Manager, CAF Strategic Program Management

9002 - Carmax Auto Finance - 225 Chastain Meadows Ct NW, Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144

Car Max, the way your career should be!

The Manager, Program Management is an experienced individual contributor responsible for leading moderately complex business and technology programs that support Car Max Auto Finance priorities. This role translates approved objectives into coordinated plans and drives work across multiple teams or work streams from initiation through implementation and transition.

The Manager establishes program structure, aligns stakeholders, manages dependencies and risks, facilitates decisions, and maintains visibility into progress and expected outcomes. This role develops sufficient understanding of relevant business processes and technology to anticipate execution impacts, ask effective questions, and engage the appropriate Product, Business Systems Analysis, Technology, Operations, and control partners.

• Own end-to-end delivery of moderately complex, cross-functional programs, ensuring multiple work streams are integrated, governed, and executed to achieve defined business outcomes.
• Translate approved business, product, or operational objectives into a cohesive program strategy and execution approach, including scope, outcomes, stakeholders, dependencies, risks, decisions, readiness needs, and success measures.
• Establish and lead program governance routines that create visibility, drive accountability, enable timely decisions, and keep business, Product, Technology, and control partners aligned.
• Manage cross-functional dependencies, tradeoffs, risks, blockers, and competing priorities across Product, Technology, Operations, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Analytics, Learning, Communications, and other partners.
• Integrate product direction, business requirements, technology plans, process impacts, controls, and implementation needs into a coordinated program plan that supports business readiness and adoption.
• Facilitate program-level decision-making and escalation by framing options, impacts, dependencies, risks, recommendations, and tradeoffs for appropriate leaders or decision owners.
• Lead implementation readiness and adoption planning across business and Technology teams, ensuring release coordination, communications, training, operational readiness, stabilization, and transition activities are aligned.
• Communicate program health, risks, decisions, outcomes, and business impact through concise executive-facing updates, dashboards, roadmaps, decision materials, and post-launch learnings.

The Manager, Program Management helps CAF deliver moderately complex business and technology programs through disciplined planning, cross-functional coordination, and proactive management of risks and dependencies. This role ensures approved work is structured effectively, stakeholders remain aligned, decisions occur at the right time, and business and Technology teams are prepared for implementation.

The ideal candidate is organized, analytical, and comfortable operating independently across multiple teams. They understand enough about business processes and technology to recognize impacts and ask informed questions while engaging the appropriate owners for product decisions, detailed requirements, technical design, risk acceptance, and business outcomes.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in program management, project management, business, technology, operations, finance, analytics, or a related field.
• 3-5+ years of experience leading cross-functional initiatives, business programs, technology-enabled change, process improvement, or program delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead moderately complex programs involving multiple teams or work streams.
• Experience developing and managing integrated plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, governance, and implementation readiness.
• Ability to coordinate work across business and Technology teams and maintain accountability without formal authority.
• Working knowledge of business processes, operational workflows, systems, data, integrations, controls, and technology-delivery practices.
• Ability to recognize program impacts and engage the appropriate Product, Business Systems Analysis, Technology, Risk, or business owner.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate decisions, resolve execution issues, manage…