Senior Manager, Governance and FP&A

AmTrust Financial Services•Jersey City, NJ

About The Position

This role will establish and operate a centralized governance capability to evaluate, prioritize, track, and report on capital projects and the use of IT capacity across the enterprise. Sitting within FP&A, the role will serve as the single point of coordination for business case intake, evaluation, portfolio tracking, and executive‑level governance. The successful candidate will own the end‑to‑end operating rhythm: from business case development and challenge, through quarterly leadership readouts, to ongoing performance tracking and integration into the annual planning and budgeting cycle. This role does not require a traditional finance background; however, the individual must be fluent in core financial concepts and comfortable facilitating decision‑making with senior business, functional, and technology leaders.

Requirements

8–12+ years of experience in one or more of the following areas: Program or portfolio management, Strategy, transformation, or enterprise PMO, Corporate planning, investment governance, or business operations
Demonstrated experience working across multiple functions (e.g., business, finance, IT, operations) in a complex organization.
Proven ability to operate with senior‑level stakeholders and influence without direct authority.
Strong working knowledge of core financial concepts, including: Cash vs. P&L impacts, Capital vs. operating expenditure, NPV, ROI, payback, and value drivers
Experience reviewing, challenging, or building business cases
Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, and stakeholders concurrently.
Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to synthesize large volumes of information into clear executive‑level materials.
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building structures from the ground up.
Naturally inquisitive with a bias toward constructive challenge and continuous improvement.
Strong judgment and discretion when handling sensitive commercial and strategic information.

Nice To Haves

hands‑on financial modeling is a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

Stand up and run a centralized governance framework for capital projects and IT capacity usage.
Define and document intake processes, evaluation criteria, approval workflows, and reporting standards.
Ensure alignment across FP&A, IT, and business stakeholders on governance expectations and decision rights.
Act as the central owner of all capital and IT‑related business case submissions.
Partner with stakeholders across business units and functions to develop, refine, and pressure‑test business cases, including scope, benefits, costs, risks, and timing.
Challenge assumptions, identify gaps, and ensure consistency, comparability, and clarity across all submissions.
Ensure business cases clearly articulate value drivers (financial and non‑financial), trade‑offs, and interdependencies.
Proactively engage senior leaders across the business, functions, and IT to understand strategic priorities and upcoming investment needs.
Serve as a neutral facilitator, balancing competing priorities while maintaining objectivity and governance discipline.
Translate complex inputs into clear, decision‑ready narratives tailored to executive audiences.
Prepare quarterly portfolio readouts for leadership committees, including: New project submissions and recommendations, Status of approved and in‑flight projects, Capacity utilization and constraints, Key financial and delivery metrics, risks, and issues.
Support leadership decision‑making by synthesizing data into concise insights, scenarios, and recommendations.
Own the ongoing tracking of approved projects, including spend, benefits realization, timelines, and delivery status.
Work with project teams and stakeholders to collect actuals and performance metrics across the portfolio.
Identify variances versus business case assumptions and escalate risks or deviations where appropriate.
Continuously improve tracking processes to balance rigor with practicality as the portfolio scales.
Embed capital and IT investment governance into the broader annual planning and budgeting cycle.
Ensure approved projects, future pipeline, and capacity constraints are accurately reflected in financial plans.
Partner with FP&A colleagues to align governance outputs with forecasts, outlooks, and long‑range plans.