Vice President, Program Management Office

Key responsibilities

PMO strategy and operating model

• Define and deploy PMO governance, planning standards, decision rights, escalation paths, and review cadences for strategic-customer programs.
• Translate Strategic Customer Office priorities into a PMO roadmap for adoption, capability building, and continuous improvement across Product Business Groups.
• Establish explicit interfaces among the PMO, Customer Program Managers, Customer Business Units, Sales, Product Business Groups, and enabling functions.

Portfolio integration and dependency management

• Maintain one integrated view of the strategic-customer portfolio across Product Business Groups, functions, sites, and lifecycle stages.
• Set decision-ready baselines that connect design, qualification, supply readiness, manufacturing ramp, product transfer, and production milestones to customer commitments.
• Surface cross-business dependencies, capacity constraints, resource conflicts, and partner or supplier risks; facilitate prioritization and tradeoff decisions.

Program governance and executive decision support

• Establish and lead weekly Program Operations Reviews and monthly Executive Program Operations Reviews and Steering forums, with defined inputs, decision rights, and outputs.
• Give executives and Customer Program Managers a consolidated, fact-based view of portfolio health, critical paths, decisions, and exposure without masking material risks.
• Frame material issues around evidence, impact, options, recommendations, owners, and decision dates; maintain the decision log and drive closure.
• Connect PMO governance to Customer Operations Reviews, quarterly roadmap reviews, and business reviews without duplicating customer-facing forums.

Risk management, recovery and escalation

• Set risk categories, severity triggers, and no-surprise escalation standards for strategic-customer programs.
• Challenge cross-business risks and recovery plans; require accountable owners, milestones, and verification.
• Resolve cross-organizational issues and escalate tradeoffs to leaders with decision authority.
• Quantify revenue, margin, cash, capital, and customer exposure with Finance and business leaders.
• Verify corrective-action closure, address systemic causes, and strengthen execution through retrospectives.

Standards, systems and continuous improvement

• Standardize integrated plans, scorecards, dependency maps, risk and decision logs, RACI, and executive dashboards.
• Govern one reliable fact base for schedule, capacity, qualification, quality, delivery, economics, and recovery.
• Deploy streamlined, AI-enabled digital workflows that improve productivity, traceability, and decision speed.
• Institutionalize controlled records and lessons learned for reuse across customers, Product Business Groups, and programs.

Organization leadership and partnership

• Build and develop the PMO team and federated community; set standards for methods, coaching, succession, and growth.
• Partner across leadership and Customer Program Managers to foster fact-based accountability across organizational boundaries.
• Timely, decision-ready portfolio visibility and leadership confidence in impartial program reporting.
• Greater fidelity to customer commitments across schedule, capacity, qualification, quality, cost, and margin.
• Earlier mitigation of cross-business risks, with fewer late surprises and avoidable escalations.
• Faster closure of dependencies, resource conflicts, and recovery actions, with verified owners.
• Consistent PMO governance, standards, review cadences, and decision rights across Product Business Groups.
• Improved data quality, action aging, decision cycle time, and milestone performance.
• A strong PMO talent pipeline and a culture of transparent, cross-functional execution.

Success measures

Qualifications

• At least 15 years in enterprise program or portfolio management, operations, or product development in complex B2B technology, with substantial senior leadership responsibility.
• Demonstrated success building or scaling an enterprise PMO across businesses, functions, sites, or geographies.
• Experience governing hardware development, NPI, qualification, ramp, transfer, and production in photonics, optical communications, semiconductors, lasers, or related industries.
• Deep capability in portfolio integration, critical-path planning, dependency management, resource prioritization, risk and recovery, and change leadership.
• Proven ability to lead executive governance that converts complex technical and operational information into timely decisions and action.
• Executive presence and judgment to influence without authority, resolve competing priorities, and hold senior stakeholders accountable.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including the ability to assess revenue at risk, margin, cash, inventory, capital, and customer impact.
• Experience leading and developing culturally and technically diverse PMO and program-management teams across regions.
• Strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder-management skills, with proficiency in data, dashboards, portfolio systems, and digital tools.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience. An advanced degree or program-management certification is advantageous.

Working conditions

• This is an on-site position.
• Occasional off-site meetings or travel are required.
• Flexibility to support global teams and decision forums across multiple time zones.
• Regular interaction with executives, leaders, program teams, and selected external contacts.
• Integrity – Create an Environment of Trust
• Collaboration – Innovate Through the Sharing of Ideas
• Accountability – Own the Process and the Outcome
• Respect – Recognize the Value in Everyone
• Enthusiasm – Find a Sense of Purpose in Work

Culture commitment

Demonstrate Coherent’s ICARE values in all aspects of the role.

• Define and implement PMO governance, planning standards, and decision-making processes for strategic customer programs.
• Translate Strategic Customer Office priorities into a PMO roadmap, fostering adoption and continuous improvement across Product Business Groups.
• Establish clear interfaces between the PMO, Customer Program Managers, and other key stakeholders to ensure effective collaboration.
• Maintain an integrated view of the strategic customer portfolio, covering various business groups, functions, and lifecycle stages.
• Set decision-ready baselines, connecting design, qualification, supply, and manufacturing milestones to customer commitments.
• Identify and manage cross-business dependencies, resource conflicts, and risks, facilitating prioritization and trade-off decisions.
• Lead weekly and monthly program operations reviews and executive steering forums, ensuring timely and informed decision-making.
• Provide executives and Customer Program Managers with consolidated, data-driven portfolio insights, highlighting critical paths and risks.
• Standardize plans, scorecards, dependency maps, and executive dashboards to ensure consistent and reliable information flow.
• Build and develop a high-performing PMO team, fostering a culture of transparent, cross-functional execution and continuous improvement.

• Minimum of 15 years of experience in enterprise program or portfolio management, operations, or product development in complex B2B technology.
• Proven track record in building or scaling an enterprise PMO across diverse business units, functions, or geographies.
• Experience in governing hardware development, NPI, qualification, ramp, transfer, and production in photonics or related industries.
• Strong capability in portfolio integration, critical path planning, dependency management, risk assessment, and change leadership.
• Ability to lead executive governance, translating complex technical data into timely decisions and actions.
• Executive presence and influence to navigate complex organizational dynamics and hold senior stakeholders accountable.
• Solid financial acumen, including assessing revenue at risk, margin, cash flow, and customer impact.
• Experience leading and developing diverse, global PMO and program management teams.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with proficiency in data analysis and digital tools.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, business, or a related field; advanced degree or program management certification is preferred.

Coherent is a global leader in lasers, engineered materials and networking components. We are a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops innovative products for diversified applications in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment, and consumer markets. Coherent provides a comprehensive career development platform within an environment that challenges employees to perform at their best, while rewarding excellence and hard-work through a competitive compensation program. It's an exciting opportunity to work for a company that offers stability, longevity and growth. Come Join Us!

Note to recruiters and employment agencies: We will not pay for unsolicited resumes from recruiters and employment agencies unless we have a signed agreement and have required assistance, in writing, for a specific opening.