Director, CAF Strategic Program Management

CarMax • Atlanta, GA

2d • $148,100 - $237,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Program Management is responsible for leading the Program Management function for CarMax Auto Finance and ensuring CAF is focused on the highest-value opportunities that support strategic objectives and long-term business outcomes. This role partners with senior leadership to establish portfolio priorities, allocate resources, evaluate investment opportunities, and ensure business and technology initiatives are aligned to department and enterprise goals. The Director establishes the operating model, standards, governance framework, and capability strategy for Program Management. This role oversees portfolio health, prioritization, value realization, organizational capacity, and the effectiveness of how business problems are identified, evaluated, and addressed across CAF. The Director leads through influence, strategic thinking, and possesses broad business acumen and technical fluency. This role creates an environment where teams are empowered to solve complex problems, leverage technology effectively, and continuously improve business outcomes for associates, customers, and the organization.
The Director, Program Management ensures CAF has the discipline, visibility, and leadership needed to solve complex business problems through strong partnership between business and Technology. This role is accountable for elevating the function beyond project coordination by helping leaders determine what problems matter most, what solutions are feasible, what tradeoffs exist, and how work should be sequenced to deliver meaningful business outcomes. The ideal candidate is a strategic leader who can influence across levels, connect business priorities to technology capabilities, develop others, and use industry, operational, and technical knowledge to improve processes.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in program management, business, technology, operations, finance, analytics, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience leading complex cross-functional programs, business transformation, technology-enabled change, operational strategy, or portfolio delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across senior leaders, business partners, Technology, and cross-functional teams.
• Strong understanding of business processes, operating models, systems, data flows, integrations, controls, and how technology changes impact operations.
• Experience establishing intake, prioritization, governance, portfolio management, value realization, and outcome measurement practices.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate ambiguous business problems, identify root causes, assess solution options, and guide leaders toward practical decisions.
• Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to summarize complex operational and technical information into clear recommendations.
• Curiosity and working knowledge of automation, AI-enabled solutions, reporting improvements, workflow redesign, or emerging technology opportunities.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading leaders or developing program management talent preferred.
• Consumer finance, auto finance, operations, technology, risk, analytics, or process improvement experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Establish the vision, strategy, operating model, and standards for CAF Program Management, ensuring the function enables disciplined problem solving, business and technology alignment, and measurable value delivery.
• Partner with senior leaders to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and sequence complex business and technology initiatives based on strategic value, operational impact, capacity, risk, and organizational readiness.
• Lead portfolio-level governance by creating visibility into initiative demand, dependencies, resource needs, risks, tradeoffs, business outcomes, and value realization across CAF.
• Establish and reinforce a problem-solving culture that ensures leaders and teams consistently identify root causes, evaluate opportunities objectively, and prioritize solutions based on business value, customer impact, and strategic alignment.
• Shape CAF's approach to technology-enabled business transformation by promoting the use of automation, AI, workflow optimization, and scalable technology solutions that improve business performance and associate experience.
• Serve as a strategic liaison between CAF leadership and Technology leadership to align investment decisions, delivery capacity, technology roadmaps, and business priorities.
• Evaluate enterprise impacts of business, organizational, process, and technology changes and guide leaders through tradeoff decisions that balance risk, capacity, customer outcomes, and long-term strategic objectives.
• Develop leaders and program management talent by setting expectations, coaching problem-solving discipline, strengthening technical and business acumen, and building a consistent program management capability.
• Provide executive-level communication, recommendations, and decision support that summarize complex operational and technical issues into clear options, tradeoffs, and recommended paths forward.
• Continuously improve program management practices, intake processes, governance routines, documentation standards, adoption planning, and value measurement.

Benefits

• Paid sick time
• Vacation time
• Paid holidays
• Floating holiday
• Holiday Premium Pay
• Paid time away with no specified limit as needed for sick, vacation, bereavement, jury duty, holidays, floating holiday, etc. subject to manager approval.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director