VP, Head of Program Management & Strategic Initiatives

Job Description

Vice President, Head of Program Management & Strategic Initiatives

About FIS

FIS is a leading provider of technology solutions for financial institutions and businesses of all sizes and across all industries — in the world. We empower the financial world by enabling the movement of money, processing trillions of dollars annually, and powering thousands of banks, capital markets firms, and merchants globally. Our Technology organization is the engine behind that mission, building the platforms, infrastructure, and digital experiences that move the global economy forward.

Position Summary

The Vice President, Head of Program Management & Strategic Initiatives is a senior executive within the FIS Technology organization, accountable for leading the enterprise Technology Program Management Office (TPMO) and driving the most consequential, cross-functional initiatives across the technology portfolio. This leader serves as a trusted advisor to the CTO/CIO and the broader Technology Leadership Team, translating strategy into executable, measurable programs and ensuring disciplined delivery of FIS's most complex modernization, integration, and transformation efforts.

The role combines strategic vision with operational rigor. The successful leader will shape how Technology plans, prioritizes, governs, and executes work at scale — orchestrating multi-year transformation programs, platform consolidations, cloud and AI initiatives, and enterprise-level operating model changes. This leader will build and lead a high-performing organization of program directors, program managers, and PMO professionals supporting Technology globally.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Partner with the CTO/CIO and Technology Leadership Team to translate enterprise strategy into a coherent portfolio of programs, investments, and outcomes.
• Lead the design and execution of high-priority, cross-functional strategic initiatives — such as platform modernization, cloud migration, AI/ML enablement, technology rationalization & productivity transformation.

Program Management

• Establish and continuously evolve the Technology PMO operating model, methodologies, and tooling — balancing Agile, hybrid, and waterfall approaches based on program need.
• Drive rigor in scope, schedule, budget, risk, and dependency management across the portfolio; ensure programs deliver business outcomes — not just outputs.
• Define and maintain enterprise standards for program planning, status reporting, escalation, OKRs, and KPIs.
• Lead executive-level program reviews; provide clear, data-driven visibility to the CTO/CIO, CEO staff, Board, and other senior stakeholders.

Execution & Delivery

• Personally lead or sponsor the most complex, highest-risk, and highest-visibility programs across Technology.
• Identify and remove organizational, technical, and resourcing blockers; drive accountability across program leaders and partner functions.
• Establish disciplined change management practices to ensure adoption and value capture for major transformation efforts.
• Partner closely with Finance to manage Technology investment portfolios — capital plans, operating budgets, vendor spend, and ROI tracking.

Organizational Leadership

• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a globally distributed team of program directors, program managers, PMO analysts, and transformation professionals.
• Cultivate a culture of ownership, transparency, intellectual honesty, and outcome-orientation.
• Recruit and retain top program leadership talent; create career paths and development frameworks for the program management discipline at FIS.
• Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in hiring, development, and leadership practices.

Stakeholder & Executive Engagement

• Represent the Technology organization in executive forums, steering committees, and board-level reporting on strategic programs.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in program management, technology delivery, management consulting, or transformation leadership, including 5+ years leading large, multi-tier program management organizations.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise-scale transformation programs (>$50M, multi-year, multi-region) within complex, matrixed organizations.
• Deep experience in financial services, fintech, payments, or a similarly regulated technology environment.
• Proven ability to operate at the executive level — directly advising C-suite leaders, presenting to boards, and influencing across functional boundaries.
• Strong command of modern delivery