Delivery Execution Manager, Launch Readiness - Project Hire

At Disney, we are storytellers. We make the impossible possible. The Walt Disney Company is a world-class entertainment and technological leader. Our passion is to continuously envision new ways to move audiences around the world—a passion that remains our touchstone in an enterprise that stretches from streaming, theme parks, resorts and a cruise line to sports, news, movies, and a variety of other businesses. Uniting each endeavor is a dedication to creating and delivering unforgettable experiences, and we are constantly looking for new ways to improve these exciting experiences. 

The Enterprise Technology mission is to deliver technology solutions that align to business strategies while enabling enterprise efficiency and promoting cross-company collaborative innovation. We drive competitive advantages by improving our consumer experiences, enabling business growth, and advancing operational excellence. 

About the role: 

The Delivery Execution Manager, Launch Readiness will be a part of the Core Systems & Platforms team within the ET. You will have the opportunity to support our finance transformation initiatives; SAP ECC transition to S/4 Hana and its technology conversion leveraged by all TWDC segments and lines of business including, DPEP, Studios, DMED and Corporate functions. 

In this role, you will facilitate all aspects for delivery execution into production from scope definition to execution. In addition, you will manage the implementation efforts for launch readiness and coordinate coordination of production validations required by the business teams. This role may also lead one of many workstreams responsible for the successful execution of the overall program. As they will be reporting to the Sr. Manager of Enterprise Tech Launch Readiness, this role collaborates with cross-functional teams to deliver solutions across various applications and services within the Core Systems and Platforms organization. The Delivery Execution Manager ensures project plans are accurately supervised, updated for on-time and on-schedule delivery working closely with Sr. Technical Project Managers and/or Sr Technical Launch Manager within the team and partners from Product, Technology, and Design. This role requires strong intuition for business. 

Responsibilities:

Readiness Plan Development:

• Facilitate scope definition for project delivery, and high-level implementation timelines. 

• Create project schedule and communication plans according to established processes. 

• Document various components of a readiness plan with cross-discipline functional leads to gather critical achievements for pre-launch tasks and day of launch activities in comprehensive run book. 

• Schedule work sessions with cross-functional technical and business leads to track readiness progress. 

• Ensure vital steps and dependencies to deliver projects and components are established 

Project Delivery:

• Confidently participate, co-lead cross-functional projects, and individual project tracks of large programs through full delivery life-cycle, focused on readiness to enter each phase; this includes testing phases, mock cutovers/dress rehearsals, production validations and launch readiness for project go-live. 

• Work with cross discipline team members to validate project assumptions and review project plans with leadership 

• Serve as a Launch Readiness liaison among multiple teams, including Product Management, Design, Technology, vendors and other key functional delivery teams for the project (when appropriate) 

• Communicate regular updates to leadership on Readiness preparedness progress, plan updates and budget spend and forecast, including status report updates, financial/budget/variance reports, and other reporting as required 

• Monitor adherence to schedule and achievement commitments 

• Advance key issues and risks to ensure timely resolution and mitigation 

• Advance risk factors to Prevent scope creep, record causes of change, and facilitate change requests to ensure impacts to schedule or budget, as well as forecasts, are approved and communicated in a timely manner 

• Use metrics, including burn-down charts, to drive performance, efficiency and forecast improvements 

• Participate in Launch Command Center and Go Live activities, which may include update run books with the latest status and critical updates, facilitating incident update calls 

• Driving specific logistics for command center set up 

• Draft and send communications for Launch, to include executive communications when appropriate. 

• Ensure proper project closure including retrospectives/lessons learned, transition and hand-off to production operations support, and final financial reporting 

Qualifications: 

• A minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience in project management working on financial systems (ie. SAP, mobile web, and apps). 

• Exceptional verbal and written communication and leadership skills, including an ability to communicate effectively at an executive level 

• Ability to work collaboratively across large matrixed organizations 

• Possesses significant practical experience in the basics of project management (estimation, project planning, resource planning, issue management, risk management, change management, communication planning). 

• Experienced in multiple full lifecycle software deliveries from business development to final software acceptance. 

• Experience with Agile software development methodology 

• Consistent track record leading individual project 

• Ability to lead teams to a successful delivery approach 

• Able to work under tight timetables and high pressure situations 

• Proactive and solution-oriented when leading issues 

• Use good judgment skills on when to seek guidance and when to intensify risks and issues