Rucha Nakade
@ruchanakade
Senior IT program leader modernizing platforms and delivering measurable portfolio outcomes.
AustraliaWhat I'm looking for
I’m a Senior IT program and portfolio leader with 15+ years of technical program and portfolio management experience across HP, HPE, and Atlassian. I drive large-scale infrastructure, platform, and product modernization—especially decommissioning, data centre exits, and Jira platform/product growth initiatives—so teams can operate simpler, faster, and with lower support overhead.
I’ve delivered outcomes like the retirement of ~250 global HP business systems, decommissioning of ~400 servers, and significant application landscape reduction. I also manage complex enterprise IT portfolios valued between $600K–$10M across EMEMEA, Americas, and APAC, handling end-to-end planning—from project scheduling and financial planning to resource modelling and demand/capacity forecasting.
Most recently, at Atlassian I led the experimentation portfolio for Jira Growth, launching 54 experiments in two quarters with 28 wins, and improving experiment lifecycle reporting adoption across 3 additional orgs (15+ teams). Previously, I ran Jira platform modernization from monolith to microservices and led JAMPOT server→cloud migration, achieving a 2.5× migration throughput increase (to ~600K issues/day) and reducing issue migration REST endpoint latency to 1.6s. I’m open to Program Manager, Technical Program Manager, PMO Lead, and transformation-focused roles where measurable delivery and strong PMO governance are critical.
Experience
Work history, roles, and key accomplishments
Led the experimentation portfolio across three workstreams, launching 54 experiments in two quarters with 28 wins and accelerating throughput from Q1 to Q2. Built automation for weekly experiment lifecycle reporting adopted by 3 additional orgs (15+ teams) to reduce issue resolution time and speed feature shipping.
Modernized Jira Issue backend capabilities by decomposing a monolith into cloud-native microservices to improve scalability and reliability of Jira Cloud. Led the JAMPOT server-to-cloud program, increasing migration throughput 2.5x (to ~600K issues/day) and reducing REST endpoint latency by 75% (6.5s to 1.6s) within 6 months.
Partnered with the CIO to conduct IT risk assessments and manage risks through their lifecycle in ServiceNow. Maintained information security and IT risk registers, planned organization-wide security awareness training, and reported status to the office of the CEO.
Authored end-to-end business cases for capital-funded IT projects ($600K–$10M+), translating complex technical requirements into executive-ready investment narratives. Owned delivery plans (schedule, resource allocation, budget baselines, risk registers) supporting governance for 100+ concurrent projects with executive and C-suite portfolio reporting.
Led data centre program governance and delivered data-driven executive status reporting, including structured scorecards and accountability mechanisms. Coordinated a structured decommissioning pipeline to migrate 70+ IT applications/assets out of the Houston Data Centre with zero disruption, and recovered a delayed exit program to complete full application exit 3 weeks early.
Managed retirement of 300+ applications and infrastructure assets across worldwide data-centre locations to simplify the application landscape and move users to new platforms. Reduced retirement cycle time from 60 days to 30 days, enabled an application landscape reduction of 80% in 9 months, and drove $20M+ capital expense savings.
Owned and delivered a weekly organizational dashboard for a global business intelligence/enterprise data warehouse team, ensuring data accuracy, timeliness, and executive presentation. Standardized reporting with SharePoint/Business Objects/PPM tools, led data quality governance for global application retirements, and drove enterprise rollout of a PPM upgrade via workshops and SharePoint wikis.
Education
Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework
University of Texas at San Antonio
Master of Science (MS), Technology Management
Earned an MS in Technology Management from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007.
University of Pune
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng), Computer Science
Earned a B.Engg in Computer Science from the University of Pune in 2000.
Availability
Location
AustraliaAuthorized to work in
Job categories
Skills
Interested in hiring Rucha?
You can contact Rucha and 90k+ other talented remote workers on Himalayas.
Message RuchaFind your dream job
Sign up now and join over 250,000+ remote workers who receive personalized job alerts, curated job matches, and more for free!
