Sr Director, Technology Strategy & Operational Excellence

Job Title: Senior Director, IT Strategy & Operational Excellence

 

Position Summary: 

The Senior Director, IT Strategy & Operational Excellence is responsible for driving the IT strategy and leading the transformation of the IT Operating Model. This role establishes consistent ways of working across Agile delivery, planning, quality engineering, release governance and service management, ensuring alignment across multiple delivery and operational teams. This role establishes the frameworks, processes and controls that enable consistent and high-quality technology delivery across the enterprise.

 
Essential Duties and Responsibilities

IT Strategy & Planning

• Lead development and evolution of the IT strategy in partnership with technology leadership team

• Partner with business and technology leaders to translate strategy into structured IT roadmaps
• Design and govern enterprise intake, prioritization, and planning processes across all IT teams
• Establish portfolio governance framework to ensure alignment of demand, capacity and funding decisions
• Enable technology leadership visibility into execution progress, dependencies, and risks

Agile Transformation

• Lead enterprise transformation initiatives focused on standardizing and modernizing IT ways of working, including the shift to Agile/SAFe frameworks

• Establish standards for execution, collaboration, and delivery alignment across IT teams

• Drive clarity in roles, responsibilities across IT teams
• Establish KPIs and performance metrics to measure success and drive accountability

Enterprise Release Governance

• Define and govern the release management framework across all IT delivery team, which includes release planning, readiness standards, communication and reporting mechanisms
• Ensure safe, predictable and consistent production release outcomes

Quality Engineering & Testing (CoE Ownership)

• Lead centralized Quality Engineering function and establish enterprise testing standards
• Ensure quality practices are embedded across the full software delivery cycle
• Partner with engineering and product teams to improve release quality and stability

IT Service Management (ITSM) Governance

• Define ITSM standards, processes, and controls across incident, problem, and change management
• Oversee service management governance and performance measurement
• (If applicable) Lead L1/L2 service functions to ensure consistent service delivery and operational discipline

 

Education and Experience

• BS in Computer Science or related discipline or equivalent experience is required
• 12+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, with a focus on strategy, governance, and delivery
• Proven experience implementing IT operating model
• Strong understanding of Agile/SAFe, ITSM frameworks (e.g., ITIL), and portfolio management
• Experience leading cross-functional teams spanning planning, delivery, and operations
• Ability to influence and partner effectively with senior executives, including leadership and business stakeholders
• Must have the ability to multi task and project manage in a fast-paced demanding environment
• Strong client interfacing background required
• Experience in Healthcare Payer environment is a strong plus
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or SAFe 6.0 POPM certification is a strong plus
• Familiarity with AI-driven productivity tools is a strong plus

 

Other Duties and Responsibilites

• Ability to present ideas in business-friendly and user-friendly language.
• Exceptionally self-motivated directed and desire for personal growth.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Exceptional service orientation.
• Ability to motivate in a team-oriented collaborative environment.
• Responsible for compliance with all federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations affecting Company.
• Responsible for participating in quality assurance, compliance and in-service and continuing education activities as requested by Company.
• Responsible for performing other duties and responsibilities as required.

 

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Good knowledge of IT strategy, operating model design and enterprise planning, with fluency in Agile, ITSM and portfolio management frameworks
• Strong strategic and analytics skills, translating business priorities into actional roadmaps, KPIs and measurable outcomes
• Strong stakeholder management and executi