Sr. Program Manager, IT

Cosm is a global technology company that brings experiences to life in immersive environments. We help our partners create spaces and content that blur the lines of real and virtual across three primary markets: Sports and Entertainment, Science and Education, and Parks and Attractions. Cosm was born from the fusion of some of the greatest innovators in the history of technology.

Evans & Sutherland, Spitz, Inc., and Cosm Immersive combined forces to power the immersive experiences of the future as Cosm. Innovation is in our DNA.

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If you receive a suspicious communication or job offer claiming to be from Cosm, please do not respond or share personal information. For official Cosm opportunities, always visit www.cosm.com/careers.

Summary

Cosm is seeking a Senior IT Program Manager to own execution across Corporate IT's most critical initiatives, spanning Infrastructure/Networking, Enterprise Systems & Employee Technology (ESET), Creative Technology, and IT Service Management (ITSM).

This is not a coordination role. This individual will act as an execution authority-driving structure, accountability, and delivery rigor across highly technical teams and external partners. The ideal candidate brings deep Jira mastery, strong vendor leadership, and enough technical fluency to challenge assumptions, surface risk early, and translate complexity into executive-level clarity.

Success in this role requires someone who has operated in operationally critical environments, understands how IT delivery directly impacts revenue and uptime, and can mature program execution, quantify delivery constraints, and clearly communicate business impact-without slowing teams down.

Responsibilities

Program Ownership & Delivery Leadership

• Own delivery accountability for a portfolio of high-impact IT initiatives.
• Translate strategic priorities into executable, sequenced programs with clear outcomes and success metrics.
• Drive delivery discipline across Infrastructure, ESET, Creative Technology, and ITSM without creating bureaucracy.
• Proactively identify execution risk, dependency conflicts, and delivery bottlenecks-and resolve them.
• Develop and maintain quantitative capacity and demand models to assess staffing adequacy, delivery risk, and prioritization tradeoffs across Corporate IT.

Jira-Centered Program Execution

• Establish Jira as the single system of record for IT program planning, execution, and reporting.
• Lead the migration of existing Smartsheet & Notion-based project tracking into Jira, including:
• Program and portfolio structure
• Standardized workflows
• Dependency management
• Reporting and dashboards
• Ensure Jira is used effectively at both team and executive levels (not just ticket tracking).

Cross-Functional & Technical Leadership

• Act as a trusted partner to senior IT leaders, architects, and engineers.
• Lead cross-functional execution across highly technical domains without requiring direct authority.
• Ask the right technical questions to validate scope, sequencing, and feasibility.
• Balance operational stability with forward-looking initiatives and technical debt reduction.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Own delivery oversight for external vendors, integrators, and technology partners.
• Hold vendors accountable to scope, quality, timelines, and Cosm's technical standards.
• Identify when vendor delivery is masking internal execution gaps-and address root causes.
• Manage vendor risk, cost, and performance with transparency.

Executive & Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary program interface for IT leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Deliver concise, decision-oriented updates on progress, risks, tradeoffs, and dependencies.
• Translate complex technical execution into business-relevant outcomes.
• Drive alignment across competing priorities without escalating noise.
• Establish clear visibility into completed initiatives by articulating delivery outcomes and business value (e.g., risk reduction, cost avoidance, operational efficiency, enablement).
• Own executive-facing delivery and value reporting, serving as the single source of truth for Corporate IT execution, capacity constraints, and realized impact.

Process Maturity & Continuous Improvement

• Establish pragmatic program governance aligned to Cosm's scale and pace.
• Standardize delivery practices without imposing one-size-fits-all frameworks.
• Identify opportunities for automation, tooling consolidation, and execution efficiency.
• Lead retrospectives and post-mortems focused on improving future delivery-not blame.
• Evaluate and recommend modern program management tools and best practices to enhance delivery performance.

Experience

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or related field.
• PMP, PgMP, SAFe, or equivalent program/project management certification preferred.
• 7+ years leading complex IT programs or portfolios in enterprise or operationally critical environments.
• Demonstrated ownership of multi-workstream initiatives spanning infrastructure, endpoint, enterprise systems, or IT operations.
• Proven ability to operate at both strategic and execution levels.
• Experience in live entertainment, venues, hospitality, broadcast, or high-availability environments strongly preferred
• Deep, hands-on expertise with Jira at a program and portfolio level (advanced workflows, dependencies, dashboards).
• Strong understanding of enterprise IT domains (infrastructure, cloud, identity, endpoint, ITSM).
• Comfortable working across Agile, hybrid, and traditional delivery models.
• Solid understanding of IT financials, vendor spend, and capacity planning.
• Executive presence with the ability to influence without authority.
• Highly analytical, structured, and decisive.
• Comfortable pushing back when plans are unrealistic or under-scoped.
• Low tolerance for ambiguity without clarity or action.
• Prior hands-on experience in an IT engineering, operations, or service delivery role.
• Strong working knowledge of ServiceNow (ITSM / ITOM concepts).
• Experience maturing delivery practices in growing or transforming organizations.
• Background in environments where downtime, delays, or execution failures have real business impact.

The annualized salary range for this position in California is $145,000 to $160,000. The base pay offered will factor in internal equity and may also vary depending on the candidates geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and relevant experience, among other factors.

All applicants must be at least 18 years of age at the time of employment. This requirement is in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local labor laws. Cosm is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Skills

Agile Programming Methodologies, Alliance/Partner Management, Analysis Skills, Atlassian JIRA, Automation, Best Practices, Broadcasting, Capacity Management, Cloud Computing, Communication Skills, Computer Science, Computer Skills, Content Development, Continuous Improvement, Cost Control, Cross-Functional, Enterprise Endpoint, Establish Priorities, High Availability, Human Resources, IT Service Management (ITSM), Information Technology & Information Systems, Interface Programming Languages, Leadership, LinkedIn, Machine Tool, Management of Information Systems/Technology (MIS), Metrics, Productivity Model, Program Planning, Project Management Certification, Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Software, Project Tracking, Project/Program Management, Reporting Dashboards, Risk, Risk Analysis, Risk Management, Service Delivery, ServiceNow, Sports, Technical Delivery, Technical Leadership, Technical Support, Vendor/Supplier Management, Vendor/Supplier Selection

About the Company

Cosm