Senior Director Business Ops, Strategy & Planning - Artificial Intelligence (AI) Department at Northwestern Mutual

Summary

Seeking a leader who can demonstrate a strong passion for steering the strategic vision, operational framework, budgeting, and planning initiatives, as well as achieving desired outcomes for the department or function. Recognized as an expert in technical and program management, entrusted to serve as a reliable and strategic advisor to executive leaders, functional heads, and other departmental leaders.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Provides developmental leadership for the team's strategy, mission, and vision.
• Serve as technical and program management advisor to executive leadership and Senior Directors
• Coordinates the development of materials focused on articulating team's strategy and technical delivery.
• Lead the coordination of team's program monthly reviews to validate progress or adherence to delivery timelines, deadlines and identify areas of risks.
• Leads the execution of team's communication plan focused on promoting clarity within team and with business collaborators.
• Responsible for coordinating regular updates and use of Jira and Jira Align in support of program management related activities.
• Supports a sophisticated area of the business, resolves inter-dependencies across the organization, and facilitates work of notable risk and complexity within own area and across the business.
• Identifies and works cross-functionally to remove barriers that prevent realization of the departmental / function strategy.
• Provide leadership in ensuring strong strategic alignment with digital products, and other technical partners to reduce risk and enhance business value results.
• Monitor business AIP and OKRs to ensure engineering results are focused on driving business value.

Business Operations

• Responsible for strategy and planning to align business operations with the company's overarching strategy, mission, and goals.
• Identifies gaps between ideal and current state of operating model and recommends solutions to close the gaps.
• Facilitates execution of departmental/functional operating model to improve the health of the organization.
• Exhibits expert level conceptual and innovative thinking to develop solutions.

Program Management (Project)

• Partners with functional leadership team to identify and track priority work, including identifying business outcomes and metrics, portfolio management of key department/function priorities, developing strategy for project execution, and creating clarity on priority of work.
• Leads strategic projects with notable risk and complexity

Planning and Budgeting

• Drive planning and financial/budgeting process
• Aligns planning and budget to functional and company priorities, working cross-functionally with peers.
• Plans and prepares agendas for functional/departmental staff or leadership meetings and planning sessions.
• Participates in regular leadership meetings to evaluate barriers to success and develop courses of action to overcome issues.
• Facilitates cross-functional initiatives and the flow of information between collaborators and other teams.
• Coordinates requests for information from partners and prepares reports and presentations in response.
• Anticipates business issues; recommends product, process or service improvements.

Trusted Advisor

• Represents and provides support to facilitate effective decision-making which has a significant impact on the organization; this includes strategy planning, leading key functional priorities, and meeting planning and preparation. Has a high impact on the implementation of critical initiatives that carry out overarching functional and organizational objectives.
• Establishes and maintains organizational savviness, an executive presence and high level of discernment for area supporting in order to unearth issues, opportunities, problems.
• Represents and provides support to senior leadership team including defining the path forward, ensuring they have what they need, and holding them accountable for execution.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years' business leadership experience.
• Proven leadership experience working with diverse technical and non-technical teams.
• Functional understanding of department databases, API's, and Tech Architecture.
• Superior interpersonal skills to lead groups of people.
• Experience in portfolio and/or project management, strategic and operational planning, and leading multiple sophisticated projects with organization-wide impact.
• Demonstrated organizational agility to work across organizational boundaries, influence, and collaborate with all levels on solutions that benefit the organization.
• Ability to work horizontally with shared priorities and elevate functional priorities over department objectives.
• Thinks within lateral accountabilities and interdependence.
• Proven skills in dealing with ambiguity and paradox, and leading change.
• Exceptional discernment and focus on achieving business impact through progressive practices and sound business judgment.
• Ability to translate goals and strategies into executable business plans.
• Strong integrity and validated ability to treat confidential information confidentially.
• Demonstrated learning agility and outside-in perspective to identify future trends and practices.
• Strong organizational skills; able to handle contending demands, and working with short time frames.
• 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.
• High degree of self-motivation with leadership and initiative in sharing information, contributing towards group goals, and accepting responsibility for results.
• Pro-active and an ability to anticipate needs for a range of broad / complex business.