AI Program Manager New Toronto

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human‑centred creativity and AI‑driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact‑obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities. Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem. Job Summary We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Program Manager to lead planning, execution, and delivery across our AI initiatives. This role partners with engineering, product, design, data science, and AI engineering teams to manage complex workstreams, drive alignment, improve program operations, and ensure successful delivery on time and budget across a rapidly evolving AI portfolio. You will oversee end‑to‑end program management for AI initiatives, including new capability intake, scoping, prioritization, delivery workstreams, technical roadmap development, sprint execution, risk mitigation, cross‑team coordination, and executive‑level reporting. Key Responsibilities Own end‑to‑end program management for AI initiatives: intake, scoping, planning, execution, and delivery. Lead Agile ceremonies across multiple teams, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily stand‑ups, and retrospectives. Maintain Jira boards, Confluence documentation, project plans, and program‑level artifacts. Ensure work is clearly defined, prioritized, and delivered on schedule across concurrent workstreams. Act as a central connector across engineering, product, AI engineering, QA, and design functions. Drive clarity across all contributors regarding scope, dependencies, and delivery expectations. Proactively identify and resolve blockers, ensuring smooth progress and alignment. Manage and communicate program roadmaps, sequencing, and milestones across AI initiatives. Facilitate quarterly planning, intake review, and prioritization sessions with leadership. Prepare polished, executive‑ready program updates, including risks, dependencies, KPIs, and delivery status. Identify risks early and drive mitigation strategies across teams. Track cross‑team issues, align owners, and ensure timely resolution. Maintain high visibility into program health and elevate appropriately when needed. Understand the AI agent and ML development workflow well enough to coordinate dependencies, handoffs, and sequencing. Support collaboration across data engineering, data science, AI engineering, and operations teams. Structure delivery timelines that align with technical complexity and cross‑team readiness. Improve team execution through better processes, documentation, reporting structures, and communication workflows. Establish consistency in program tracking, updates, retrospectives, and governance. Elevate collaboration practices across teams and continuously refine how work flows through the AI organization. Qualifications & Skills Education & Experience Bachelor’s degree in a technical or analytical field preferred, or equivalent experience. 10+ years of experience in program management or technical program management. Experience managing complex programs in AI, ML, data, or engineering environments strongly preferred. Program Management Skills Proven success running Agile practices (Scrum, Kanban) across multiple engineering teams. Expert‑level experience with Jira, Confluence, and modern workflow systems. Skilled in backlog management, sprint structure, and ensuring work is well‑defined before execution. Strong ability to track multiple programs simultaneously and maintain clarity across complex dependencies. Excellent communication skills, including concise executive reporting and clear translation of technical updates. Demonstrated strength in risk identification, issue resolution, and structured problem‑solving. Soft Skills Highly organized, proactive, and detail‑oriented. Strong facilitation, relationship‑building, and cross‑functional leadership abilities. Operates with calm, clarity, and confidence in fast‑paced or ambiguous environments. Excellent judgment, prioritization skills, and ability to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications Experience working across multi‑team engineering organizations. Familiarity with AI/ML development cycles, even at a non‑technical level. Healthcare Marketing and Agency experience is a plus. Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace in our Great Places to Work Profile. We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vision plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning. Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in‑office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on‑site learning, and connecting with client partners is critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people. Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know. #J-18808-Ljbffr