Senior Director of IT - Arabella Advisors : Job Details

Senior Director, IT Project Management Office, IT (Hybrid in New York, NY [preferred]; Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Durham, NC; or Remote) The Senior Director, IT Project Management Office (PMO) leads Arabellas team of Project Managers to organize and deliver the firms largest and most complex technical projects. This person will be primarily focused on managing across the portfolio, translating products and systems roadmaps into successful projects while effectively managing governance and enterprise risk. As a leader on the IT team, the PMO Senior Director will work to build a culture of collaboration, equity, and transparency. This person will lead the IT PMO to build out capacity and expertise for project management and system portfolio analysis. While this team will focus primarily on software development projects, the IT PMO will also focus on building resources, and a community of practice surrounding project management and governance that can be adapted for use across the IT and Product Development teams and companywide. The PMO Senior Director will report to the CTO and will be a leader on the IT team. Essential Responsibilities Program Management Drive risk management across the portfolio, and coordinate problem solving for cross project issues. Maintain a portfolio view of underway and upcoming projects, and drive the project intaking process Work with business and technical leadership to translate firm needs into structured projects with enough definition that they can be prioritized, staffed, and worked by teams. Oversee governance with executive leadership with a process that prioritizes and justifies significant technology efforts. Process Leadership Govern procedures and processes related to project management, including documentation of procedures, assessment of whether current practices are meeting needs, and updating processes to better service the team and firm. This will often be in collaboration with other relevant IT vertical leads. Examples of process areas include: Contract management for tech projects Project documentation and status updates Vendor management Vendor assessment and RFPs Quality Assurance Analysis Own the governance process to ensure that significant technology initiatives are evaluated consistently and fairly with ROI and impact outlooks clearly defined. Drive improvement to and evangelize our project process. We consider the project process to cover any activities involved in preparing for and running a project to conclusion, with examples including vendor assessment and RFPs, contract/vendor management, agile roles and rituals, QA, UAT, launch planning, project documentation and status updates. Grow our repository of documented standards, templates, and examples. Assess whether current practices are meeting needs, and drive improvement where most valuable. Be a coach and teacher to people in Arabellas wider project management community of practice, or who are simply interested in learning about project management techniques. People Management. The Senior Director will be responsible for managing team performance, professional development support, and team structure, including responsibilities such as: Manage, support, and coach team members performance and professional development. Support with creation and updating of PMO job functions to build more formal career ladder structure at the firm for PMO roles. Assess staffing needs for PMO and lead recruitment efforts. IT Team Leadership. As an IT team vertical lead, the Senior Director is considered a member of IT team leadership, which includes the following responsibilities: Participate in regular IT team leadership meetings focused on communication and coordination between IT team verticals. Engage and lead select IT team process improvement initiatives. Support overall team communications (i.e., updating full IT team on relevant vertical activities, rotating facilitation of IT team roadmap meetings, etc.). Participate in annual and multi-year planning initiatives for strategic and budgeting purposes. Firm-wide Partnership & Communication. As much of the PMO work is cross-functional, the Senior Director will: In collaboration with the Business Team Lead, play a lead role in communicating project updates to firm leadership, the executive team, and the board. Participate in cross-team meetings around strategic planning and prioritization. In collaboration with other firm leaders, contribute to best practices for cross-team communication about ongoing priorities and norms for collaboration. To Be Successful in This Role, Youll Need 2+ years portfolio management experience, covering technical projects driven by other project managers. 10+ years of technical project management, across the full span of project lifecycle, with exposure to both agile and waterfall methodologies. 7+ years of people management experience, which can include team management, supervision, coaching, and related areas. Strong communication skills and experience in technical requirement writing as well as translating requirements to a non-technical audience. Strong understanding of SDLC, user centered design principles, and process improvement methods. Experience using both agile and waterfall methodologies in project management Strong understanding of SDLC, user centered design principles, and process improvement methods. Other Preferred Skills and Experience: Project management experience supporting a third-party tool or platform implementation Experience working with Salesforce, Azure, ERPs (e.g., NetSuite, Dynamics), Integration platforms (e.g., Boomi), PowerBI Experience with financial platforms and business process redesign Hands on experience with Confluence, Microsoft Project, Jira and other work activity management tools. Familiarity with one or more of the following is a plus: Salesforce Microsoft Dynamics Suite SharePoint Azure SQL Our Core Competencies The ability to provide excellent service, including being able to effectively guide teams to achieve service standards and carry out strategy, and identify service offering gaps and recommend and/or drive improvements The ability to manage resources across team to ensure projects and goals are achieved, approve work plan changes and final deliverables, and communicate projects progress with critical stakeholders The ability to establish and manage effective relationships with diverse stakeholders across the firm, including executive-level colleagues, and to foster a culture of courteous professional interactions The ability to effectively communicate critical firm-wide messages, and to lead others in managing challenging conversations and developing complex communication skills The ability to model and foster a team-wide culture of inclusion, collaboration, and knowledge sharing; to demonstrate and model appreciation for significant team contributions; and to mediate challenging interpersonal conflicts The ability to regularly engage in leadership development activities, and lead firm-wide initiatives that improve firm-wide learning The ability to foster a team culture that encourages creative problem solving, and to ensure teams have resources and training to overcome complex challenges The ability to take initiative for creating an inclusive environment and model and implement equitable policies, practices, systems, or strategies Working with Us This position can be Hybrid in New York, NY (preferred); Washington, DC; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Durham, NC; or Remote from the following states/district: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington State, or Wisconsin. Please note that all Arabella Advisors offices have reopened, and we work in a hybrid environment. We reopened our offices in Summer of 2022 and work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. We expect that after their initial onboarding, all Arabellans will have the choice of two hybrid schedules. Our hybrid schedule options include Flex, with 1-2 days per week in the office, or Office-based, with 3+ days per week in the office (or more if preferred) and the remaining days working at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act. We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers page to learn more. About Arabella Advisors Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation. About Arabellas IT Team We are a growing team supporting the firms productivity and LOB technology portfolio. Arabella IT are responsible for realizing Arabellas vision of becoming a technology-enabled organization capable of meeting and exceeding the firms aggressive growth goals and furthering our mission of taking our clients ideas to impact. Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Advancing DEI within our firm and in our work with partners is critical to our mission. To be effective partners to philanthropists, nonprofits, and communities impacted by philanthropic dollars, we need to have a highly diverse staff, a workplace where individuals are encouraged to retain their uniqueness and can feel a sense of belonging, and a nuanced understanding of the racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other disparities that undergird the issues we engage in and the interactions we have with one another. For us, equity means that our staff members, our clients, and the people they serve can experience the same level of success, no matter their starting place. We expect all our employees to share this commitment, and always seek ways to improve how well we live these values. Click here to learn more about DEI at Arabella and read our official DEI statement. Total Rewards (compensation and benefits) This is a full-time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our compensation ranges are based on national compensation benchmarks for similar organizations. The starting salary for this position is $176,174 and with an annual bonus potential of 15% for this position. We consider national benchmark indicators along with job related skills, experience and relevant education and training, to determine compensation that is fair and competitive. All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment: Health insurance- On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium Paid time off- 18 days vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours volunteer leave, 8 weeks parental leave 401(k) retirement plan- We offer a 4% employer match on a dollar-per-dollar basis, and there is no waiting or vesting period; all funds contributed by you and Arabella are yours to keep on day 1 Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking Bonus incentive opportunities Access to professional development opportunities How to Apply Submit a resume and a one-page cover letter online. The cover letter should address why youre excited to work at Arabella and why youre qualified for this specific job. Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know. We encourage you to read (or listen to) our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process. While Arabella is open to individuals from various locations applying to join our team, please note that we generally are unable to pay for relocation expenses, and, except in rare circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis, all applicants must already be legally eligible to work in the United States at the time of application to be considered for this position. We will review applications as they are received and look forward to hearing from you.