Deputy Executive Director-Business & Portfolio Management

Sound Transit•Seattle, WA

3d•$195,000 - $351,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting directly to the CIO, this role serves as a senior member of the IT leadership team and a strategic partner to executive leadership, integrating portfolio planning, business relationship management, investment governance, and delivery performance to drive transparency, accountability, prioritization, and value realization across the IT organization. A core objective of this role is to strengthen the IT operating model by simplifying how IT plans, governs, and delivers services and initiatives, reducing complexity, improving decision velocity, and enabling consistent, repeatable, and efficient execution across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in IT, Business, or related field.
Ten years of progressive IT leadership experience, including responsibility for enterprise portfolio, program, product, service, or operational leadership in a complex organization; Or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Eight years of leadership, budgetary, planning and workforce management experience.
Extensive knowledge of enterprise IT portfolio management, governance, prioritization, and delivery oversight across projects, products, and operational services.
Strong skill in strategic planning, investment analysis, and roadmap development to align IT work with agency priorities, organizational capacity, and business outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to lead executive-level decision-making by translating complex portfolios, delivery constraints, and risks into clear recommendations and actionable options.
Strength in developing trusted partnerships with executives, stakeholders, service owners, and technical team members through applying business relationship management best practices
Strong understanding of demand and capacity planning, including balancing discretionary and operational work to support sustainable delivery commitments.
Demonstrated strength in measuring performance results, portfolio analysis and reporting, and risk escalation processes to improve transparency, accountability, and delivery predictability across the IT organization.
Proven people leadership skills, including recruiting, developing and nurturing high-performing teams, and results-based performance management.

Nice To Haves

PfMP
PMP
ITIL
Prosci
Agile

Responsibilities

Lead enterprise governance for the all-up IT portfolio, including intake, prioritization, sequencing, execution oversight, and performance management across projects and services.
Establish portfolio standards and simplified decision frameworks that reduce complexity and improve speed of decision-making.
Advise the CIO and executive leadership on enterprise tradeoffs, investment decisions, organizational capacity, and risk across discretionary and operational IT work.
Partner with business stakeholders, enterprise architects, and service owners to shape demand, clarify expected outcomes, and ensure solutions are aligned with agency priorities, architectural direction, and the effective delivery and ongoing support of services.
Establish, lead, and mature a formal Business Relationship Management function as a core IT leadership capability that strengthens alignment between IT and business units and improves strategic demand management.
Serve as a trusted advisor to executives and business leaders, ensuring shared ownership of outcomes, priorities, and value realization.
Serve as a senior advisor to the CIO and broader leadership team, ensuring alignment between agency strategy, IT investments, organizational capacity, and delivery outcomes across projects and services.
Facilitate executive alignment on portfolio priorities, tradeoffs, funding decisions, and delivery commitments.
Simplify complex decisions into clear, actionable recommendations.
Oversee development of integrated multi-year roadmaps spanning project delivery and service lifecycle planning.
Lead scenario planning and option analysis across the full portfolio.
Rationalize and streamline investments to reduce overlap and complexity.
Accountable for portfolio performance across projects and services, including schedule, cost, service levels, risk, and outcomes.
Provide clear, integrated portfolio reporting to support executive decisions.
Oversee escalation and recovery for at-risk initiatives and services.
Lead enterprise-level capacity and resource planning across the full IT workload.
Simplify capacity planning approaches.
Ensure commitments align with realistic capacity and sustainability.
Lead and develop a high-performing Portfolio Planning & Delivery Office, including portfolio management, program delivery, business relationship management, and analytics Functions, with responsibility for organizational capability, talent development, and leadership of managers and senior individual contributors.
Drive standardization and simplification of methods, tools, and delivery practices.
Establish a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Benefits

Two choices of medical plans
Dental plan
Vision plan
Long-Term Disability and Life Insurance
Employee Assistance Program
401a – 10% of employee contribution with a 12% match by Sound Transit
457b – up to IRS maximum (employee only contribution)
25 days of paid time off annually with increases at four, eight and twelve years of service
Additional paid time off for director level and up
12 paid holidays
Up to 2 paid floating holidays
Up to 2 paid volunteer days per year
12 weeks of parental leave for new parents
Pet Insurance
ORCA card at no cost for full-time employees
Tuition Reimbursement: Sound Transit will pay up to $5,000 annually for approved tuition expenses.
Inclusive Reproductive Health Support Services
Competitive salaries based on market rates and internal equity
Work-life balance
Opportunities for professional development
Recognition from your colleagues