Director, Data Program Management

Vanguard•Malvern, PA

About The Position

We are seeking a Director, Data Program Management to lead the enterprise decommissioning of NeoXam, a mission‑critical legacy platform that serves as the authoritative source of investment data supporting approximately $12.3T in assets under management across Equity and Fixed Income portfolios. This is a high‑impact leadership role with enterprise visibility. You will lead a small, specialized program management team and drive outcomes through influence across a complex, matrixed environment spanning Product, Technology, Operations, Data, Infrastructure, and business consumers. Why This Role Matters This role is central to enterprise modernization and risk‑reduction objectives. By centralizing accountability and confidence assessment, the role reduces operational and reputational risk while accelerating the organization’s ability to exit legacy platforms and realize modernization benefits. Success is measured not by activity, but by safe outcomes, informed decisions, and clean shutdowns. What You’ll Do:

Requirements

Extensive experience leading large‑scale, complex enterprise technology programs with material operational and business risk.
Proven success owning integrated, cross‑platform roadmaps across multiple teams and functional domains.
Strong executive presence with the ability to frame decisions, risks, and tradeoffs for senior leaders.
Deep expertise in program governance, dependency management, readiness assessment, and financial oversight.
Demonstrated ability to lead through influence in highly matrixed environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience with large‑scale platform decommissioning, legacy retirement, or complex system migrations.
Background in financial services, investment management, or data‑intensive enterprise platforms.
Familiarity with front, middle, and back office operating models and controls.

Responsibilities

Enterprise Program Ownership Own the integrated, enterprise‑wide roadmap for NeoXam decommissioning, representing an annual investment of approximately $25M.
Provide single‑point accountability for outcomes, risk posture, and decision readiness across all retirement initiatives.
Ensure one executable plan across platforms, teams, and functions rather than fragmented delivery.
Decision Governance & Readiness Leadership Lead capability inventory and disposition decisions (retire, replace, migrate, or accept).
Establish and enforce formal readiness gates for testing, production parallel, cutover, and shutdown.
Frame and present go / no‑go decisions for senior leadership at critical milestones.
Proactively recommend pauses or resequencing when risk or readiness thresholds are not met.
Risk, Financial, and Executive Reporting Own integrated dependency, risk, issue, and financial tracking to support transparent executive decision‑making.
Deliver concise, high‑quality program governance and executive communications, clearly articulating tradeoffs, sequencing options, and residual risk.
Cross‑Functional Leadership & Influence Lead and develop a dedicated program management team focused on integration, governance, and confidence management.
Drive alignment and accountability across senior stakeholders in Product, Technology, Operations, Data, and Infrastructure.
Ensure future‑state ownership, operating models, runbooks, and support structures are validated prior to platform shutdown.