

Ciena is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

If contacted in relation to a job opportunity, please advise Ciena of any accommodation measures you may require.

Key skills/competency

• Project Management
• Program Management
• SaaS Implementation
• Financial Planning Systems
• Accounting Applications
• Agile Methodologies
• Waterfall Methodologies
• Global Project Execution
• Stakeholder Management
• Technical Leadership