Business Operations & Program Management Lead

The Nielsen Company

About The Position

We are hiring a Business Operations & Program Mgmt Lead to serve as the operational backbone of our marketing organization. In this hybrid leadership role (50% Team Management / 50% Individual Contributor), you will own the rhythm of the business, orchestrating how we plan, budget, and execute global initiatives. You will move the team from ad-hoc project management to a structured, strategic Phase Gate delivery model while mentoring a distributed global team.

Requirements

Experience: 7+ years in Marketing Operations, Program Management, or Business Operations with experience managing global/distributed teams.
Facilitator: Proven experience using Human Centered Design or Design Thinking to facilitate strategy and problem-solving sessions.
Structured Thinker: Deep experience building Phase Gate or Stage-Gate methodologies for complex campaign rollouts.
Financial Acumen: Strong capability in budget management, resource forecasting, and operational reporting.

Responsibilities

Strategy Facilitation: Partner with the Senior Director to Lead high-impact marketing leadership strategy sessions utilizing Human Centered Design (HCD) tools and methodologies to drive alignment and innovation.
Global Marketing Calendar: Partner with Marketing leadership to define the Integrated Global Marketing Calendar, ensuring visibility and alignment across all marketing teams.
OKRs: Manage the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) reporting framework; support quarterly planning sessions and ensure cascading goals are tracked and reported accurately.
Monthly Business Reviews: Support monthly business reviews for reporting on metrics, OKRs, and organization budgets.
Phase Gate Architecture: Standardize project management processes across the organization that allow functional teams to execute with speed and consistency. Develop, implement, and manage a Phase Gate process for integrated marketing initiatives, ensuring clear checkpoints, approvals, and decision frameworks are in place.
Program Management Support: Provide high-level Program Management support for high-profile, complex strategic initiatives that require cross-functional coordination.
Deploy Best Practices: Design and deploy best-in-class program management tools and business operations processes that standardize how work gets done.
Resource & Budget Governance: Orchestrate the monthly budget review process for the entire marketing organization to ensure fiscal discipline. Lead the monthly resource management review to align hiring and capacity with strategic priorities.
Deploy Best Practices: Design and deploy best-in-class program management tools and business operations processes that standardize how work gets done.
Distributed Team Management: Manage, mentor, and develop a global team of 4 individual contributors (based in North America and India), including Program Managers, Business Ops Analysts, and Asset Managers.
Creative Workflow Oversight: Oversee the team responsible for the creative intake/triage process, ensuring the efficient program management and delivery of creative assets.
Asset Lifecycle Management: Oversee the team responsible for the full lifecycle of marketing assets, including creation, review/approvals, storage, and distribution.
Operational Excellence: Guide the team in managing Purchase Orders (PO) and budgeting processes to ensure compliance and accuracy.