Sr. Director, Project Management

Capital One • McLean, VA

3d • $217,000 - $297,200

About The Position

Sr. Director, Project Management At Capital One, we’re building a leading information-based technology company. Guided by our shared values, we thrive in an environment where collaboration and openness are valued. We believe that innovation is powered by perspective and that teamwork and respect for each other lead to superior results. We elevate each other and obsess about doing the right thing. Our associates serve with humility and a deep respect for their responsibility in helping our customers achieve their goals and realize their dreams. There are a number of ways Capital One is changing its approach to reinvent the very fabric of how we build software. As we enable our developers to fully embrace AI in their workflows, we are unlocking multiple efforts across the company to ensure we do the work to enable the ecosystem. This key leader will help track, enable, unblock and support the company in moving forward. One area of focus is the review and processes around how we launch a new component and application. As the Sr. Director of Project Management, you will be the primary architect of this movement. You will lead a high-judgment, forward-leaning coordination and communication across a number of different work streams as we unpack what is needed to experiment with Agentic AI coding, cutting-edge models, and revolutionary ways of working. This is a role for a leader who understands that to "speed up," we must first have the courage to "slow down" and experiment. Responsibilities: You will oversee the strategic execution of these work streams, ensuring that our pioneers have the space to fail sophisticatedly and the support to scale their successes. You will act as the bridge between high-level enterprise strategy and the ground-level implementation. Strategic Leadership & Governance: Align project portfolios with strategy and growth goals, defining success criteria and portfolio governance models. Executive Communication & Stakeholder Management: Serve as the primary liaison between executive leadership and teams, presenting project updates, risks, and recommendations. Enterprise-wide Mobilization: Drive the program roadmap using insights from survey data and industry trends to ensure teams remain focused on the highest-leverage AI opportunities. Operational Excellence: Maintain our "Always be Well-Managed" standard, ensuring that even the most evolutionary process changes meet Capital One’s high bar for governance and security. Risk Mitigation & Escalation: Act as the final escalation point for critical issues and identify complex portfolio-level risks. Cross-Functional Orchestration: Partner deeply with leaders across the company, to communicate, update, plan for and adjust to shifting priorities. Learning Synthesis & Evangelism: Distill complex learnings from the initial 15-team wave into actionable playbooks that can be scaled across the entire enterprise. Change Management: Lead the cultural shift toward process and team changes that shift how we operate based on the evolution of the approach. Strong project management and cross-functional coordination The "Trailblazer" Mindset: You must be comfortable with ambiguity and have a proven track record of managing "sophisticated failures" that lead to long-term success. Influence & Narrative: The ability to tell a compelling story to executives and engineers alike, turning raw data into a vision that motivates 140+ pioneers. Focus on Leverage: A ruthless ability to guard teams against low-leverage work and distractions. AI Literacy: A deep curiosity for (and ideally experience with) AI/ML tools, Agentic AI, and how LLMs are transforming the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Ability to evaluate technology-assisted outputs using strong judgment and accountability

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree
• At least 9 years of project or program management experience
• At least 7 years of People Management experience
• Strong project management and cross-functional coordination
• The "Trailblazer" Mindset: You must be comfortable with ambiguity and have a proven track record of managing "sophisticated failures" that lead to long-term success.
• Influence & Narrative: The ability to tell a compelling story to executives and engineers alike, turning raw data into a vision that motivates 140+ pioneers.
• Focus on Leverage: A ruthless ability to guard teams against low-leverage work and distractions.
• AI Literacy: A deep curiosity for (and ideally experience with) AI/ML tools, Agentic AI, and how LLMs are transforming the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle).
• Ability to evaluate technology-assisted outputs using strong judgment and accountability

Nice To Haves

• Master’s Degree or MBA
• 10+ years of project or program management experience
• 10+ years of people leadership experience
• Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean, Agile or Six Sigma certification
• 5+ years of project management experience leading cross functional programs in risk
• 3+ years of experience working in the financial services industry
• Experience in project management and cross-functional coordination

Responsibilities

• Oversee the strategic execution of work streams.
• Act as the bridge between high-level enterprise strategy and ground-level implementation.
• Align project portfolios with strategy and growth goals, defining success criteria and portfolio governance models.
• Serve as the primary liaison between executive leadership and teams, presenting project updates, risks, and recommendations.
• Drive the program roadmap using insights from survey data and industry trends to ensure teams remain focused on the highest-leverage AI opportunities.
• Maintain the "Always be Well-Managed" standard, ensuring that even the most evolutionary process changes meet Capital One’s high bar for governance and security.
• Act as the final escalation point for critical issues and identify complex portfolio-level risks.
• Partner deeply with leaders across the company, to communicate, update, plan for and adjust to shifting priorities.
• Distill complex learnings from the initial 15-team wave into actionable playbooks that can be scaled across the entire enterprise.
• Lead the cultural shift toward process and team changes that shift how we operate based on the evolution of the approach.

Benefits

• Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being.
• Learn more at the Capital One Careers website.
• Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees