IT Director II - Agile and IT Project Management Center of Excellence

Western Alliance Bank•Phoenix, AZ

11d

About The Position

As an IT Director II, you'll lead Center of Excellence (COE) responsible for establishing and maintaining unified delivery methodologies across the enterprise, including Agile, Iterative, and Hybrid approaches. This role will lead the development and continuous improvement of IT project management and delivery standards, processes, tools, and templates, while facilitating Communities of Practice (COPs) to promote knowledge sharing and adoption. The Director also owns 1st Line of Defense (LOD) PMO monitoring to ensure adherence to SDLC, PMLC, and other governance frameworks. In addition, this role will lead Agile Transformation across IT and the Business, driving enterprise-wide adoption of Agile principles, practices, and mindset to improve delivery velocity, transparency, and business alignment. The Director will collaborate closely with IT Delivery Leaders, Project Managers, Risk and Compliance Teams, Agile Coaches, Portfolio Management, EPMO to ensure consistent and compliant delivery practices across the organization. The role would require partnerships across Architecture, Infrastructure, Engineering, Application Teams, Support, and strategic third-party providers to proactively address evolving customer and stakeholder needs, resolve issues swiftly, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and delivery excellence. Methodology & Standards: Define and maintain unified delivery methodologies (Agile, Iterative, Hybrid) to be leveraged by IT initiatives. Develop, manage, maintain, and own associated standards, processes, templates, and tools/platforms. Ensure alignment with enterprise governance frameworks (e.g., COBIT, FFIEC). Agile Transformation: Lead Agile Transformation across IT and the Business, partnering with Agile Coaches and delivery teams. Promote enterprise-wide adoption of Agile principles and practices. Support Agile maturity assessments and continuous improvement initiatives. Communities of Practice (COP): Establish and facilitate COPs to enable cross-functional knowledge sharing and collaboration. Manage updates, communications, and change management for IT Delivery standards. Promote adoption of best practices across delivery teams. Continuous Improvement: Monitor feedback from delivery teams and stakeholders to identify improvement opportunities. Incorporate enhancements into future iterations of standards, processes, and templates. Benchmark against industry practices and regulatory expectations. PMO Monitoring & Compliance: Implement 1st Line of Defense (LOD) PMO monitoring to validate adherence to defined standards. Partner with Risk and Compliance teams to embed controls into delivery lifecycle. Provide oversight and reporting on compliance with SDLC, PMLC, and governance frameworks. Manage and Collaborate with matrixed teams across multiple domains. Partner with HR and IT Leadership's to build and implement a strategy for employee development, retention, resource allocation, talent management, performance management, and achieve a diverse and engaged workforce as well as recruit, train, and evaluate staff members work. Participate in annual budget planning as well as manage a budget, business cases, execution plans, and operating plans and build any resource plan needed to achieve established program priorities. Ensure adequate risk management and controls are established and maintained in alignment with the risk appetite for the bank, as well as any applicable regulatory and enterprise risk management expectations.

Requirements

12+ years of related experience or similar field with 10+ years in IT delivery, PMO leadership, or process governance roles.
Strong understanding of Agile, Iterative, and Hybrid methodologies.
Experience developing and implementing enterprise-wide standards and frameworks.
Familiarity with SDLC, PMLC, and regulatory compliance requirements.
Bachelor's degree in related field required.
Previous leadership experience required.
Intermediate to advanced knowledge of applicable regulatory and legal compliance obligations, rules and regulations, industry standards and practices.
Advanced to expert experience in working with multiple project/portfolio teams working in Application Engineering, Infrastructure Engineering, Architecture while working on complex solutions and products with additional responsibility for the execution of KPIs and timelines.
Utilize data to identify areas of improvement and opportunities for growth by collaborating with business and tech leads.
Advanced speaking and writing communication skills.
May require up to 25% travel.

Nice To Haves

Experience in Financial Services or Banking is preferred.
PMP, PgMP, or SAFe certifications preferred.
Experience with Agile transformation and SDLC frameworks preferred.
Familiarity with tools like Planview, Workfront, Tableau, or similar dashboard/reporting platforms preferred.
Expertise in executive reporting, performance metrics, and resource planning.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain unified delivery methodologies (Agile, Iterative, Hybrid) to be leveraged by IT initiatives.
Develop, manage, maintain, and own associated standards, processes, templates, and tools/platforms.
Ensure alignment with enterprise governance frameworks (e.g., COBIT, FFIEC).
Lead Agile Transformation across IT and the Business, partnering with Agile Coaches and delivery teams.
Promote enterprise-wide adoption of Agile principles and practices.
Support Agile maturity assessments and continuous improvement initiatives.
Establish and facilitate COPs to enable cross-functional knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Manage updates, communications, and change management for IT Delivery standards.
Promote adoption of best practices across delivery teams.
Monitor feedback from delivery teams and stakeholders to identify improvement opportunities.
Incorporate enhancements into future iterations of standards, processes, and templates.
Benchmark against industry practices and regulatory expectations.
Implement 1st Line of Defense (LOD) PMO monitoring to validate adherence to defined standards.
Partner with Risk and Compliance teams to embed controls into delivery lifecycle.
Provide oversight and reporting on compliance with SDLC, PMLC, and governance frameworks.
Manage and Collaborate with matrixed teams across multiple domains.
Partner with HR and IT Leadership's to build and implement a strategy for employee development, retention, resource allocation, talent management, performance management, and achieve a diverse and engaged workforce as well as recruit, train, and evaluate staff members work.
Participate in annual budget planning as well as manage a budget, business cases, execution plans, and operating plans and build any resource plan needed to achieve established program priorities.
Ensure adequate risk management and controls are established and maintained in alignment with the risk appetite for the bank, as well as any applicable regulatory and enterprise risk management expectations.

Benefits

We offer all the important things you'd want — like competitive salaries, an ownership stake in the company, medical and dental insurance, time off, a great 401k matching program, tuition assistance program, an employee volunteer program, and a wellness program.
In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to bolster your business knowledge, learning the ins and outs of how successful companies operate and manage their finances, giving you invaluable hands-on experience to help grow your career!

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