Manager, Technology Product Manager (Shared Services)

Nationwide•Columbus, OH

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

If you’re passionate about being part of a dynamic organization that enables a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales to drive innovation and adopt new technologies that deliver business results, then Nationwide’s Technology team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care. This role will work a hybrid schedule coming into the Columbus, Ohio or Des Moines, Iowa office 2 days per week on Mondays & Wednesdays. Role Summary The Mainframe Manager is accountable for multiple critical disciplines supporting the enterprise mainframe platform. This role provides leadership, strategic direction, and operational management across Mainframe Security, Observability and Performance, Code Management, and Automation Services. The position ensures platform stability, risk reduction, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement through modernization, automation, and performance optimization. This role partners closely with Technology, Risk, Security, Audit, and Application teams to deliver resilient, compliant, and efficient mainframe services aligned with organizational objectives. Key Accountabilities Mainframe Security Management Own and manage mainframe security controls including RACF administration, access provisioning, entitlement reviews, and role design. Accountable for multi-factor authentication (MFA) and enhanced authentication mechanisms on the mainframe platform. Lead certification and recertification processes, ensuring timely completion, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance. Partner with cybersecurity, risk, and audit teams to remediate findings and improve security posture. Establish and enforce security standards, policies, and procedures for mainframe access and data protection. Observability & Performance Management Own enterprise mainframe observability and performance tooling, including OMEGAMON and related platforms. Ensure proactive monitoring, alerting, and capacity management to meet availability, performance, and resiliency targets. Analyze performance trends and drive tuning initiatives to optimize system health and workload efficiency. Provide reporting and insights on availability, utilization, and performance metrics to leadership and stakeholders. Code Management & CI/CD Enablement Manage mainframe code management platforms (e.g., Changeman or equivalent) and associated development controls. Accountable for integration of mainframe development into the CI/CD pipeline, enabling modern DevOps practices while maintaining change control rigor. Ensure compliance with change management, segregation of duties, and release governance requirements. Partner with application development teams to improve developer experience, velocity, and quality. Automation Services Lead the strategy and execution of mainframe automation, reducing manual effort and operational risk. Identify and prioritize automation opportunities across operations, security, monitoring, and deployment processes. Ensure automation aligns with reliability, audit, and resiliency standards. Measure and report automation benefits including efficiency gains, error reduction, and service stability. Leadership & Governance Provide people leadership, coaching, and performance management for assigned staff and service providers. Establish operational standards, runbooks, and KPIs across all accountable disciplines. Own vendor relationships and contracts related to mainframe security, tooling, and automation platforms. Participate in incident, problem, and root-cause management for significant platform events. Influence enterprise strategy related to mainframe modernization and operational excellence. Risk, Compliance & Audit Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, internal policies, and audit standards. Maintain documentation, evidence, and controls supporting internal and external audits. Proactively identify and mitigate operational, security, and compliance risks. Measures of Success Stability, availability, and performance of mainframe services. Audit and certification outcomes with minimal findings. Reduction in manual processes through effective automation. Improved security posture and access governance. Successful adoption of modern code management and CI/CD practices. #LI-AC1 Job Description Summary If you’re enthusiastic about delivering secure technology solutions to support a company providing extraordinary care to its customers, then Nationwide Technology is the place for you. Nationwide's industry-leading technology workforce embraces an agile work environment and a collaborative culture to deliver outstanding solutions and results. If that sounds like something you aspire to, we want to hear from you! As a Technology Product Manager, you will lead infrastructure engineers involved in the analysis, design, development and implementation of hardware/software. This includes identifying hardware/software systems requirements, hardware/software design, project planning, prioritizing and monitoring progress. Resource allocation and monitoring project status and efficiency are key to success. You also may have opportunities to coordinate with other managers to integrate project with other systems hardware/software. Job Description Key Responsibilities: Manages a staff that is responsible for driving a competitive unit cost through efficient product lifecycle, capacity management, expense management and increasing value of the product. Responsible for applying secure software and systems engineering practices throughout the delivery lifecycle to ensure our data and technology solutions are protected from threats and vulnerabilities. Develops and maintains team knowledge and understanding of business domains, industry trends and product(s). Links ideation, new product development and introduction to business outcomes. Develops the team accountable for the first line of defense for product risk and security management. Assigns and allocates roles, in partnership with the Technology Product Executive, based on capacity and demand (finance, vendor relationship, marketing, etc.). Leads all activities associated with defining, managing and sustaining operational metrics. Leads a staff that is accountable for product management across platforms (on-premise and off-premise and across premise) and product lifecycle at product level including product strategy and roadmap. Responsible for delivery availability and resiliency following established operating mechanisms and best practices. Exhibits user empathy by partnering with User Advocates to understand and incorporate user sentiment. Is responsible for the vendor management/relationships and sourcing. Performs release cadence and business feature alignment using automation to drive speed. Leads associates through guidance and support on the execution of work; responsible for the management of associates including but not limited to performance management, salary planning, training, development, workforce planning, hiring and disciplinary actions; and attracts, hires, engages and develops the team through impactful recruitment, coaching and feedback. Develops and manages project budgets and deployment including the training and development of personnel. May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Requirements

Eight years knowledge of project management concepts and techniques.
Experience leading multiple teams and assets across various technology platforms.
Three years of management experience is preferred.
Experience with concepts and solutions: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and package solutions.
Demonstrated knowledge of project management concepts and techniques.
Extensive knowledge of budgeting and financial analysis concepts and techniques.
Ability to develop, implement and present application development strategies.
Ability to lead a staff.
Strong analytical and decision-making skills, interpersonal savvy, sound verbal and written communication and negotiation skills, and well-developed leadership ability.
Ability to perform financial and risk analysis.

Nice To Haves

Undergraduate studies in computer science, management information systems or a related field is strongly preferred.
Technology certifications or designation are not required, but encouraged (i.e.: AWS, Azure, scripting and development languages, delivery methods, security).

Responsibilities

Own and manage mainframe security controls including RACF administration, access provisioning, entitlement reviews, and role design.
Accountable for multi-factor authentication (MFA) and enhanced authentication mechanisms on the mainframe platform.
Lead certification and recertification processes, ensuring timely completion, audit readiness, and regulatory compliance.
Partner with cybersecurity, risk, and audit teams to remediate findings and improve security posture.
Establish and enforce security standards, policies, and procedures for mainframe access and data protection.
Own enterprise mainframe observability and performance tooling, including OMEGAMON and related platforms.
Ensure proactive monitoring, alerting, and capacity management to meet availability, performance, and resiliency targets.
Analyze performance trends and drive tuning initiatives to optimize system health and workload efficiency.
Provide reporting and insights on availability, utilization, and performance metrics to leadership and stakeholders.
Manage mainframe code management platforms (e.g., Changeman or equivalent) and associated development controls.
Accountable for integration of mainframe development into the CI/CD pipeline, enabling modern DevOps practices while maintaining change control rigor.
Ensure compliance with change management, segregation of duties, and release governance requirements.
Partner with application development teams to improve developer experience, velocity, and quality.
Lead the strategy and execution of mainframe automation, reducing manual effort and operational risk.
Identify and prioritize automation opportunities across operations, security, monitoring, and deployment processes.
Ensure automation aligns with reliability, audit, and resiliency standards.
Measure and report automation benefits including efficiency gains, error reduction, and service stability.
Provide people leadership, coaching, and performance management for assigned staff and service providers.
Establish operational standards, runbooks, and KPIs across all accountable disciplines.
Own vendor relationships and contracts related to mainframe security, tooling, and automation platforms.
Participate in incident, problem, and root-cause management for significant platform events.
Influence enterprise strategy related to mainframe modernization and operational excellence.
Ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, internal policies, and audit standards.
Maintain documentation, evidence, and controls supporting internal and external audits.
Proactively identify and mitigate operational, security, and compliance risks.
Manages a staff that is responsible for driving a competitive unit cost through efficient product lifecycle, capacity management, expense management and increasing value of the product.
Responsible for applying secure software and systems engineering practices throughout the delivery lifecycle to ensure our data and technology solutions are protected from threats and vulnerabilities.
Develops and maintains team knowledge and understanding of business domains, industry trends and product(s).
Links ideation, new product development and introduction to business outcomes.
Develops the team accountable for the first line of defense for product risk and security management.
Assigns and allocates roles, in partnership with the Technology Product Executive, based on capacity and demand (finance, vendor relationship, marketing, etc.).
Leads all activities associated with defining, managing and sustaining operational metrics.
Leads a staff that is accountable for product management across platforms (on-premise and off-premise and across premise) and product lifecycle at product level including product strategy and roadmap.
Responsible for delivery availability and resiliency following established operating mechanisms and best practices.
Exhibits user empathy by partnering with User Advocates to understand and incorporate user sentiment.
Is responsible for the vendor management/relationships and sourcing.
Performs release cadence and business feature alignment using automation to drive speed.
Leads associates through guidance and support on the execution of work; responsible for the management of associates including but not limited to performance management, salary planning, training, development, workforce planning, hiring and disciplinary actions; and attracts, hires, engages and develops the team through impactful recruitment, coaching and feedback.
Develops and manages project budgets and deployment including the training and development of personnel.
May perform other responsibilities as assigned.