Program Director, Project Management

Overview:

The selected Project Director shall support Talcott’s Portfolio Management Organization (PMO.) Ideal candidates will work on a hybrid work schedule at our Hartford, Connecticut office. Remote work arrangements for Project Director talent will also be considered. This position supports key business initiatives within our finance and actuary organizations. Our PMO Project Director will handle the successful planning and execution of strategic initiatives. The Project Director will specifically support the design, adoption, and roll-out of process improvements. Detailed responsibilities include:

Project Management:

• Lead and manage full-cycle projects across Finance and Actuarial business units, with a focus on Oracle Cloud solutions (ERP, EPM, Oracle Cloud)
• Plan, organize, and control activities across projects of varying complexity, ensuring delivery within defined scope, timeline, and budget.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive project plans, track key milestones, dependencies and phase reviews across the lifecycle.
• Collaborate with project sponsors and senior stakeholders to align goals with strategic objectives and define success metrics and business cases.
• Serve as a liaison between Finance, Actuarial, and IT to gather requirements, prioritize initiatives, and implement high-impact solutions.
• Apply best-practice methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid) to plan, execute, and monitor projects efficiently.
• Identify and manage project risks, issues, and changes proactively, developing contingency plans as needed.
• Lead Steering Committee meetings and drive effective senior leadership decision making.
• Oversee project budgets, resource allocation, stakeholder communication, and executive reporting.
• Support change management, user adoption, and operational readiness.
• Influence cross-functional teams and vendors to ensure accountability and drive project outcomes.
• Engage with external partners, including consultants and Oracle representatives, to resolve issues and accelerate delivery.

Leadership:

• Aid in building an operating structure, implementing a lean workflow, and improving project / portfolio management discipline.
• Create materials for portfolio health reviews, metrics/scorecards, steering committee, and roadmap planning.
• Facilitate portfolio meetings to remove blockers and advance project work and portfolio management discipline.
• Influence stakeholders from various functions and build strong partnerships to facilitate adoption of portfolio practices.
• Analyze data and develop recommendations.
• Partner with Portfolio Management team to develop continuous feedback mechanisms and improvements to operating structure, tools, and processes.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 7 years of project management experience
• Experience in Financial Services and/or Life & Annuity industries preferred or a degree/background in finance
• Hands-on experience with business transformation and/or business improvement initiatives a plus!
• Experience with various project management approaches (e.g., agile and waterfall)
• Demonstrated experience facilitating workshops and meetings
• Experience partnering with senior c-level executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience delivering successful project rollouts reflecting progressive complexity
• PMP, PMI-ACP, or equivalent certification desired
• Experience in the insurance or financial services industry
• Experience with change management and training programs for Oracle Cloud rollouts.