Senior Program Manager, Strategic Network Technology Projects

Ritter Communications, headquartered in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is the largest privately held telecom provider serving the Mid-South. Recognized as one of Arkansas' Best Places to Work for five years running, we deliver world-class broadband fiber, telecom, video, and data center services.

With rapid growth and millions invested in advanced infrastructure, we now serve 197 communities and over 60,000 customers across six states. At Ritter Communications, our team combines cutting-edge technology with a customer-first mindset - and we're looking for talented individuals who share our passion for excellence and community impact.

Job Summary:

The Senior Program Manager, Strategic Network Technology Projects is responsible for coordinating and governing strategic initiatives across Network Technology, including Network Engineering, Network Operations, infrastructure modernization, and other high-priority business initiatives.

This role serves as the central point of coordination for complex projects that span multiple functional teams and departments. While functional leaders maintain ownership of project scope, schedule, budgets, resources, vendor relationships, and delivery execution within their respective areas, the Senior Program Manager provides cross-functional coordination, integrated planning, governance, dependency management, risk visibility, and executive reporting.

The position works closely with Network Technology leadership and project stakeholders to ensure alignment across teams, facilitate communication, proactively identify project interdependencies, and support successful delivery of strategic initiatives throughout the organization.

Essential Duties:

• Coordinates strategic Network Technology initiatives involving multiple teams, departments, vendors, and stakeholders;
• Develops and maintains integrated project and program schedules that combine deliverables, milestones, dependencies, and timelines across participating functions;
• Facilitates project governance processes, including steering committees, stakeholder reviews, executive updates, decision tracking, and issue escalation;
• Consolidates project information from functional leaders into consistent executive-level reporting, dashboards, scorecards, and status updates;
• Monitors overall program health by identifying cross-functional dependencies, resource conflicts, schedule impacts, risks, and implementation challenges;
• Partners with Engineering, Operations, IT, Finance, Product, Construction, and other departments to ensure alignment on priorities, timelines, deliverables, and business objectives;
• Facilitates communication and coordination among project stakeholders to ensure teams remain informed, aligned, and accountable;
• Tracks action items, decisions, assumptions, risks, and issues across multiple initiatives and follow through to resolution;
• Supports project planning activities, including project charters, governance structures, communication plans, risk registers, and reporting frameworks;
• Provides leadership with clear visibility into project performance, key milestones, emerging risks, critical dependencies, and decision requirements;
• Identifies opportunities to improve project governance, reporting consistency, project controls, and overall delivery effectiveness across Network Technology;
• Conducts project closeouts, lessons learned reviews, and post-implementation assessments to support continuous improvement;
• Travel as required to project sites, vendor locations, and company facilities.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Strong understanding of telecommunications network technologies, engineering, operations, and infrastructure deployment practices;
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex cross-functional programs involving multiple stakeholders, priorities, and dependencies;
• Strong project governance, planning, reporting, organizational, and risk management skills;
• Ability to influence outcomes and drive alignment without direct supervisory authority;
• Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills;
• Strong executive reporting and dashboard development capabilities;
• Ability to analyze project information from multiple sources and translate it into actionable management insights;
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office Suite, Power BI, Smartsheet, Visio, or equivalent project management and reporting tools;
• Ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously while maintaining attention to detail and execution discipline.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Telecommunications, Information Technology, Project Management, or a related field preferred;
• 7+ years of project, program, operations, engineering, or related leadership experience;
• Experience coordinating large, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders and business units;
• Experience developing executive reporting, governance processes, program dashboards, and project controls;
• Experience working within matrixed organizations where delivery responsibility is shared across multiple functional teams;
• PMP certification preferred;
• Telecommunications, network technology, infrastructure, engineering, or operations experience strongly preferred.

Ritter Communications is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

We strive to maintain a drug-free workplace.

We offer competitive compensation and an outstanding benefits package including health, dental, vision, cancer, accident and life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, 401(k) with company match, flexible spending accounts, free gym membership, company discounts, tuition reimbursement, paid training, paid leave, and much more!