Senior Director, Chief of Staff

Northwestern Mutual•Milwaukee, WI

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

About the Job: Serve as a strategic partner to the VP of Talent, driving operational excellence while fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. This role requires a forward-thinking leader who can navigate the complexities of team dynamics, strategic alignment, and operational effectiveness to propel the organization towards its long-term objectives. What You'll Do: Operational Excellence & Execution Drive accountability: Track and follow up on Talent team commitments, priorities, and deadlines across the function. Operational Cadence: Coordinate stand-ups, leadership team meetings, quarterly business reviews, and steering committees to ensure effective operations. Issue resolution: Surface bottlenecks and risks early, propose solutions, and coordinate cross-functional fixes. Cascade information, up, down and around the organization to ensure speed and a cohesive operating rhythm. Decision support: Ensure VP of Talent has the right briefings, data, analysis, and pre-reads to make timely, informed decisions. Strategic and Operational Planning: Collaborate with HR Function Leadership and the Office of the CPO to align operational plans with the company's strategic vision. Ensure the VP of Talent is consistently informed about KPIs, progress, risks, and potential roadblocks. Budgeting and Financial Planning: Coordinating planning and budgeting processes, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and operational goals. Strategic Alignment & Prioritization Translate strategy to execution: Deconstruct VP of Talent’s strategic goals into clear initiatives with milestones. Portfolio Management: Partner with cross-functional leaders to ensure team initiatives are sequenced, resourced, and delivering value. Facilitate functional Monthly Business Reviews (MBRs) to assess progress, align on priorities, and adjust strategies as needed to enhance overall portfolio performance. Clarity of Focus: Assist the VP of Talent in prioritizing high-impact initiatives by effectively evaluating and deprioritizing low-value tasks, ensuring sustained attention on the most critical priorities. Foresight & trends: Monitor Talent trends and market changes; brief VP of Talent on implications for strategy. Leadership Team Effectiveness Team alignment: Facilitate VP of Talent leadership team effectiveness (e.g., offsites, operating norms, talent discussions). Information flow: Ensure the right information gets to and from the VP of Talent, reducing churn, while increasing speed and a cohesive operating rhythm. Talent lens: Partner with BHR team to assess talent readiness, succession, and leadership dynamics Culture Carrier: Reinforce the VP of Talent’s leadership style and priorities across the organization. Lead change management efforts within the function to ensure smooth transitions and adoption of new processes, fostering a resilient and adaptive organizational culture amidst ongoing changes. Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Management Enterprise connector: Coordinate with Finance, HR, Risk, Legal, and other functions to align with enterprise priorities. Partner with other ELG Chiefs of Staff to coordinate and align strategic initiatives and key priorities and decisions Board Prep: When needed, draft materials, talking points, and executive updates that showcase progress and challenges. External visibility: Support VP of Talent in thought leadership, vendor/partner relationships, and industry engagements. Strategic Executive Support & Optimization Time optimization: In partnership with Executive Assistant team, manage VP of Talent’s calendar, ensuring the right balance of strategic vs. operational work. Voice amplification: Partner with BHR and communications (all-hands, exec updates, keynotes) to keep messaging consistent. Trusted sounding board: Provide honest feedback, challenge assumptions, and offer alternative viewpoints.

Requirements

Minimum of 12 years' business leadership experience, with proven leadership skills across diverse, cross-functional teams.
Superior interpersonal skills to lead groups and build strong relationships at all levels.
Extensive experience in strategic planning, portfolio and project management, and leading multiple complex projects with organization-wide impact.
Strong business acumen and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to translate goals into actionable business plans.
High integrity and discretion with confidential information.
Strong organizational skills, capable of handling competing demands and working under tight deadlines.
Proficiency in problem-solving, critical thinking, facilitation, and team-building skills.
Demonstrated learning agility and the ability to identify future trends and practices.
Demonstrated organizational agility to work across organizational boundaries, influence, and collaborate with all levels on solutions that benefit the organization.
Interpersonal savvy and comfort interacting with and presenting to all levels of the organization, including senior leaders.
High degree of self-motivation with leadership and initiative in sharing information, contributing towards group goals, and accepting responsibility for results.
Proactive and an ability to anticipate needs for a range of broad / complex business problems and staying ahead of them; comfortable working in an ambiguous environment.

Responsibilities

Drive accountability: Track and follow up on Talent team commitments, priorities, and deadlines across the function.
Coordinate stand-ups, leadership team meetings, quarterly business reviews, and steering committees to ensure effective operations.
Surface bottlenecks and risks early, propose solutions, and coordinate cross-functional fixes.
Cascade information, up, down and around the organization to ensure speed and a cohesive operating rhythm.
Ensure VP of Talent has the right briefings, data, analysis, and pre-reads to make timely, informed decisions.
Collaborate with HR Function Leadership and the Office of the CPO to align operational plans with the company's strategic vision.
Ensure the VP of Talent is consistently informed about KPIs, progress, risks, and potential roadblocks.
Coordinating planning and budgeting processes, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and operational goals.
Deconstruct VP of Talent’s strategic goals into clear initiatives with milestones.
Partner with cross-functional leaders to ensure team initiatives are sequenced, resourced, and delivering value.
Facilitate functional Monthly Business Reviews (MBRs) to assess progress, align on priorities, and adjust strategies as needed to enhance overall portfolio performance.
Assist the VP of Talent in prioritizing high-impact initiatives by effectively evaluating and deprioritizing low-value tasks, ensuring sustained attention on the most critical priorities.
Monitor Talent trends and market changes; brief VP of Talent on implications for strategy.
Facilitate VP of Talent leadership team effectiveness (e.g., offsites, operating norms, talent discussions).
Ensure the right information gets to and from the VP of Talent, reducing churn, while increasing speed and a cohesive operating rhythm.
Partner with BHR team to assess talent readiness, succession, and leadership dynamics
Reinforce the VP of Talent’s leadership style and priorities across the organization.
Lead change management efforts within the function to ensure smooth transitions and adoption of new processes, fostering a resilient and adaptive organizational culture amidst ongoing changes.
Coordinate with Finance, HR, Risk, Legal, and other functions to align with enterprise priorities.
Partner with other ELG Chiefs of Staff to coordinate and align strategic initiatives and key priorities and decisions
When needed, draft materials, talking points, and executive updates that showcase progress and challenges.
Support VP of Talent in thought leadership, vendor/partner relationships, and industry engagements.
In partnership with Executive Assistant team, manage VP of Talent’s calendar, ensuring the right balance of strategic vs. operational work.
Partner with BHR and communications (all-hands, exec updates, keynotes) to keep messaging consistent.
Provide honest feedback, challenge assumptions, and offer alternative viewpoints.