Director, Strategic Program Management

With more than $1B in revenue, Tennant Company is a globally recognized leader in the cleaning equipment industry. For the past 150 years, we have been passionate about developing and manufacturing innovative and sustainable solutions for our customers. At Tennant Company, we are committed to stewardship and creating a cleaner, safer and healthier world. With manufacturing, operations and sales, service, and support functions across the globe, your journey at Tennant can take you places you never expected.

The Director of Strategic Program Management is a leadership role responsible for enterprise-wide governance, execution, and continuous improvement of strategic initiatives through best-in-class program and portfolio management practices. This leader oversees high-impact, cross-functional programs — with a strong focus on New Product Development (NPD) — that are aligned to Tennant Company’s most critical business objectives.

Reporting to the Vice President, Enterprise PMO, this role provides strategic oversight to a team of program managers leading multiple concurrent programs, spanning diverse areas such as innovation, digital transformation, operational excellence, and organizational capability building. The Director ensures programs are executed with excellence in alignment with strategic priorities, delivering measurable business value while cultivating a culture of accountability, agility, and continuous learning.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio Leadership: Lead and mature a portfolio of enterprise-wide strategic programs, including NPD, transformation initiatives, and process optimization efforts. Devise and execute against a system-level plan for all projects within the portfolio while incorporating cross-functional dependencies. Drive accountability through identifying dependencies, critical path tasks, and forward-looking forecasting of program risks. Provide mitigations for those risks and key team decisions with tradeoffs.
• Program Governance & Execution: Oversee program lifecycle management, including initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure. Ensure timely delivery of outcomes within budget, scope, and quality targets. Facilitate resource planning, budget alignment, risk management, and executive escalations.
• Cross-Functional Engagement: Partner with senior leadership across R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing, and Sales to ensure integrated program execution, change alignment, and stakeholder engagement across the enterprise.
• NPD Excellence: Drive the successful execution of NPD programs as a key strategic focus. Champion consistent application of innovation lifecycle processes, investment governance, and product portfolio alignment.
• PMO Strategy & Methodology: Evolve Tennant Company’s program and portfolio management frameworks, tools, and performance metrics. Lead the continuous improvement journey and adoption of best-in-class standards, governance models, and execution practices across all strategic initiatives.
• People Leadership: Manage, develop, and mentor a team of program managers. Establish performance goals, foster collaboration, and build program leadership capability across the enterprise.
• Reporting & Analytics: Maintain an enterprise-wide strategic program portfolio. Provide transparent and data-driven reporting on program health, value realization, and strategic alignment through dashboards, business reviews, and executive communications.
  
  

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience: 12+ years of progressive leadership in program or portfolio management, with experience managing enterprise-scale programs across multiple functional domains.
• Strategic Acumen: Proven ability to lead high-impact programs with strategic importance to executive leadership. Experience translating business strategy into executable initiatives.
• Leadership & Influence: Strong executive presence and ability to influence across all levels of the organization. Experience managing and mentoring project/program managers.
• Change Management: Demonstrated success in driving organizational change, deploying enterprise standards, and leading cross-functional collaboration.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional ability to communicate complex issues and strategies to diverse stakeholders with clarity and impact.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Cross-Functional Experience: Exposure to multiple business functions including R&D, Operations, and Marketing highly preferred.

• Strong background in product and/or process development preferred.
• MBA and PMP Certification

Competitive base salary commensurate with experience: $151,000 - 241,700 Annualized
Posted salary ranges are made in good faith. Tennant Co. reserves the right to adjust ranges depending on the experience/qualifications of the selected candidate as well as internal and external equity.  
Total Compensation = Base Salary + Benefits  
Benefits = A comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, disability, life insurance, paid time off, and voluntary benefits! 

Begin your journey with us. Let's reinvent how the world cleans. 

Equal Opportunity Employer

Tennant Company is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made on the basis of individual skill, ability, reliability, productivity, and other factors important to performance. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental disability, age, veteran status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or any other basis protected by state or federal law or local ordinance.