The next part of your journey is right around the corner — with The Standard.
A genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of others is the foundation for everything we do. With a customer-first mindset and an intentional focus on building strong teams, we’ve been able to uphold our legacy of financial stability while investing in new, innovative technologies that support the needs of our customers. Our high-performance culture focused on operational excellence thrives thanks to remarkable people united by compassion and a customer-first commitment. Are you ready to make a difference?
Job Summary
The Corporate Development Director of Projects and Programs is responsible for leading a high-performing team that is responsible for tactical execution of M&A deals or any large initiative that strategically positions the enterprise for long-term achievement of business goals. You are responsible for ensuring the appropriate environment is developed to successfully deliver program outcomes, including the processes and practices for planning and managing work and the training and coaching of project managers and teams in alignment with the direction(s) set by the organization. You will maintain a program level view of risks, issues, and change impacts across all assigned projects to ensure that risks are properly analyzed and mitigated, issues are properly resolved, resource contention is alleviated, and program scope, schedule and costs are controlled. This includes escalation to senior management of critical roadblocks with external partners and coordinating cross functional teams to achieve business objectives.
Key Responsibilities:
Program planning and execution: Oversee multiple strategic programs/projects simultaneously; while ensuring on-time delivery, proper issue tracking and escalation, status reporting, change management, stakeholder engagement as well as budget and resource capacity tracking.
Deliver a trusted strategic advisor culture: Collaborate with enterprise leaders and peers to determine program/project prioritization and timing, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and maximizing enterprise value.
Leadership: Lead and mentor professional individual contributors through training, development, and coaching, fostering growth and performance.
Information synthesis: Gather information from across the organization and turn complex topics into actionable work for delivery teams.
Stakeholder management: Expertly translate detailed plans and daily work into communication material suitable for executive audiences.
Risk and issue management: Gain detailed understanding of the program and delivery teams’ work so that you can anticipate and manage risks and issues.
Discretion: Ability to function within confidential agreements with a high focus on compliance.
Skills and Background You’ll Need:
- Education: Bachelors degree or equivalent experience required.
- Experience: 3+ years of experience of leading project and program management, including leading teams and demonstrating successful management of large, complex scopes of work.
- Prior experience in M&A execution from start to finish on multiple deals.
- Ability to adapt, be flexible, and learn quickly in a dynamic environment.
- Expert in establishing strong relationships with leadership and fostering collaboration throughout the organization, leveraging influence over authority. Excellent team player, able to work with virtual cross-functional teams.
- Strong people leadership capabilities, including developing and coaching direct reports, setting direction and strategy, and building new groups into high performing teams.
- Excel at system thinking, connecting information across complex environments to ensure dependencies are properly identified, downstream impacts are predicted, and initiatives align with program objectives.
Key Behaviors of a Successful Candidate
- Driving Success - Models strong creativity, resolve and a growth mindset when responding to setbacks, obstacles or adversity
- Adaptability- Takes responsibility for achieving business unit/function performance objectives under changing circumstances
- Strategic Visioning- tracks team’s success against plans using established criteria; identifies opportunities for improvement
- Developing People- Serves as a trusted coach or mentor by sharing knowledge and offering personalized suggestions regarding growth and development
- Winning Together – Makes decisions in partnership with impacted business units/function leaders with the goals of the organization in mind; acts in the best interest of the organization.
#LI-Remote
We have built an enduring legacy of stability, financial strength and exceptional customer service through the contributions of the service-oriented people who choose to work at The Standard. To ensure we can attract and retain the best talent, when you join The Standard you can expect:
A rich benefits package including medical, dental, vision and a 401(k) plan with matching company contributions
An annual incentive bonus plan
Generous paid time off including 11 holidays, 2 wellness days, and 8 volunteer hours annually — PTO increases with tenure
A supportive, responsive management approach and opportunities for career growth and advancement
Paid parental leave and adoption/surrogacy assistance
An employee giving program that double matches your donations to eligible nonprofits and schools
In addition to the competitive salary range below, our employee-focused benefits support work-life balance. Learn more about working at The Standard.
Eligibility to participate in an incentive program is subject to the rules governing the program and plan. Any award depends on a variety of factors including individual and organizational performance.
The actual compensation for this role will be based on a combination of education and experience, knowledge and skills, position budget, internal equity, and market data.
Salary Range:
$122,250.00 - $195,500.00Positions will be posted for at least 5 days from original posting date.
Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, Inc., StanCorp Mortgage Investors, LLC, StanCorp Investment Advisers, Inc., and American Heritage Life Insurance Company and American Heritage Service Company, marketed as The Standard, are Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or veteran status or any other condition protected by federal, state or local law. Except where precluded by state or federal law, The Standard will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. The Standard offers a drug- and alcohol-free work environment where possession, manufacture, transfer, offer, use of or being impaired by an illegal substance while on The Standard's property, or in other cases which the company believes might affect operations, safety or reputation of the company is prohibited. The Standard requires a criminal background investigation and employment, education and licensing verification as a condition of employment. After any conditional offer of employment is made, the background check will include an individualized assessment based on the applicant’s specific record and the duties and requirements of the specific job. Applicants will be provided an opportunity to explain and correct background information. All employees of The Standard must be bondable.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
- 3+ years leading project and program management, including leading teams and managing large, complex scopes
- Prior experience in end-to-end M&A execution on multiple deals
- Ability to adapt, be flexible, and learn quickly in a dynamic environment
- Strong relationship-building and stakeholder management skills with ability to influence
- People leadership experience: developing/coaching direct reports and building high-performing teams
- Systems thinking: identify dependencies, predict downstream impacts, and align initiatives to program objectives
- Ability to handle confidential agreements and maintain compliance; discretion
- Must be bondable and pass criminal background investigation, employment, education and licensing verification
The Standard Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The Standard and has not been reviewed or approved by The Standard.
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Retirement Support — The 401(k) match and profit sharing are highlighted as strong components of total rewards. The retirement plan is often regarded as a standout element.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, 11 holidays, wellness days, and paid volunteer time provide meaningful time off. These programs are portrayed as supportive of work-life balance.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave, adoption/surrogacy assistance, dependent-care support, and backup childcare are available. These family-oriented benefits add meaningful value to the package.
The Standard Insights
What We Do
StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries marketed as The Standard -- Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, StanCorp Mortgage Investors, StanCorp Investment Advisers, StanCorp Real Estate and StanCorp Equities -- is a leading provider of financial products and services. StanCorp's subsidiaries serve approximately 7.5 million customers nationwide as of June 30, 2011, with group and individual disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, group dental and group vision insurance, absence management services, retirement plans products and services, individual annuities and investment advice. The Standard is a marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, INC. and its subsidiaries. Insurance products are offered by Standard Insurance Company of Portland, Ore. in all states except New York, where insurance products are offered by The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York of White Plains, N.Y. Product features and availability by state and company, and are solely the responsibility of each subsidiary.
