JOB TITLE: Program Manager, Strategic Program Execution
Competency: Project Management, Execution Excellence, Stakeholder Alignment and Global Collaboration
Manager: President Lely North America
HR Responsibility: No direct reports, leads through and with others,
Key Accountability: Responsible for program execution, delivery, coordination, budget management, risk management, and stage-gate readiness. Steering group will guide strategic direction, portfolio priorities, commercialization decisions, and final go/no-go decisions.
Key Relationships: Lely North America Cluster, Lely International, Business Teams, Development Partners, Farms, Lely Centers
FLSA Status: Exempt
Summary:
Lely is seeking a highly accomplished Program Manager to lead the development and execution of a critical growth initiative within North America. This role will be responsible for leading the execution, coordination, and delivery of a large-scale, cross-functional strategic development program. Working within a strategic framework established by the Steering Group, the Program Manager will translate program objectives into actionable plans, coordinate workstreams across North America and global stakeholders, manage program performance, and drive successful delivery through validation. Strategic direction, major investment decisions, and commercialization ownership remain with strategic leadership and the respective business teams.
Reporting to senior leadership, this individual will provide program leadership across multiple disciplines, aligning business strategy, product development, operations, customer engagement, and external partnerships to deliver transformative outcomes.
This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned program leader who thrives in complex environments, can create structures where none exists, and has a proven track record of turning ambitious visions into scalable business realities. This program leader will be largely responsible aligning farmers, business leaders, development teams and strategic stakeholders around a shared vision and coordinate execution at scale.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Program Execution and Delivery Leadership
· Lead execution of the large- scale dairy program within the strategic vision, objectives, and governance framework established by the strategic leadership.
· Translate strategic direction into detailed execution plans, workstream objectives, milestones, and measurable deliverables.
· Develop and maintain the integrated master program plan across all participating workstreams.
· Act as the bridge between development teams, partner farms, Business Teams, and North American stakeholders to ensure coordinated execution.
· Coordinate program resources and identify capability gaps, making recommendations for resourcing decisions.
· Drive accountability for deliverables, timelines, and dependencies across all participating functions.
· Ensure alignment between North American execution activities and global program objectives.
Portfolio and Delivery Management
· Own and maintain the integrated master program schedule, including dependencies, critical paths, and resource requirements.
· Establish and maintain operating rhythms, reporting structures, and program controls.
· Prepare and facilitate stage-gate reviews and executive reporting packages.
· Ensure all required evidence, documentation, and recommendations are available for go/no-go decisions.
· Monitor scope, schedule, budget, resource utilization, and program performance.
· Administer change control processes and assess impacts to scope, timing, cost, and risk.
· Escalate strategic trade-offs and decision points to strategic leadership.
Strategic Stakeholder Alignment and Cross-Functional Leadership
· Build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders across Lely North America and Lely International to ensure alignment, transparency and Program momentum.
· Serve as a key connector between strategic leadership, business teams, development teams, partner farms and external stakeholders.
· Coordinate activities across technical, operational, product development, digital, commercial, and business team workstreams.
· Facilitate collaboration and issue resolution among multiple teams and stakeholders.
· Surface conflicts, resource constraints, and strategic trade-offs requiring leadership decisions.
· Ensure information flows effectively between development teams, partner farms, Lely Centers, and Business Teams
External Partner & Development Farm Coordination
· Maintain strong working relationships with development partner farms, external vendors, consultants, and implementation partners.
· Coordinate day-to-day program activities with external stakeholders.
· Manage progress, deliverables, and communications within agreed program structures.
· Ensure field validation activities are executed effectively and lessons learned are integrated into program planning.
· Serve as the primary operational liaison between Program and development partners.
Risk, Resources and Financial Management
· Manage the program budget, forecasting process, and financial tracking mechanisms.
· Monitor expenditures and provide variance reporting and recommendations.
· Maintain the program risk register, including mitigation plans, owners, and escalation paths.
· Identify operational, technical, financial, and execution risks and drive mitigation activities.
· Escalate strategic risks and investment decisions to strategic leadership.
· Provide regular program performance reporting to leadership.
Validation and Stakeholder Feedback
· Lead field validation efforts with development partner farms and stakeholders.
· Gather operational feedback and validation data.
· Translate field learnings into actionable recommendations for Business Teams and Proposition Management.
· Ensure customer and stakeholder feedback is incorporated into development priorities where appropriate.
· Support, but do not own, commercialization planning and market launch decisions
What we are looking for: Candidate Profile
Education and/or Experience
Bachelor’s degree in business, Agriculture or related field
With:
· 7-10+ years of experience leading complex cross-functional programs, projects, or business initiatives.
· Demonstrated success delivering large-scale programs involving multiple stakeholders, workstreams, and dependencies.
· Experience coordinating technical, operational, commercial, and development activities in complex environments.
· Experience working within matrixed or global organizations preferred.
Certifications
· PMP or equivalent program/project management certification required.
· Agile, Lean Six Sigma, or similar methodologies are highly valued.
· Demonstrated expertise in program governance, planning, execution, and risk management.
Key Skills and Abilities:
· Inspires a OneLely team culture and engages individuals to do their best work toward shared goals.
· Embraces, supports, and exemplifies the Company’s mission and core values.
· Partners in leading organizational transition as a leader, change agent, and motivator, engaging teams in new ways of working as an independent entity.
· Excellent program and project execution capabilities.
· Strong organizational planning and coordination skills.
· Ability to deliver results in complex and ambiguous environments.
· Skilled at stakeholder communication and issue escalation.
· Strong collaboration and relationship-building abilities.
· High degree of accountability and follow-through.
· Ability to bridge multiple teams, functions, and external partners to achieve program objectives.
· Sound judgment regarding when to make decisions independently and when to escalate matters for leadership direction.
· Strong financial acumen, including budget management, forecasting, and resource planning.
· Exceptional stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
· Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
· Comfortable interpreting technical concepts and connecting them to business outcomes.
· 30% of travel required both nationally and internationally
Who we are: Vision, Mission, and Core Values
Our Vision: A sustainable, profitable, and enjoyable future in farming
Our Mission: We create innovative solutions that help our customers excel in sustainable milk production to feed the world.
Our Core Values: Lely has 5 core values. Values that guide us in how we behave in dealing with others. On the work floor among colleagues, interacting with our customers, at meetings with our business partners, and when dealing with the press; independent of place and time we show our values through our actions.
Innovation: We change traditions by continuously seeking new ideas for positive change
Passion: We love what we do and are passionate to support our customers
Progress: We grow because our people are motivated to improve and move forward
Respect: Our focus is the well-being of people, animals, and the environment
Honesty: Being truthful and fair is essential in our way of working
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
Equal Opportunity Employer:
Lely provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
