Sr. Manager, IT Governance & Strategic Planning

Sysmex•Buffalo Grove, IL

1d•$106,000 - $170,000•Onsite

About The Position

Sysmex, headquartered in Kobe, Japan, with a location in Lincolnshire, Illinois, is a global leader in diagnostic equipment and information management systems. The company applies science to enhance the quality of life worldwide, focusing on breakthroughs in laboratory diagnostics, information technology, workflow analysis, and life sciences. The Sr. Manager, IT Governance & Strategic Planning will operationalize the IT strategy by translating IT objectives into actionable roadmaps, standardized processes, and measurable outcomes across IT portfolios. This role is crucial for leading standardization, continuous improvement, change management, and KPI management within IT functions. Additionally, it involves directing the system administration of supporting design, development, and PMO systems, internal operational data analytics, and KPI reporting capabilities. The position requires partnering with various IT leaders to drive common ways of working, enable data-driven decision-making, and scale automation for improved delivery speed, quality, and efficiency, ensuring alignment with both IT and corporate strategic objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of experience in IT strategy/PMO, process excellence, analytics or platform ownership, including leadership of cross-functional initiatives.
Demonstrated success driving organizational change and standardization at scale; strong command of KPIs and outcome-based planning.
Hands-on experience with Agile/Lean practices and continuous improvement methods applied to software and IT service workflows.
Proficiency with ALM and collaboration platforms (e.g., Jira, Confluence), workflow automation (e.g., ServiceNow/Power Platform/Atlassian automation) and analytics/visualization (e.g., Power BI).
Working knowledge of SDLC, DevOps/CI-CD concepts, and ITIL-aligned service practices; ability to partner effectively with Security, QA/RA and PMO.
Executive-ready communication skills; able to synthesize complex information into crisp updates, decision memos and dashboards for senior leadership.
Proven people leadership: coaching, performance management and building a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team.
Experience in regulated software/medical device environments and familiarity with ISO 13485/14971 and audit expectations.
Certifications such as COBIT, Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), PMP/SAFe/CSM, ITIL or CBIP (analytics).
Familiarity with Sysmex-relevant toolsets and ecosystem elements (e.g., Atlassian suite, Smartsheet, Power BI, AWS, Ardoq).
Background implementing KPI taxonomies, data governance for operational metrics and automation at scale (e.g., platform workflows, evidence collection).
Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
Atlassian Suite (Jira, Confluence, Zephyr)
Tricentis qTest Suite
Dashboard & Reporting Platforms (PowerBI, Tableau, etc.)
Workplace Management Tool (Smartsheet, Asana, Monday.com)

Responsibilities

Convert IT strategic objectives into plans and functional roadmaps for standardization, analytics, automation and organizational effectiveness, ensuring outcomes, dependencies and risks are identified and tracked.
Lead change management initiatives for new or modified processes, controls and tools across IT functions and portfolios, including stakeholder analysis, communication, training, adoption measurement, and reinforcement.
Build and maintain IT process standards, playbooks, templates and RACIs for planning, development, testing, release, and operations, ensuring consistent adoption and periodic refresh.
Establish and run a Continuous Improvement program (Kaizen events, value-stream mapping, retrospectives), prioritize an improvement backlog, and deliver quantifiable gains in cycle time, quality, and cost.
Own the KPI taxonomy for IT, ensuring metric definitions, targets, and data quality support audit readiness and executive decision-making.
Lead the development of executive scorecards and functional and portfolio-based dashboards, partnering with data analysts to ensure reliable, near-real-time insights for operational excellence within IT.
Support governance/engineering toolsets (e.g., Jira, Confluence, test/ALM tools, workflow automation platforms) by defining standards, usage patterns, integrations, and upgrade roadmaps.
Identify process automation opportunities (workflow, approvals, controls evidence, reporting) and oversee their implementation and adoption to reduce manual effort and accelerate release cadence.
Coordinate IT vendor management practices across IT, establishing standardized vendor review cadences, performance criteria, risk considerations, and effectiveness assessments.
Recruit, develop, and coach a diverse team (admins, automation engineers, data analysts, change practitioners), fostering a culture of accountability, transparency, and measurable outcomes.