Strategic Program Manager

It’s an exciting time to join Calix as we build the Industry Solutions Group, a new business unit focused on managed business. The Strategic Program Manager will play a critical role in executing cross-functional initiatives that support the build and scale of the managed business growth engine. This role is responsible for translating defined priorities into structured execution plans and driving delivery across multiple workstreams. 

In this role, you will be expected to flex your strategic skills and operate as a strategic partner to the managed business leadership team — helping shape priorities, pressure-test plans, surface tradeoffs, challenge assumptions, and drive the conversations required to build a new market category for Calix. This will include traditional program management competencies as well such as leading program planning, coordinating cross-functional execution, tracking progress against milestones, and ensuring accountability across teams.  

The ideal candidate is a strategic operator — someone who combines strong program discipline with business curiosity, sound judgment, and the confidence to ask hard questions, enjoys building scalable processes, and pushes cross-functional teams toward clarity, commitment, and measurable outcomes.  

Responsibilities and Duties: 

• Contribute to the PMO discipline across managed business workstreams, focused on productivity and effectiveness, ensuring priorities, milestones, owners, dependencies, blockers, and decisions are clearly documented and actively managed across functions.  
• Ensure consistency in program management practices across initiatives, applying standard frameworks, tools, and methodologies.
• Lead execution of cross-functional programs from planning through delivery, ensuring alignment on scope, timelines, deliverables, and success metrics.
• Coordinate across functional teams to ensure workstreams are progressing according to plan and interdependencies are actively managed.
• Pressure-test plans, assumptions, dependencies, and tradeoffs across workstreams to ensure the business is building toward the right outcomes — not just completing tasks. 
• Smoothly navigate ambiguity creating clarity across complex, unknown, and evolving business-model decisions.  
• Proactively surface misalignment, risks, and unresolved decisions, then drive the right conversations to create clarity and forward momentum. 
• Facilitate the formal and informal communication and conversations required to move work forward, including executive readouts, working sessions, offline follow-ups, sidebar conversations, and escalation paths. 
• Support prioritization and sequencing of work based on timelines, resource availability, and business impact.
• Influence without authority across senior stakeholders, using judgment, credibility, and relationship-building to hold teams accountable to commitments and outcomes. 
• Model a drive towards measurable outcomes with a bias towards action.
• Support continuous improvement of program management processes, tools, and team effectiveness. 

Qualifications: 

• 8-10+ years of experience in Program Management, Project Management or cross-functional program leadership roles.  
• Experience and knowledge of multi-family, MDU, and/or wi-fi infrastructure a bonus. 
• Experience with launching new business units, startup companies and/or Merge & Acquisition (M&A) project a bonus.
• Proven ability to manage complex, cross-functional programs with multiple stakeholders and dependencies.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously and prioritize effectively.
• Experience developing and maintaining program plans, tracking tools, and status reporting artifacts.
• Demonstrated ability to proactively identify risks and drive resolution in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly convey updates, risks, and dependencies to stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, while managing ambiguity.
• Ability to work effectively across functions and build strong working relationships without direct authority.
• Detail-oriented with a focus on execution quality, timelines, and accountability.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience preferred; PMP or equivalent certification is a plus.
• Expected Travel: ~5% 

Location:

• This is a remote-based position that can be located anywhere in the United States or Canada.

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