CarDekho.com - Program Manager - IIT/NIT/BITS/IIM/ISB/MDI/FMS

The Program Manager will serve as a strategic extension of the Chief Product Officer, managing executive-level priorities, initiatives, and day-to-day operations within the Auto Classifieds business. This role bridges product strategy with execution, ensuring alignment across teams, managing stakeholder relationships, and driving successful delivery of cross-functional initiatives.
Key Responsibilities:
- Executive Support & Priority Management: Serve as the primary coordinator of the CPO's priorities and initiatives. Manage competing demands, prioritize requests, and ensure the CPO's time is allocated strategically toward high-impact work.
- Charter Execution: Define, document, and track monthly/quarterly/annual business charters for the Auto Classifieds - Product and AI initiatives.
- Establish success metrics, milestones, and accountability measures with cross-functional leaders.
- Cross-Functional Coordination: Orchestrate alignment meetings between product, engineering, design, marketing, data science, and sales teams.
Identify and resolve blockers preventing progress on strategic initiatives.

- Stakeholder Management: Maintain relationships with key internal stakeholders (leadership, team leads, finance). Communicate progress, risks, and decisions clearly and proactively.
- Initiative Tracking & Reporting: Build and maintain systems for tracking program health, project status, and business metrics.
- Prepare executive dashboards, monthly reviews, and board-level reporting materials.
- Process Improvement: Develop operational playbooks, meeting cadences, and governance structures that streamline decision-making and reduce friction across the org.
- Problem-Solving & Escalation: Anticipate and address challenges before they become crises. Escalate critical issues with proposed solutions, ensuring rapid resolution.
Required Qualifications:
- 3 to 5 years of experience in program management, executive support, or product operations roles, ideally in a marketplace or B2C product company.
- Proven experience working closely with C-level executives, managing competing priorities, and handling sensitive or confidential information with discretion.
- Strong project management discipline: excellent with project planning tools (Asana, Jira, Trello), data tracking, and metrics-driven reporting.
- Exceptional communication skills: ability to distill complex technical and business concepts for diverse audiences, from engineering to finance to sales.
- Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change: ability to make decisions with incomplete information and adapt as business needs evolve.
- Strong business acumen: understanding of P&L, metrics that drive value, and how product decisions impact revenue and user satisfaction.
- Background in product management, business operations, or strategy consulting.
- Familiarity with frameworks, agile methodologies, or lean product development. Data analysis or SQL skills are a plus for self-service reporting and metric development.
Key Competencies:
- Judgment & Discernment: Makes thoughtful decisions with imperfect information. Knows when to escalate vs. resolve independently. Understands organizational context and unspoken dynamics.
- Organizational Agility: Influences without authority. Navigates matrix org structures. Builds coalitions and consensus across functions.
- Execution Excellence: Obsesses over follow-through. Tracks dependencies and milestones meticulously. Drives accountability without being heavy-handed.
- Communication Clarity: Writes concisely. Presents data compellingly. Tailors messaging to the audience. Asks clarifying questions to ensure understanding.
- Resilience & Flexibility: Handles pressure gracefully. Remains calm during crises. Adapts quickly to shifting priorities without losing focus on the mission.
Tools: Proficiency with Asana/Jira, Google Workspace, Slack, and data visualization tools (Tableau, Looker, or similar).