Manager, Strategic Operations

Berkley•Urbandale, IA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

As the Manager, Strategic Operations, you will provide project management and operational portfolio support to the PMO Lead and enterprise leadership, ensuring that strategic priorities are executed with rigor, transparency, and consistency. You'll focus on tactical delivery excellence — enabling the PMO Lead to concentrate on high-level strategy — by managing intake processes, coordinating PI Planning, driving metrics clarity, supporting issue mapping/tracking, and advancing enterprise-wide competencies. The Manager, Strategic Operations will also lead the execution of the legacy systems roadmap and champion innovation adoption across the $1.8B commercial property & casualty insurance operation. This position ensures that strategic projects are delivered with standardized practices, top-tier communication, and visible engagement across the operating unit. What you can expect: Culture of innovation, teamwork, supportive colleagues and leaders willing to invest in talent. Internal mobility opportunities. Visibility to senior leaders and partnership with cross functional teams. Opportunity to impact change.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with emphasis in related field or equivalent experience.
10+ years of increasingly responsible technology project management experience, with at least five years of managing increasingly complex projects in a technical environment.
Software Development Life Cycle experience.
Ability to thrive and produce results with little or no supervision in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
Excellent communication skills with ability to interact seamlessly at all levels with both technical and business stakeholders.
Strong customer service focus and sense of urgency.
Ability to quickly adapt and learn new technologies and systems.
Superior problem solving and analytical skills.

Nice To Haves

Understanding of software development and the insurance industry, its community and its technology requirements.
PMP certification.

Responsibilities

Manage and optimize the intake process for new initiatives, ensuring clarity, completeness, and alignment with enterprise priorities.
Feed innovation pipeline into intake for seamless prioritization an execution.
Support the process optimization of PI Planning logistics and execution, bringing transparency, turnkey processes, and streamlined decision-making to the process.
Track portfolio progress with consistency, ensuring all stakeholders “speak the same language” in reporting and status updates.
Coordinate strategic projects, ensuring consistent methodologies, rigorous tracking, and standardized practices.
Maintain top-notch communication with executives, stakeholders, and delivery teams.
Remove delivery blockers and ensure projects are driven over the finish line.
Define and maintain metrics that emphasize consistency, clarity, and transparency across all projects.
Produce regular, professional weekly engagement updates (“splash”) for the operating unit to highlight progress, wins, and priorities.
Support data-driven decision-making by ensuring accurate, timely, and accessible reporting.
Lead initiatives to define and maintain enterprise-wide competencies for the $1.8B operation, ensuring consistency in performance management practices.
Partner with HR and leadership to embed competency frameworks into performance reviews, training, and career development.
Lead the execution of the legacy systems roadmap and champion innovation adoption across the $1.8B commercial property & casualty insurance operation.