Vice President, Portfolio Management Office (PMO)

At Northwestern Mutual, we are strong, innovative and growing. We invest in our people. We care and make a positive difference.

SUMMARY:

• Create and lead the Technology function PMO model and organization, moving to an agile organization, inclusive of culture and mindset.
• Implement and manage the portfolio management governance process to ensure accurate creation, staffing and forecasting of approved programs.
• Design change agents within the business units to drive our vision for leveraging Big Data.
• Enable and assure the optimal quality and governance of a portfolio of projects and programs, monitoring the improvement and setting up the project framework, standards and best practices.
• Support senior leaders in the day-to-day management of projects, applying relevant practices, tools, processes and templates.
• Lead portfolio planning and management across projects and products.
• Define, develop, implement and sustain a change control process to support delivery needs.
• Work broadly with program and project managers, product managers, representatives from the Business and Technology to ensure that best practices and processes are implemented and managed to drive scope management and on-time/on-budget development and deployment.
• Partner with Product and Technology teams to develop, track, analyze and publish related reports, scorecards and program/project performance trends.
• Provides leadership on process execution for function alignment across tech regarding: assessment, business capabilities planning, portfolio management, roadmap, proposed actions, roadmaps, interdependencies and budget.
• Defines the organization’s project management methodology and establishes processes for tracking and delivering the technology portfolio of projects (est. $260+M)
• Responsible for planning and delivering tech sponsored initiatives, as well as business initiatives, (e.g. Large Scale Business Imperatives).
• Impacts the direction and resource allocation for programs, projects or services and ensures alignment of functional/departmental priorities to organizational strategy.
• Facilitates cross-functional initiatives and the flow of information between stakeholders and other teams; coordinates requests for information from stakeholders and prepares reports and presentations in response.
• Manages and prioritizes project workstreams, working with internal customers to determine project definition and business requirements.
• Provides budget analysis, resource allocation and coordination of project activities across enterprise; assigns and monitors work of technical personnel, ensuring that project steps are in alignment with business objectives, on-time and within budget; monitors reliability and any internal issues that appear as a result of the project.
• Leads and contributes to strategic planning, direction, and goal setting for the department or function in collaboration with senior management; establishes departmental policies, practices, and procedures that have a significant impact on the organization.
• Represents and provides support to department head to facilitate effective decision-making which has a significant impact on the organization; includes: strategic planning, roadmap development, operational planning, leading key departmental / functional priorities, and meeting planning and preparation.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business or related field, with 15+ years of experience in roles of increasing responsibilities.
• Extensive experience with the concepts and principles of technology operations organization; proven leadership skills working within diverse teams.
• Proven ability to provide leadership and set strategic direction across multiple areas, with at least 7 years’ experience leading multiple teams.
• High degree of people and project management competencies.
• Strong communication, negotiation, administrative and leadership skills with all levels of management and across all product lines, entities and the field is critical.
• Experience in portfolio and/or project management, strategic and operational planning, and leading multiple complex projects with organization-wide impact.
• Strong organizational skills; able to handle competing demands, and work under tight deadlines and short timeframes.
• Strong problem solving and strategic/critical thinking skills. Ability to identify underlying issues and influence others without formal authority.
• Facilitation and team building skills; ability to play an active, operational and communicative role.
• Interpersonal savvy and comfort interacting with and presenting to all levels of the organization, including senior leaders.
• Proven skills in dealing with ambiguity and paradox, and leading change.
• Exceptional business acumen and focus on achieving business impact through progressive practices and sound business judgment.
• Ability to translate goals and strategies into executable business plans.

Note Regarding Requirements: this position may also require fingerprinting and/or FINRA registrations or have additional physical requirements. Managers can refer to the Job Description SharePoint for this information.

ADA Disclaimer: This job description is meant to be a general description and may not include all essential job functions or competencies needed to perform those job functions. The Company will reasonably accommodate medical needs for qualified job candidates to successfully perform the job. Job qualifications and accommodation needs are reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

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We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Req ID: 28062
Position Type: Regular Full Time
Education Experience: Bachelor’s Desired
Employment Experience: 9+ years
Licenses/Certifications:

FLSA Status: Exempt
Posting Date: 12/13/2019