Principal Programme Manager, Professional Services

Job description

The opportunity From the moment you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night, consider the media you consume, the adverts you see, the apps you use, the websites you browse and the shopping you do online. Chances are that many of those experiences were touched by an Adobe product. We have a fantastic opportunity for a Principal Programme Manager, Professional Services to join our team based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Regular travel across the Middle East, including Dubai and other customer locations, will be required, with occasional travel across UKI as needed. This is one of Adobe Professional Services' most senior programme delivery roles. You will lead Adobe's largest, most strategic and complex customer programmes in the Middle East and act as the single point of accountability for everything Adobe delivers across the programme. You will lead across Adobe's cross-functional organisation, bringing together our Customer Experience (CX) and Creative & Production teams as one integrated Adobe programme. This includes connecting CX capabilities such as Adobe Experience Platform and Adobe Experience Manager with Creative & Production capabilities such as Adobe Firefly and Firefly Foundry, alongside Professional Services, Customer Success, Sales, Value, Enterprise Architecture, product and specialist engineering teams. What you'll do You will co-lead complex programmes with the customer's programme leadership, bringing multiple Adobe service constructs, workstreams, partners and customer teams together through one operating model. You will establish the governance, commercial discipline and delivery rhythm required to keep programmes healthy, predictable and focused on measurable customer value. Key Responsibilities • Own end-to-end programme leadership as the single point of accountability for Adobe delivery across complex, multi-workstream transformation programmes, co-leading with the customer's programme lead and establishing clear decision rights and one escalation path. • Mobilise programmes at pace, establishing the operating model, core team, integrated roadmap, quarterly plan, shared value-scored backlog, RAID and decision log, capacity plan, governance forums and systems of record. • Lead the Adobe Core Team, project managers and workstream leads, integrating delivery, architecture, Customer Success, transformation, change and value while ensuring every workstream has clear ownership, customer counterparts, dependencies, plans and acceptance evidence. • Bring Adobe's Customer Experience and Creative & Production teams together as one programme, orchestrating capabilities including Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Firefly and Firefly Foundry alongside Sales, Professional Services, Value, Enterprise Architecture, product, engineering and strategic partners. • Chair the Adobe programme leadership rhythm and co-chair customer governance, including the Joint Programme Board, quarterly planning, executive steering committees and business reviews, driving timely decisions, transparent prioritisation and committed capacity. • Maintain the programme in a healthy green state through active management of scope, schedule, budget, quality, resourcing, dependencies, assumptions, risks, issues and customer readiness, leading recovery and executive escalation where required. • Drive predictable services revenue and programme financial health through accurate forecasts, resource and capacity alignment, cost and margin awareness, invoicing inputs, commercial change control and early action on risks to revenue or delivery. • Manage contractual and financial milestones through timely customer acceptance and approval, ensuring evidence and acceptance criteria are clear and escalating delays to protect forecast accuracy and revenue. • Connect delivery to customer outcomes, KPIs, adoption and value realisation, ensuring capabilities transition successfully into business as usual and value continues beyond technical go-live. • Maintain trusted executive relationships and provide concise, transparent reporting on programme health, value, finances, decisions, escalations and required leadership action. • Support pre-sales and deal shaping by validating the delivery model, roles, governance, estimates, milestones, assumptions, dependencies, acceptance approach, risks and mobilisation plan before signature. • Coach project and programme managers across UKI and the Middle East, contribute reusable programme practices and lessons learned, and raise the standard of complex programme leadership across the region.

Requirements

• Extensive experience leading large, strategic, multi-workstream transformation programmes in consulting, enterprise technology or professional services, typically gained over 12+ years in programme delivery and leadership roles.
• Demonstrable experience delivering successfully in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East, with a strong understanding of regional business culture, stakeholder expectations, relationship-led ways of working and the practical realities of mobilising teams in the region. An established local network is highly advantageous.
• A strong record of owning customer outcomes, programme health, predictable revenue, financial milestones, delivery forecasts and commercial performance across complex enterprise engagements.
• Exceptional executive presence and the ability to build trusted relationships with customer directors, VPs and C-level stakeholders, including during major decisions, escalations and programme recovery.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary, geographically distributed and cross-functional teams across CX, Creative & Production, Professional Services, Customer Success, Sales, product, engineering and strategic partners, often through influence rather than direct authority.
• Deep programme management and commercial capability across mobilisation, integrated planning, governance, financial control, forecasting, resourcing, RAID, change control, milestone acceptance and executive reporting.
• Experience connecting enterprise technology delivery to adoption, operating-model change, measurable business outcomes and sustained value realisation. Familiarity with Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Firefly, Firefly Foundry or comparable enterprise platforms is advantageous.
• A calm, inclusive and decisive leadership style, with excellent written, verbal and presentation skills in English. Arabic language capability would be advantageous.
• A recognised programme or project management qualification such as MSP, PMI PgMP/PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent is desirable, together with substantial experience of Agile and hybrid delivery methods.
• Location: KAFD, Riyadh
• Hours of work: 40 hours per week
• Education requirement: Degree or equivalent qualification/experience
• Experience requirement: Minimum 5 years in SaaS solution environ

Skills