Sphera is a leading global provider of enterprise software and services that enables companies to manage and optimize their environmental, health, safety and sustainability. Our mission is to create a safer, more sustainable and productive world.
Sphera is a portfolio company of Blackstone, a U.S.-based alternative asset investment company that focuses on private equity, technology and innovation, and more. Blackstone businesses succeed through strong partnerships, a personalized approach and a commitment to exceptional performance with uncompromising integrity. Sphera and Blackstone are leaders in the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) space.
We are guided by our core values which are Customer-Centric, Accountable, Innovative, Collaborative, and Action-Oriented. These values help us recruit the right talent to join our rapidly expanding team of around 1400 Spherions around the globe. It is important to us that each and every Spherion is not only eager to challenge themselves and knows how to get work done but is an awesome addition to our company culture.
Role Overview
Sphera is evolving toward a product-led delivery model where routine execution is owned by Product, Engineering, and Agile teams and the PMO is focused where it creates the most value: enterprise-scale program orchestration, portfolio visibility, cross-functional dependency management, and executive-level risk and decision intelligence.
The Director of PMO will lead this operating model in practice. This is not a coordination or reporting role it is a leadership position for someone who drives delivery outcomes through influence, builds the portfolio intelligence infrastructure that Sphera's leadership team relies on, and holds the accountability architecture across complex, cross-functional programs and integration projects.
Key Responsibilities
1. Enterprise Program & Portfolio Leadership
- Own end-to-end delivery accountability for integration programs, cross-functional initiatives, and large-scale portfolio commitments that span Product, Engineering, GTM, Finance, and executive stakeholders.
- Maintain a real-time portfolio map: initiative status, delivery confidence, milestone health, and executive-facing roll-up.
- Drive consistent use of program management standards across all PMO-owned initiatives — milestones, RAID logs, decision registers, and change control.
- Lead program governance for strategic initiatives from kick-off through closure, including scope, schedule, risk, and dependency management.
2. RAID Log Ownership and Escalation Discipline
- Own the RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) log across PMO-managed programs — ensuring it is current, actionable, and visible to the right stakeholders.
- Proactively identify and surface risks before they become blockers; distinguish material issues requiring executive attention from operational noise.
- Maintain a clear escalation path: who owns what, by when, and what decision or action is required to unblock delivery.
- Track open items with rigor — named owners, committed dates, and weekly check-ins to assess progress and identify stalls.
3. Action Owner Accountability and Status Cadence
- Hold a consistent, structured cadence of status reviews across all active programs ensuring blockers are identified early, action owners are confirmed, and commitments are tracked to closure.
- Drive accountability without authority: follow up persistently, escalate appropriately, and document outcomes so nothing falls through the gaps.
- Build and maintain the action log tied to executive forums (Product Review, OLT reviews, launch readiness checkpoints) ensuring every decision produces a named owner and a due date.
- Produce the executive-facing portfolio status update on a regular cadence: concise, signal-driven, and tied to delivery reality not slide narrative.
4. Cross-Functional Dependency and Integration Management
- Map and manage dependencies across product lines, engineering squads, shared platform teams, and external partners or integration workstreams.
- Maintain a live dependency register that surfaces aging blockers, ownership gaps, and resolution timelines to the teams and leaders who need to act.
- Coordinate across PMO, Product, Engineering, QA, DevOps, Support, and GTM to ensure handoffs are owned, sequenced, and not dropped.
- Lead integration program planning where multiple teams, systems, or external partners are involved bridging technical and business delivery tracks.
5. Executive and Leadership Partnership
- Serve as the PMO's primary interface with ELT/OLT — providing clear, concise visibility into portfolio health, material risks, and decisions required.
- Partner with Product and Engineering leaders to improve delivery visibility and move the organization from slide-driven status to workflow-based portfolio intelligence.
- Support the design and evolution of the executive Product Review — including pre-read discipline, live discussion focus, and post-meeting action closure.
- Communicate with influence: tailor the message to the audience, lead with what matters, and make it easy for executives to act.
6. PMO Operating Model and Team Leadership
- Define and evolve the PMO operating model — clarifying what PMO owns versus what belongs with Product, Engineering, and Agile Enablement.
- Build, mentor, and develop the PMO team in India, establishing strong program management practices, career growth paths, and shared ways of working.
- Lead the transition from manual, slide-based reporting to scalable, system-driven portfolio visibility using ADO, Product board, Jellyfish, or equivalent tools.
- Partner with the PTMO and Agile Enablement functions to define clear role boundaries and avoid overlap or ownership confusion at the team level.
Required Experience
- 10+ years of experience in program or portfolio management, with at least 4 years leading enterprise-scale, cross-functional programs in a technology or SaaS environment.
- Demonstrated experience managing complex integration programs, large product portfolios, or multi-workstream transformation initiatives.
- Strong RAID log, dependency management, and escalation discipline with evidence of holding delivery accountability across large, distributed teams.
- Track record of building executive-level reporting and portfolio visibility infrastructure not just maintaining inherited processes.
- Ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization: strong communicator, credible across technical and business functions, and comfortable challenging respectfully.
- Experience working in or alongside a product-led delivery model, with a clear understanding of where PMO adds value and where it should step back.
- Proficiency with delivery and portfolio tools (ADO, Jira, Product board, Smartsheet, or equivalent).
Preferred Qualification
- PMP, PGMP, or equivalent professional certification.
- Experience building or rebuilding a PMO function — defining the operating model, staffing approach, and delivery standards from scratch or through significant transformation.
- Exposure to EHS, sustainability, risk, or compliance software industries.
- Experience managing or developing a PMO team in a multi-site or offshore delivery model.
- Familiarity with Agile delivery principles and where Agile and program management intersect without conflicting.
