Senior Program Manager

The Planet Group is seeking a Senior Program Manager to join one of our well-known global pharmaceutical client. This person will report directly to the Commercial Lead responsible for developing the Content Tagging/Metadata Strategy and the Workstation that will allow the marketing platform to function. Pay: $89-94.81/hr depending on experience (W2 and benefit optionsLocation: Hybrid in Mettawa, ILDuration: 18 mo to start (potential to go longer / convert)Senior Program Manager Responsibilities:Lead the delivery of a large-scale, multi-workstream pharmaceutical marketing platform initiative within the Commercial HCP Marketing organizationOwn end-to-end program management across all active and future workstreams, maintaining a master program plan with clearly defined milestones, owners, interdependencies, decision gates, and escalation triggersRun structured workstream cadences — facilitating working sessions, driving agendas, capturing actions, and ensuring accountability across all program participantsMaintain a centralized program dashboard providing real-time visibility into workstream health, milestone status, open items, and upcoming decision gates for senior leadership and key stakeholdersManage Jira program board — coordinating Epic and User Story progression, sprint planning, backlog hygiene, and requirements documentation in partnership with technical and non-technical teamsProactively identify risks, blockers, and dependency conflicts across workstreams and surface them to the program lead with clearly documented recommended resolution pathsMaintain a comprehensive deliverable tracker across all workstreams — logging committed deliverables, owners, due dates, completion status, and any delays with documented rationaleActively track and follow up on deliverables and decisions owed by cross-functional colleagues — including IT, Analytics APEX, and Functional Leads across the organization — ensuring no workstream is stalled without a documented explanationWhen delays occur, formally document the source of the delay, the rationale provided by the responsible party, the impact on downstream workstreams, and the agreed path forward — creating a clear, auditable record of program accountabilityEscalate unresolved delays to the program lead with full documentation of the delay history, stakeholder responses, and recommended escalation optionsCoordinate open item resolution — scheduling working sessions with the appropriate decision owners, tracking response timelines, and ensuring decisions are made, documented, and communicated to all affected partiesServe as the primary coordination point across a broad cross-functional stakeholder group — including IT, Analytics, Marketing, Medical Affairs, Omnichannel Strategy, and external agency partnersCapture, organize, and distribute stakeholder feedback from working sessions, reviews, and decision meetings — ensuring all inputs are documented, attributed, and version-controlledMaintain a formal feedback and decision log across all workstreams — recording what feedback was provided, by whom, when, and how it was resolved or incorporated into program directionEnsure that cross-functional colleagues' requirements, concerns, and constraints are formally documented so that program design decisions reflect a complete and auditable picture of stakeholder inputCoordinate and document alignment sessions with functional leads to confirm requirements, validate design decisions, and capture sign-off — creating a traceable record that protects program integrity and complianceOwn the creation, maintenance, and version control of all program process documentation — including governance procedures, approval workflows, change management processes, and workstream operating proceduresTranslate decisions made in working sessions into clear, structured process documentation that is immediately actionable by technical and non-technical teamsDesign and maintain a documentation framework built for organizational scaling — enabling future workstreams, brands, and functional areas to onboard using structured, replicable playbooksBuild program onboarding documentation so that new stakeholders and future headcount can be brought up to speed independently, without requiring direct time investment from the program leadDevelop and maintain a centralized program knowledge repository — housing all decisions, rationale, process documents, governance records, stakeholder feedback logs, and workstream outputs in a single, organized, accessible locationSenior Program Manager Qualifications:8+ years of program or project management experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences commercial operationsDemonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent workstreams with complex cross-functional dependencies in a regulated environmentProven ability to build and maintain program plans, milestone trackers, deliverable logs, and stakeholder accountability frameworksExperience owning Jira program boards — managing Epics, User Stories, sprint planning, and backlog coordination across technical and non-technical teamsStrong track record of creating process documentation and scaling frameworks that enable organizational growth and protect institutional knowledgeExcels at managing complex, cross-functional programs in a regulated pharmaceutical environment — driving accountability, accelerating decision velocity, and ensuring every workstream moves forward with precision and documented rationale