Manager, Transformation Performance and Finance

Northern Trust • Chicago, IL

2d • $137,400 - $233,600

About The Position

The Manager of Transformation Performance and Finance will establish the financial, performance-management and benefits-realization disciplines required to ensure that the Wealth Management transformation portfolio delivers its commitments. This manager will create a single, reliable view of investment, resource utilization, delivery performance, adoption, client and field outcomes, and realized value. Reporting to the Head of Transformation Enablement, the manager will oversee data and financial analysts and partner with Finance, Strategic Planning, Capital Management, Procurement, Technology, Product, Program Management and initiative leaders. The role will manage the full financial lifecycle of transformation activity, including annual planning, capital and expense budgets, forecasts, software and vendor costs, consulting arrangements, capitalization and utilization, reallocations, accruals, benefits tracking and executive reporting. This is a hands-on management role with enterprise visibility. The manager will not merely report historical results. The manager will challenge assumptions, identify performance gaps, improve the quality of decisions, and recommend actions when initiatives are over budget, underutilizing approved capital, missing milestones, failing to adopt, or not producing the intended client, field, operational or financial benefits.

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive experience in financial planning and analysis, corporate finance, capital management, portfolio management, transformation performance, management information, consulting or related disciplines.
• At least 3 years of people-management or substantial team-leadership experience, including responsibility for developing analysts and reviewing complex work products.
• Proven experience managing capital and expense budgets, forecasts, vendor or consulting spend, accruals, variances and executive financial reporting.
• Experience defining KPIs, managing benefits realization and integrating financial, operational and delivery data into decision-oriented reporting.
• Strong analytical and data-management capability, including advanced spreadsheet skills and experience with financial, portfolio, visualization or business-intelligence tools.
• Ability to challenge assumptions, reconcile inconsistent data, explain complex financial information clearly and influence senior stakeholders.
• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, data analytics or a related field required.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in wealth management, banking, asset servicing, financial services, technology or another highly regulated environment preferred.
• MBA, CPA, CFA or other relevant advanced credential preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and own the integrated performance-management framework for the transformation portfolio, covering delivery, financial performance, client outcomes, advisor and employee impact, adoption, service, risk, controls and benefits realization.
• Define standard KPI dictionaries, calculation methods, baselines, targets, data sources, owners, reporting frequency and escalation thresholds.
• Create portfolio dashboards and executive reporting that distinguish activity, outputs, adoption, outcomes and realized benefits.
• Establish a disciplined monthly performance review process and surface initiatives requiring intervention, additional evidence, reforecasting, scope change or discontinuation.
• Ensure reporting is decision-oriented, concise and traceable to authoritative financial and operational data.
• Create and maintain benefits records for each transformation initiative, including expected client, field, growth, revenue, expense, productivity, capacity, risk and service outcomes.
• Validate benefit assumptions, baselines, timing, dependencies and accountable business owners before investment approval.
• Monitor whether delivered capabilities are adopted and whether adoption is producing the expected outcomes.
• Partner with initiative and business owners to define corrective actions when benefits are delayed, overstated or not supported by evidence.
• Coordinate post-implementation reviews and maintain a clear line of sight from approved business case through realized value.
• Lead annual and multi-year financial planning for the Transformation Office, including capital, operating expense, software, vendors, consulting, data, technology and internal resource requirements.
• Coordinate transformation inputs to strategic planning, annual budgeting, quarterly forecasting and capital-planning processes.
• Maintain initiative-level and portfolio-level budgets, forecasts, commitments, actuals, accruals, variances and estimate-at-completion views.
• Develop scenario analyses and recommendations to support sequencing, funding tradeoffs, capacity decisions and portfolio reallocation.
• Ensure financial plans reconcile across Transformation, Finance, Technology, Procurement and business records.
• Monitor approved capital, release schedules, capitalization eligibility, utilization, in-service timing and forecasted carryover in partnership with Finance and Accounting.
• Identify underutilized, delayed or stranded capital early and recommend acceleration, reallocation, reforecasting or release.
• Ensure initiative teams understand approved funding boundaries and provide timely evidence supporting capitalization and financial controls.
• Prepare capital-governance materials and maintain a transparent record of funding decisions, conditions, changes and accountable owners.
• Track the relationship between capital consumed, capabilities delivered, adoption achieved and benefits realized.
• Manage the transformation portfolio view of software licenses, subscriptions, data expenses, external services, contractors and consulting arrangements.
• Coordinate statements of work, purchase orders, contract financials, rate cards, milestones, invoices, accruals, renewals and termination dates with Procurement, Legal and initiative owners.
• Assess consulting and vendor utilization against contracted deliverables, internal capability transfer, budget and measurable value.
• Identify duplicate tools, unused licenses, overlapping consulting scopes and other opportunities to reduce or redirect expense.
• Maintain forward visibility into contractual commitments, renewal decisions and exit costs.
• Establish the authoritative portfolio dataset and controls required for consistent reporting across finance, delivery, adoption and benefits.
• Partner with source-system owners to improve data definitions, completeness, timeliness, reconciliation and lineage.
• Automate recurring reporting and analysis where practical while maintaining appropriate review and control points.
• Ensure assumptions, manual adjustments and data limitations are transparent in management reporting.
• Produce targeted analyses that identify performance drivers, emerging risks and opportunities for resource or funding reallocation.
• Lead, develop and set priorities for data analysts and financial analysts supporting the transformation portfolio.
• Allocate analyst capacity across recurring reporting, planning cycles, initiative support, ad hoc analysis and executive requests.
• Establish quality standards, review controls, documentation and cross-training to improve consistency and reduce key-person dependency.
• Build team capability in financial analysis, data management, visualization, benefits realization, executive communication and business partnership.
• Create a culture of constructive challenge, accuracy, responsiveness and accountability.
• Prepare materials for transformation investment, portfolio and performance forums, including financial position, KPI performance, benefits, risks and decisions required.
• Maintain the portfolio decision log for budget changes, funding reallocations, benefit changes and material performance interventions.
• Partner with initiative owners to ensure that investment requests are complete, comparable and grounded in measurable outcomes.
• Support the Chief Transformation Officer and strategic transformation executives with fact-based insight and recommendations.

Benefits

• retirement benefits (401k and pension)
• health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability)
• paid time off
• parental and caregiver leave
• life & accident insurance
• other voluntary and well-being benefits
• discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager