Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
The Director Strategic Programs supports the Senior Director Programs Management in developing and managing a Finance and IT portfolio that provides visibility on all relevant programs that are running in the Finance and IT area. The position holder will develop and foster common program/project management methodologies across Finance and IT, and potentially act as an ambassador to expand them across other areas. When methodologies exist, the function will act as an amplifier to secure and sustain proper implementation.
Key Responsibilities:
* Develop and maintain the Finance and IT program portfolio with focus on providing accurate information on a regular basis to monitor the performance of the programs.
* Ensure alignment and execution for the overall strategic priorities within Finance & IT.
* Develop and implement state-of-the art program/project management methodologies within Finance and IT.
* Cooperate with relevant PMO offices to secure proper (qualitative and on-time) input of information to the portfolio management process and tools.
* Lead by example cross-functional collaboration and project execution within Finance and IT.
* Support and influence the Finance & IT Senior Management Team in strategic planning as well as translating those in operational plans.
* Drive consistent standards of program/project management activities, and provide best practices for Finance and IT.
* Proactively influence programs/projects and respective alignment within Finance & IT by acting as a business partner, consultant and/or solution provider as the situation requires and drive as well as ensure the implementation of common solutions.
* Provide solutions and recommendation as well as facilitate decisions for Finance & IT Senior Leadership Team.
* Drive continuous improvement of entire processes/systems and ensure that they are followed.
* Drive execution and implementation of business strategies through own expertise.
* Use appropriate and effective communication methods to Senior Management and project stakeholder throughout the project life cycle, in order to successfully deliver and embed the project within the organization.
* As conflicts and escalations arise within projects, identify solutions and propose these to project sponsor and support their resolution in a timely and appropriate manner.
* Think globally and cross-functionally in order to identify project dependencies and their impact, raise the dependency issues with the project sponsor and co-create solutions.
* Provide broad and deep expertise for assigned functional areas and processes towards team and business partners.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
* Comprehensive business understanding of Finance & IT but also companywide processes and structures
* Ability to operate cross-functionally and understanding of external business drivers
* Thorough understanding of the complexity, interactions and dynamics within an international company
* Excellent analytical skills in order to analyse complex issues and to improve processes and techniques
* Very strong experience to manage complex projects on a global level
* Organized and structured approach to problem and tasks
* Result orientation and pro-activity
* High degree of stakeholder orientation and appropriate prioritization
* Excellent communication skills for influencing others
* Strong facilitation skills especially when interacting with different levels of business
* Business fluency in English (written and spoken)
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
* College or university degree with emphasis on Business, Finance, Economics or Accounting (e.g. MBA)
* Minimum of 12 years of relevant working experience within Finance or IT program/project management
* Broad and deep knowledge in Finance
* Experience within a project driven work environment
* Strong experience and ideally qualifications (PMI certified) in Project Management