Director, Retirement Plan Services Strategy and Modernization
About The Position
The Director, Retirement Plan Services Modernization Initiatives will lead critical components of a multi-year modernization program focused on transforming Retirement Plan Services recordkeeping capabilities, strengthening operational infrastructure, and preparing the business for future-state platform and service delivery models. This is a senior individual-contributor role at director level with enterprise scope and executive visibility. The role drives planning, governance, execution, and readiness across complex, cross-functional initiatives with business, operational, technology, risk, and client implications. It requires program leadership, comfort navigating ambiguity, the ability to influence stakeholders in a matrixed environment, and disciplined execution and collaboration. The selected candidate is expected to work on site in the specified location(s). The position also supports conversion and implementation readiness, helps embed new processes and ways of working in daily operations, and contributes to improvements in execution, organizational readiness, operational effectiveness, and the client and participant experience. The role is eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities in addition to the salary range.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience leading large-scale transformation, modernization, strategic initiatives, or complex business change programs within financial services or similarly regulated industries.
- Ability to lead through ambiguity and navigate complex, fast-moving environments with multiple priorities, stakeholders, and dependencies.
- Demonstrated success identifying, escalating, and resolving program risks, issues, and roadblocks while maintaining momentum against critical business objectives.
- Strong track record serving as an integrator across business, operations, technology, risk, compliance, and other enterprise functions to drive alignment and execution.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, including the ability to build consensus, resolve competing priorities, and drive decisions without direct authority.
- Experience translating strategic objectives into actionable plans, execution roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
- Ability to lead organizational readiness and change initiatives, including stakeholder engagement, communications, adoption planning, training, and implementation support.
- Strong program leadership capabilities, including governance, integrated planning, dependency management, risk mitigation, and execution oversight.
- Ability to foster accountability, collaboration, and a solutions-oriented mindset across cross-functional teams during significant change.
- Strong executive communication skills, including experience preparing presentations, status reports, decision materials, and recommendations for senior leadership.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and related experience.
Nice To Haves
- Project Management Professional (PMP), Agile, Scrum, or related program management certifications.
Responsibilities
- Lead planning and execution for key Retirement Plan Services modernization initiatives, including implementation and business readiness activities.
- Partner with product, platform, digital, architecture, and engineering leaders to define future-state capabilities and connect them to future-state offer decisions.
- Coordinate execution and prepare teams for changes in partnership with business, operations, product, technology, risk, communications, human resources, and client-facing teams.
- Translate modernization objectives into implementation plans with clear ownership, timelines, deliverables, and success measures.
- Lead change and business readiness activities, including stakeholder engagement, process changes, communications, training, operational preparedness, and implementation planning.
- Help leaders and teams understand what is changing, why it matters, and what they need to do differently as modernization capabilities are implemented.
- Identify and manage program risks, dependencies, resource constraints, and adoption issues that could affect implementation or business readiness.
- Develop and maintain integrated project plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, and readiness activities across impacted workstreams.
- Facilitate stakeholder alignment to resolve competing priorities, address implementation issues, and maintain progress against modernization milestones.
- Support governance through executive updates, decision materials, risk assessments, program status reporting, and readiness updates.
- Support conversion and implementation readiness through planning, coordination, operational readiness assessments, and stakeholder preparation.
- Reinforce new processes and ways of working so changes become embedded in day-to-day operations.
- Contribute to measurable improvements in execution, organizational readiness, operational effectiveness, and the client and participant experience.
Benefits
- Bonus or incentive opportunities in addition to the salary range.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
