Manager Central Program Management and PMO, Translation Services Operations
DESCRIPTION
Are you passionate about languages and translation? Are you motivated to have a direct impact on customers around the world? Do you have a program management background and love for continuous improvement and finding creative solutions to challenging problems? Amazon's Translation Services team is responsible for providing translation tools and solutions to support the localization and translation needs of all Amazon businesses. At Translation Services Operations, we partner with other internal Amazonian teams to translate and deliver content for users of Amazon’s tools and services around the world. We obsess over finding the optimal balance between quality, speed, and cost for customers we serve.
We are looking for a seasoned Program Manager to lead the Central Program Management (CPM) and Project Management Office (PMO) team of TSOps. Central Program Management is responsible for continuous process improvement, end-to-end process optimization, the launch of new localization services and content classification models. PMO specifically is responsible for managing and monitoring project intake, and training other PMs in the organization. The ideal candidate can coach Program Managers on the team on their projects, and can get alignment from intra-, as well as inter-departmental leadership
to develop projects to support TSOps goals of improving productivity and costs. This leadership role requires someone thinking big, comfortable with data analysis, rolling up their sleeves to get things done and enjoy helping others develop their careers. This is a newly-formed team, and the Manager Program Management will have to work through ambiguity to identify scalable solutions and refine the organizational structure and processes that the team eventually adopts.
Key job responsibilities
- As a hands-on leader, provide operational support by engaging the right intra-, and inter- departmental stakeholders to communicate with and impact critical business initiatives
- Develop, implement, and govern KPI (Key Performance Indicators) reporting for a portfolio of programs, providing visibility to stakeholders on program performance, and use this data to drive business decisions
- Complete process mapping for the organization, alongside a scalable mechanism for internal teams to control and maintain the information contained within
- Constantly iterate on existing processes with internal teams to design and implement process
optimizations
- Develop standard, scalable operating procedures for project/program/general management
- Scale existing processes for growth and innovation based on business needs
- Continuous improvements through identifying waste/defects and driving improvements to eliminate manual processes
- Provide coaching and development for your team
- Unblock obstacles for your team to ensure they deliver results
A day in the life
A day in the life of this Central PM and PMO Manager may include team stand-ups to review ongoing projects and address blockers. Typically, it would also include leading cross-functional meetings to align on intra-/ inter-department projects, reviewing and aligning on project intake requests, and coaching PMs (e.g., on stakeholder engagement or optimizing project timelines), and to you lead a cross-functional meeting to align on a new localization service implementation. Daily tasks can vary from managing employee performance to refining standard operating procedures for project management.
About the team
Translation Services is a team in Amazon Exports and Expansions that provides translation tools and access to translation vendors to help Amazon teams reach global customers. Our tools use the latest machine translation technologies, GenAI and Large Language Models (LLM) and we have established contracts with top localization vendors in the industry to provide translation services for our customers at the right cost, quality and speed.
Translation Services Operations manages the human aspects and expertise within Translation Services to create synergies between technological advancements and human expertise to create a more efficient and effective localization ecosystem. Overall, we support Amazon's pursuit of global reach and language parity by enabling seamless translation services across all of Amazon's products and services, so as to ensure anyone can access and use Amazon offerings.
As a team that supports Amazon teams globally, we are located in Asia, Europe and the U.S. and value highly collaborative and inclusive working culture.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
• 6+ years of relevant work experience in program/project management
• 3+ years of people management experience
• Experience using data and metrics to determine and drive improvements
• Experience with business process review and mapping, root cause analysis, and process redesign/optimization
• Experience owning program strategy, end to end delivery, and communicating results to senior leadership
• Bachelor’s degree
• Ability to pick up knowledge of tools and systems on-the-job
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Knowledge of/relevant certifications in improvement schemes such as Kaizen, six Sigma, Agile and other data-driven approaches to eliminating defects
- Strong bias for action, and ability to work independently toward stated goals
- Demonstrated track record of delivering results in an ambiguous environment
- Demonstrated experience using analysis, reporting, modeling, and forecasting to gather data for the purpose of making business decisions
- Demonstrated experience and proficiency in effective communication of goals and strategies across multiple leadership levels of an organization
- Demonstrated experience in stakeholder management, dealing with multiple stakeholders at varied levels of the organization
- Demonstrated ability to influence internal/external stakeholders without authority to adopt new processes/initiatives
- Attention to detail including demonstrated ability to manage multiple competing projects and priorities simultaneously
- Knowledge of multiple languages would be beneficial to understanding the localization space
- Demonstrated history in creative/big thinking
- MBA or Master’s Degree
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