Assistant Manager, Program Management

Job Summary

The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-To-Consumer and International (DTCI) is a global business segment with the mission of providing consumers around the world access to the content they want most, on the latest platforms, at a time of rapidly evolving consumer habits. Combining the Company’s direct-to-consumer streaming services, Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ alongside Disney’s international media businesses, DTCI aligns cutting-edge technology with world-class content and beloved brands to expand the Company’s global footprint and deliver highly personalized entertainment experiences to diverse consumers around the world. 

Disney+ is the dedicated streaming home for movies and shows from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, Star, and more. As part of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment, Disney+ is available on most internet-connected devices and offers programming with a variety of original feature-length films, documentaries, live-action and animated series and short-form content. Alongside unprecedented access to Disney’s incredible library of film and television entertainment, the service is also the exclusive streaming home for the latest releases from The Walt Disney Studios.

The Japan Program Manager will be an integral part of the Disney+ APAC Program Management Office team, aimed at providing best-in-class program management services to help the APAC Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) team meet one of the company’s top strategic objectives; to deliver sustained DTC subscriber and revenue growth.

Primary responsibilities will be to ensure key strategic initiatives for the JP market are planned, coordinated and delivered smoothly and successfully in partnership with various cross-functional work streams across the APAC region and Global. There will also be a need for the Program Manager to support pan-APAC Programs also as needed.

Launches may include delivering new partnerships, innovative business models and major product features/capabilities. There is also a strong focus on process streamline in order to enable more efficient, and organized ways of working.

The Program Manager will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as they will need to build trusted internal business relationships in order to be successful in this role. Key tasks involve providing regular updates to team members and stakeholders including senior leadership, as well as identifying program milestones, dependencies, and risks to ensure successful delivery.

The successful applicant will also need to have a high attention to detail and be process-driven in order to lead working sessions to solve problems, seek alignment or deliver an outcome.

The role requires a highly motivated, tenacious individual who works comfortably and autonomously in an exciting, fast-paced and highly matrixed environment. He/she will also need to demonstrate their ability to manage priorities and programs well, possessing a strong mix of organizational and communication skills.

This role will be based in the Japan office located in Tokyo, Japan and will have a reporting line to:

• Senior Manager, Disney+ Program Management Office, APAC, based in Tokyo

Areas of Responsibility

• Deliver a diverse range of strategic initiatives for Japan market (primary focus) as well as across the APAC region when required.
• Collaborate with Global, Regional and local cross-functional teams including Product, Engineering, Partnerships, Marketing, Growth, Content, Legal, and Operations teams.
• Collaborate with B2B2C partners (Billing partner, Alliance Partner etc)
• Manage Program scope and change control, escalating issues as necessary.
• Communicate effectively to drive alignment on stakeholder priorities.
• Manage project launch communications, track and triage local issues through partnership with cross-functional teams, including at Global and Regional APAC level.
• Supports implementation of global/local projects and business processes to drive operational excellence.
• Perform and/or coordinate in-market user testing, including troubleshooting and analysis of issues to assist project stakeholders and team members.
• Work cross-functionally with Disney+ stakeholders and team members to identify critical business blockers and collaborate with them to solve. Proactively identify risks and issues on projects, helping teams and stakeholders to develop risk management and issue management plans, responsible for the management and reporting of RAID items across multiple work streams.
• Lead and/or support in the preparation of presentation materials for project or cross-functional forums.
• Lead and/or facilitate meetings with various stakeholders to ensure meeting objectives are met and follow ups actions executed by identified parties.
• Coordinate program/project team engagement and communication, ensuring effective timing and interdependency management of communications.
• Provide a Centre of expertise for program/project processes, standards, procedures, and tools.
• Support access and adoption of tools (e.g., OTT application, Google suite, Teams, Slack, Jira, Smartsheet, Airtable) for team members.
• Show commitment to improving the Program/Project management profession within the company via continuous learning and development, helping to grow the Program Management Community of Practice over time.

Professional Qualifications and Experience

• A Bachelor’s degree in Technology, Strategy, Communication or business-related field.
• At least 5+ years working experience, with proven track record in PMO execution and project/program management.
• Experience or understanding of OTT, Media and Content landscape i.e SEO, DTC (SVOD/ OTT, IPTV, BVOD, broadcast technologies) is a plus.
• PMP and/or Prince2 certifications are a plus.
• Experience in a senior management-facing role preferred.

Skills

• Results-oriented
• Strong attention to detail
• Native level fluency in Japanese and business level English.
• Excellent written, verbal, and visual communication skills.
• Experience in a Management-facing role preferred.
• Demonstrated planning skills, including project scheduling, estimating, risk identification/mitigation, and change management.
• Possess business acumen and proven ability to react quickly, and plan proactively to meet project needs.
• Digitally savvy
• Comfortable with ambiguity, demonstrated tenacity.
• Excellent people and team management skills. Has the ability to influence upwards in a highly matrixed environment.
• Possesses a collaborative mind-set: good at building relationships across the organization and with external partners.
• Strong Program insight skills, including ability to anticipate issues and risks as well as plan dependencies.
• Strong process orientation; solid understanding of project management techniques, methodologies and best practices.
• Possess a curious, analytical mindset with the strong ability to apply data and insights to drive outcomes.