Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. AutoNation is one of the largest automotive retailers in the United States, offering vehicles, financing, parts, maintenance, and repair services through a nationwide dealership network. The Director of Program & Project Management leads the Marketing PMO, overseeing strategic marketing programs, governance, portfolio management, MarTech operations, change management, and enterprise initiatives. The role also manages multidisciplinary teams, cross-functional alignment, vendor performance, risk, and measurable business outcomes.
Responsibilities
- Own the end-to-end lifecycle for strategic marketing programs (e.g., launches, integrated campaigns, lifecycle/nurture programs, brand initiatives, events)
- Translate marketing strategy into executable roadmaps, workstreams, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables
- Drive execution rigor through best-fit delivery practices (e.g., agile, hybrid, waterfall) and proactive issue resolution
- Ensure outcomes are measurable by partnering with Analytics to define success metrics, reporting cadence, and learnings
- Establish and continuously improve marketing program/project governance, stage gates, change control, and stakeholder communications
- Define and enforce templates, playbooks, and processes for briefs, charters, RACI, timelines, status reporting, and post-mortems
- Own the marketing intake model and prioritization framework to align demand to strategic priorities and capacity
- Create and run operating rhythms (weekly execution reviews, monthly portfolio reviews, quarterly planning/OKR cadence)
- Manage the marketing portfolio across teams and channels, balancing capacity, throughput, and priority trade-offs
- Lead quarterly and monthly planning processes (OKRs, roadmap planning, campaign calendars)
- Partner with functional leaders to allocate resources (internal, agencies, freelancers) based on skills, urgency, and value
- Identify bottlenecks and implement solutions (process redesign, staffing plans, vendor strategies, automation)
- Serve as a trusted partner to marketing leaders and enterprise stakeholders, providing clarity on timelines, scope, risks, and dependencies
- Facilitate decision-making forums (steering committees, program councils, launch/campaign reviews)
- Improve collaboration across Creative, Content, Digital, Ops, Sales, Product, Legal/Compliance, and IT to reduce cycle time and rework
- Manage stakeholder expectations, negotiate priorities, and maintain clear communication across all levels
- Own and administer the customer journey orchestration platform, including environments, configuration, and releases
- Configure and maintain end-to-end journey workflows, rules, triggers, and integrations across CDP/CRM, marketing automation, web/app, contact center, and offline systems based on defined journey requirements
- Translate journey strategies, business requirements, and data models into platform objects and segments, ensuring strong governance for naming conventions, taxonomies, and configuration standards
- Lead QA for all journeys and releases, testing data flows, logic, and edge cases to validate correct qualification and progression
- Partner with Customer Journey, Lifecycle Marketing, and channel teams to convert journey maps and briefs into detailed functional specifications and prioritized backlogs
- Configure and manage in-journey experiments (A/B/n tests, path optimization, holdouts), ensuring proper setup, execution, and measurement in partnership with analytics, channel, and CX teams
- Act as the primary platform expert, maintaining documentation and runbooks, training users, and ensuring adherence to guardrails
- Provide hands‑on input into the MarTech roadmap, highlighting gaps, technical debt, and new capability opportunities
- Directly lead the Change Management team responsible for organizational readiness and sustained adoption of new processes, tools, and operating models
- Own change strategy for major marketing initiatives: stakeholder impact assessment, communication plans, training/enablement, reinforcement, and adoption measurement
- Build adoption playbooks and “ways of working” standards to improve consistency, compliance, and performance
- Partner with Marketing leaders and cross-functional partners to address resistance, close readiness gaps, and ensure changes stick
- Serve as Lead Program/Project Manager for Marketing-led enterprise initiatives—programs with enterprise scope where Marketing is the accountable business owner
- Stand up and run integrated program governance (executive steering, workstream cadences, RAID management, dependency tracking, decision logs)
- Coordinate cross-functional workstreams across Marketing, IT, Sales, Product, Data/Analytics, Finance, Legal/Compliance, and Operations to ensure aligned scope, sequencing, readiness, and outcomes
- Provide consolidated reporting and executive visibility on progress, risks, decisions, and value realization
- Ensure launch readiness and post-launch adoption, including monitoring outcomes and driving continuous improvement
- Support budget planning and tracking for programs and vendors in partnership with Finance and Marketing leadership
- Oversee agency/vendor performance for delivery: SOWs, SLAs, deliverables, timelines, and quality
- Proactively manage risks, issues, and escalation paths; implement mitigation plans to protect delivery dates and outcomes
- Ensure compliance with brand, legal, privacy, and operational standards
- Build, lead, mentor, and develop a multi-disciplinary organization spanning Program & Project Management, MarTech, and Change Management with clear goals, operating rhythms, and career paths
- Create a high-performance culture focused on accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement
- Establish training, certification, and competency development plans (e.g., PMP, Agile, Lean, change management)
- Define a unified delivery and adoption operating model to ensure initiatives are delivered successfully and sustained over time
Skills
- • 8–12+ years in program/project management, marketing operations, or PMO leadership—preferably within a complex, cross-functional marketing environment
- • Proven track record delivering integrated marketing programs and managing portfolios across multiple channels and teams
- • Demonstrated people leadership experience leading multi-disciplinary teams, including direct oversight of program/project management and either MarTech and/or Change Management (both strongly preferred)
- • Proven ability to lead Marketing-led enterprise programs with executive governance, complex dependencies, and cross-functional workstreams
- • Strong executive communication skills—able to present to leadership, drive alignment, and influence without authority
- • Demonstrated experience building governance, scalable operating models, and delivery standards
- • Expertise with work management practices and performance reporting; comfort using data to drive decisions
- • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Operations, or related field; MBA or advanced degree a plus
- • PMP, PgMP, Agile/Scrum certification, Lean/Six Sigma, or comparable credentials
- • Change management certification or formal training (e.g., Prosci/ADKAR or equivalent)
- • Experience leading marketing technology delivery programs, integrations, and measurement enablement in partnership with IT and Data/Analytics
- • Experience managing agencies, contractors, and vendor contracts/SOWs
Benefits
- 401k matching
- Health insurance plans
- Dental insurance plans
- Vision insurance plans
- Maternity benefits
- Associate purchase and discount programs for new and pre-owned vehicles, services, parts, collision, accessories, and AutoGear
- Access to deals and discounts through YouDecide, a website with offers from top providers and retailers
- Opportunity to participate in the DRVPNK mission to raise and donate millions of dollars to cancer research and treatment, partnering with cancer charities nationwide
Company Overview
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