Lead Project Manager (Innovation Programs)

Capital One•McLean, VA

1d•$138,100 - $189,200

About The Position

Lead Project Manager (Innovation Programs) The Intelligent Foundations & Experiences (IFX) Science & Academic Partnerships (S&AP) team is seeking a high-energy, highly organized, and self-motivated Manager, Project Management to lead high-impact projects and programs as part of our innovation portfolio. The primary focus of this role will be facilitating Capital One’s patent strategy in partnership with the OnePatents team, to ensure we capture business-critical IP. In this role, you will have visibility into IFX’s most strategic innovation areas. You will serve as the bridge between our innovators and the Legal team, ensuring our foundational technology and novel solutions are identified, prioritized, and protected. This is a unique opportunity to empower global innovation and collaboration at scale across the company's most critical focus areas. The Impact You Will Have: As the S&AP Innovations Lead, you will partner with Legal to drive the intentional "harvesting" of high-value Intellectual Property (IP). You are someone who moves comfortably between deep-dive sessions with tech teams and high-level strategic alignment with Senior Executives.

Requirements

Intellectual Curiosity: You have a natural interest in the tech landscape and the ability to follow along as engineering teams describe their breakthroughs. While you don’t need to be the expert: you are a proactive driver who is comfortable leading the discussion around identifying and prioritizing key innovations.
An Autonomous Navigator: You thrive in ambiguity, knowing exactly when to drive forward independently and when to escalate for leadership support.
An Executive Storyteller: You possess the communication skills to translate complex project updates into compelling narratives that drive transformational change.
A Continuous Improver: You don’t just follow a process; you actively contribute to the evolution of our program management practices.
Bachelor’s Degree or Military experience
At least 6 Years of Project Management experience
At least 2 years of Jira experience

Nice To Haves

Masters / MBA degree
7+ years of Project Management experience
2+ years of People Management experience
PMP, Lean, Agile or Six Sigma certification

Responsibilities

Support complex programs by helping to facilitate and design the strategic direction alongside Legal, Tech, Product, and Chief of Staff offices.
Run a well-managed program - this includes establishing regular presentation and meeting ceremonies to drive forward our strategic patent activities and meeting weekly with the OnePatents (Legal)to drive action.
Develop and track OKRs to measure the effectiveness of IP programs and processes.
Work with Tower level SLTs to ensure each IFX tower has a defined patent strategy to ensure the capture of business critical IP.
Drive meeting ceremonies, and program structure to best support IFX and One patents. The output is prioritized areas of focus for the one patent team.
Partner cross-functionally with inventors and senior leaders to facilitate “Harvesting Workshops.” You will provide the tactical framework and strategic thought partnership needed to identify and secure critical innovations in close partnership with the OnePatents team.
Build strategies to best motivate associates to complete patent process steps for submissions.
Define and integrate into workflows where we can streamline the automatic capture of business critical IP.
Effectively drive internal and external communications about Patents in close partnership with Corporate Communications. This includes drafting communications, and identifying external storytelling opportunities related to patents.
Build in associate recognition and connect Patents into Capital One’s overall Innovation story.
Bring immediate structure to ambiguous spaces, leveraging data and influencing skills to ensure project plans deliver on their original intent.
Establish clear ways to measure and report to leadership on our AI initiatives.
Maintain meticulous documentation to mitigate risk and ensure the timely submission of patent submissions and strategic milestones.
Manage additional projects as needed that help Capital One build a strong innovation culture, including operational capacity and programming.