Business Relationship Manager (Technology Business Representative - CPPW)

City of Portland • 1120 SW 5th Ave, OR

10d • Hybrid

About The Position

The IT Business Relationship Manager (BRM) is a strategic role within the Bureau of Technology Services (BTS) Technology Shared Services division. The BRM builds trusted relationships with City leaders and develops a strong understanding of their business strategies, priorities, operating environments, and emerging needs. The BRM uses that perspective to help connect business direction with technology strategy, investment, and Citywide priorities. BRMs work in close partnership with Service Area Technology Managers (SATMs), who serve as the primary technology partners for their Service Areas and maintain the integrated view of technology priorities, demand, commitments, and delivery. The BRM complements this role by bringing broader business strategy, executive priorities, investment and budget considerations, and enterprise perspective into technology planning and decision-making. Each BRM supports a portfolio of City bureaus and offices and works across organizational boundaries to identify significant and emerging needs, shape strategic technology investments, support prioritization and tradeoff decisions, and identify opportunities for shared or Citywide solutions. BRMs collaborate with SATMs, BTS Core teams, delivery teams, and City leadership to bring the right perspectives together early and help ensure business priorities and technology decisions remain aligned. Successful BRMs are strategic thinkers, skilled relationship builders, and effective translators between business and technology. They help leaders navigate complex decisions, make risks and tradeoffs visible, anticipate emerging needs, and strengthen a coordinated technology partnership between BTS and the City organizations it serves.

Requirements

• Experience applying principles and practices of business relationship management, strategic partnership, technology planning, or a related discipline in a complex organization.
• Experience understanding organizational strategy, business operations, priorities, and desired outcomes and connecting them to technology planning, investment, and decision-making.
• Ability to communicate effectively with executive, business, and technical audiences, including translating technology capabilities, constraints, risks, and tradeoffs into clear business terms and communicating business context and priorities to technology professionals.
• Experience facilitating strategic discussions and decision-making among multiple stakeholders with differing priorities, including surfacing tradeoffs, building consensus, and helping groups reach clear decisions or recommendations.
• Experience establishing trusted working relationships and collaborating effectively across organizational boundaries in a matrixed environment where responsibilities, expertise, and decision-making are distributed across multiple teams.
• Experience contributing to technology strategic planning, portfolio management, road mapping, prioritization, budgeting, or investment planning, including evaluating new or emerging technology needs based on business outcomes, value, risk, timing, funding, capacity, and organizational impact.
• Ability to successfully pass an in-depth background investigation.

Nice To Haves

• A strategic thinker who connects business goals and emerging needs with technology strategy, planning, and investment.
• A trusted relationship builder who develops strong partnerships with executive leaders, Service Area Technology Managers, and business and technical teams.
• An effective communicator who translates complex technology capabilities, constraints, risks, and tradeoffs into clear business terms and helps technology teams understand business priorities.
• A collaborative facilitator who brings together stakeholders with differing perspectives, builds consensus, and helps groups reach clear, informed decisions.
• An enterprise-minded partner who works across organizational boundaries to identify shared solutions and advance coordinated, Citywide technology priorities.
• A thoughtful investment advisor who evaluates technology needs based on business outcomes, value, risk, timing, funding, capacity, and organizational impact.
• A proactive problem solver who anticipates emerging needs, makes tradeoffs visible, and raises concerns early to support effective planning and prevent escalations.
• An adaptable change partner who helps leaders and teams navigate organizational change, improve services, and strengthen the customer experience.
• An inclusive professional who respects diverse identities and perspectives and builds productive relationships in a culturally and gender-diverse workplace.
• An experienced business and technology partner who may bring public-sector knowledge, technology practitioner or leadership experience, or relevant certifications such as BRMP, PMP, ITIL, SAFe, or Prosci.
• Three (3) or more years of experience in a customer-facing, strategic partnership, business relationship management, consulting, or technology leadership role; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Professional certification such as BRMP, PMP, ITIL, SAFe, Prosci, or another certification related to business relationship management, technology management, project or portfolio management, or organizational change.
• Experience working within a shared-services, matrixed, or federated technology operating model.
• Strong understanding of local government operations, public-sector budgeting, governance, or decision-making processes.
• Experience with technology portfolio, demand, project, product, or program management.
• Five (5) or more years of experience as a technology practitioner, lead, or manager within an information technology specialization such as IT Infrastructure, application development, or IT service management.

Responsibilities

• Build strategic relationships with your portfolio’s SATM and Service Area leaders, developing a strong understanding of their business direction, priorities, challenges, and emerging needs.
• Connect business and technology strategy by helping translate business direction into technology implications, strategic priorities, investment needs, and longer-term planning.
• Shape significant and emerging demand by clarifying business outcomes, value, priority, timing, funding considerations, risks, and measures of success before determining a technology path.
• Support strategic planning and investment decisions by collaborating with SATMs, business leaders, and BTS partners on technology roadmaps, prioritization, budgets, significant investments, and tradeoffs.
• Work across organizational boundaries to bring together the right business, Service Area, Core, and delivery perspectives; identify opportunities for shared solutions; and support a coordinated One BTS experience.
• Communicate and influence effectively across executive, business, and technical audiences, translating complex issues, constraints, risks, and tradeoffs and proactively surfacing significant needs or concerns before they become escalations.

Benefits

• The City of Portland follows the Oregon Equal Pay Act. Your salary is determined based on the experience listed in your resume that is directly related and equivalent to the position for which you are applying.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed