Program Manager (contract)
Xcel Energy
Operations
Prague, Czechia
Posted on Mar 6, 2026
Program Manager III (Capital Technology Portfolio)
Position Summary
The Program Manager III is responsible for leading a portfolio of large, complex capital technology projects supporting Operational Business Units including Distribution, Transmission, Gas, Energy Supply, Nuclear, Commercial Operations, and Customer programs.
This role provides strategic oversight across multiple project teams, ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery aligned to approved scope and business objectives. The Program Manager serves as the primary escalation point, oversees governance and financial performance, and ensures alignment with PMO standards and enterprise controls.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio & Delivery Leadership
66.92 - 89.23 USD hourly
Position Summary
The Program Manager III is responsible for leading a portfolio of large, complex capital technology projects supporting Operational Business Units including Distribution, Transmission, Gas, Energy Supply, Nuclear, Commercial Operations, and Customer programs.
This role provides strategic oversight across multiple project teams, ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery aligned to approved scope and business objectives. The Program Manager serves as the primary escalation point, oversees governance and financial performance, and ensures alignment with PMO standards and enterprise controls.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio & Delivery Leadership
- Lead a portfolio of capital technology projects (up to $10M+ per project).
- Oversee multiple project managers and delivery teams.
- Ensure projects are delivered on schedule, within budget, and to approved scope.
- Drive cross-project alignment, interdependency management, and milestone tracking.
- Serve as first point of escalation for portfolio risks and issues.
- Manage vendor performance, contracts, SOWs, and delivery commitments.
- Ensure adherence to enterprise governance standards and stage gate processes.
- Partner with PMO leadership to maintain reporting consistency and quality.
- Prepare and review executive-level status reporting.
- Ensure RAID logs, forecasts, and documentation are accurate and current.
- Confirm compliance with Architecture, Security, and enterprise controls.
- Manage portfolio financial performance against approved capital plan.
- Oversee monthly and quarterly forecasting, accruals, and variance reporting.
- Verify forecasts tie to approved budgets and business cases.
- Partner with finance on accrual-based accounting processes.
- Review and validate business case updates and financial justifications.
- Manage executive stakeholders and cross-functional leaders.
- Drive alignment across IT, business units, vendors, and operations teams.
- Lead large-scale software implementations impacting 200+ users.
- Ensure structured change management and adoption strategies are implemented.
- Communicate program health, risks, and strategic impacts clearly and concisely.
- Lead initiatives using both Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
- Oversee full SDLC lifecycle including:
- Requirements definition
- Design
- Configuration/Development
- Testing
- Deployment
- Stabilization
- 10+ years of project/program management experience.
- Experience managing large, complex technology programs with budgets of $10M+.
- Proven experience leading enterprise-scale software implementations.
- Strong financial management experience including forecasting and accruals.
- Vendor management experience including RFPs, SOWs, and contract oversight.
- Experience managing multiple concurrent workstreams.
- Demonstrated experience supporting projects with 200+ impacted users.
- Strong stakeholder and executive communication skills.
- Experience with both Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
- Utility industry experience.
- Experience in capital portfolio management.
- Salesforce experience preferred.
- PMP certification (nice to have).
- Agile certification (nice to have).
- Experience working within regulated environments.
- Hybrid (3 days onsite preferred).
- Location preference: Colorado or Minnesota.
- Travel up to 20% depending on project needs.
- Collaborative, leadership-focused environment managing Project Managers and cross-functional delivery teams.
66.92 - 89.23 USD hourly