Asst Dir Tech Ops

Northwestern Mutual•Franklin, WI

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Northwestern Mutual is seeking an Assistant Director of Major Incident & Problem Management to lead the response to critical technology service disruptions and drive lasting improvements that prevent future outages. The role serves as the enterprise authority for Major Incident and Problem Management, leading processes, governance, and operational execution to restore services quickly, eliminate systemic root causes, and strengthen service reliability, stability, and customer experience. It partners across technology and business teams and uses ServiceNow, operational analytics, and configuration management data to improve operational resilience. The position owns enterprise Major Incident Management governance, standards, policies, procedures, and operational readiness; directs incident response and recovery; and coordinates technical, operational, vendor, and business teams through incident command, bridge management, escalations, and recovery activities. It leads executive and stakeholder communications during outages and oversees 24x7 response readiness, on-call support models, training, tabletop exercises, and simulations. The role also owns enterprise Problem Management, including governance and root cause analysis standards, problem record creation and investigation, prioritization of recurring incidents and technology risks, and executive visibility into remediation plans. It leads and develops service management professionals, establishes goals, and promotes accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. It develops and monitors incident, problem, availability, and reliability metrics and works across technology functions to strengthen resilience. As business owner for ServiceNow Incident and Problem Management capabilities, the role partners with platform teams to improve workflows, automation, integrations, reporting, and adoption across Incident, Problem, Knowledge, and Service Level Management, while ensuring data quality, process integrity, and platform governance.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
Eight or more years of experience in IT Operations, Service Management, Site Reliability Engineering, Infrastructure Operations, or Application Support.
Five or more years of experience leading Major Incident Management, Problem Management, Site Reliability Engineering, or IT Operations teams.
Strong knowledge of ITIL Incident and Problem Management practices, ServiceNow ITSM, Change Management, and Availability Management.
Experience managing high-pressure Priority 1 and Priority 2 outages affecting critical business services.
Strong crisis leadership and decision-making skills, including the ability to coordinate response efforts under pressure.
Clear executive communication and stakeholder management skills, including communicating service impacts and recovery progress.
Expertise in root cause analysis, structured problem-solving, operational governance, and continuous improvement.
Ability to influence and collaborate across technical, business, and vendor teams.

Nice To Haves

ServiceNow ITSM certification.
Experience leading enterprise-scale, 24x7 operational support organizations.
Experience implementing Problem Management and service reliability practices.

Responsibilities

Lead enterprise Major Incident Management governance, standards, policies, procedures, and operational readiness.
Direct major incident response and recovery, coordinating technical, operational, vendor, and business teams through incident command, bridge management, escalations, and recovery activities.
Provide clear, timely, and consistent executive and stakeholder communications during major outages.
Oversee incident response coverage and on-call support models, and lead training, tabletop exercises, and simulations.
Own enterprise Problem Management governance and root cause analysis standards, ensuring major incidents are evaluated for problem record creation and evidence-based investigation.
Identify and prioritize recurring incidents, technology risks, and service reliability concerns based on business impact, risk, and recurrence trends.
Maintain executive visibility into major problems and remediation plans.
Lead, coach, and develop Major Incident Managers, Problem Managers, and related team members; establish operational and performance goals.
Develop and monitor incident, problem, availability, and reliability metrics, analyzing disruption trends for systemic weaknesses and improvement opportunities.
Collaborate with Infrastructure, Applications, Cloud Operations, Site Reliability Engineering, Cybersecurity, Architecture, Service Desk, Change Management, Asset Management, and Configuration Management teams.
Serve as business owner for ServiceNow Incident and Problem Management capabilities and partner with platform teams to improve workflows, automation, integrations, reporting, and adoption across Incident, Problem, Knowledge, and Service Level Management.
Ensure ServiceNow data quality, process integrity, and platform governance.