Director, TBM Strategy & Planning

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:

Director, TBM Strategy and Planning is a strategic business partner role who supports IT strategy formulation, vendor governance and continuous cost optimization for one of The Standard’s most critical organizations, the IT Division. As a trusted partner to AVP’s and Sr Directors in the IT division, the Director leads data-driven analysis and contributes recommendations for long-term operating expense and delivery model optimization. This includes comprehensive analysis for major decisions on IT operations, development strategic insights and assessing the benefits and economic viability of transformation projects that will have a significant impact on our future.

Project work is broad in scope and requires strong stakeholder management, analytical abilities, structured thinking and strong written and oral communication skills.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

People Management (40%)

• Managing a professional staff to meet the IT organizations need for strategy enablement, vendor governance and Technology Business Management (TBM) services. This may include managing the performance of IT Finance resources through coaching, continuous feedback, development and succession planning.

Strategy and Decision Support (40%)

• Establishing strong relationships with IT and Business leaders to promote open dialogue regarding technology strategy and ensure management has the analytics and operational insights necessary to understand the cost structure of the existing operating model, changes in that model and opportunities to optimize through informed decision making.
• Leading project definition, idea generation and business case development for Cost Optimization roadmaps. Performing quantitative and qualitative analysis on strategic issues while also delivering actionable insights and recommendations. Structuring analysis of technology, market and industry trends that will impact our business and propel the IT organization forward. Planning and executing work streams for discrete management-defined projects or subsets of enterprise projects.
• Overseeing development and delivery of presentations and other strategic communications to ensure timely and accurate identification and understanding of critical issues facing IT. Representative analysis projects include strategic vendor analysis and selection, peer benchmarking, cloud migration strategy, or infrastructure automation.

Service Costing & Analytics (20%)

• Leading service costing strategy and implementation of Technology Business Management capabilities designed to position IT executives with the knowledge to manage and communicate the cost, quality, and value of IT services.
• Partnering with the TBM Analytics team to develop insight that links management reporting to business and technology strategies. Leverage TBM software capabilities to educate and increase awareness and understanding of IT performance from a value perspective.
• Developing and maintaining service costing processes to support annual planning and demand management for technology services. Improving the consumption forecasting process by partnering with IT and Business leaders to improve the quality of operational data required to align TCO Analysis with the Cost Transparency objectives of The Standard.
• Effectively communicating consumption of IT services to all levels of management, which includes preparing presentation materials, and presenting to ensure timely identification and understanding of volumes and key drivers of IT allocations to customers.

Job Specifications:

Education:  Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, Management Information Systems, Business Analytics or Operations Research. An MBA or advanced degree in business related field is preferred.

Experience:  8 - 10 years progressive Finance, Strategy or Management Consulting experience or the equivalent combination of education and/or relevant experience. Experience leading high performance teams with accountability for executing strategic initiatives. Experience leading high visibility projects at a top-tier consulting firm, or strategy group of a technology-driven company is preferred. Prior experience in Technology Business Management (TBM) or CIO advisory work. Experience in a rapidly changing environment and comfortable proposing, justifying, initiating and implementing change.

Knowledge & Skills:  Requires highly developed problem solving and analytical abilities to frame problems, analyze solutions, and build detailed financial models to size strategic alternatives and deliver appropriate recommendations. Ability to work efficiently and effectively with multiple levels of management and staff across a collaborative organization. Knowledge of Strategic IT Planning and Financial Management practices such as budgeting, cost allocations, capital and operating expense handling, and product roadmaps or capability-driven funding models. Understanding of IT domains and services from prior experience. Familiarity with Apptio is preferred. Advanced proficiency in SQL, Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI and Alteryx Strong project management and organizational skills – self-directed and capable of managing collaboratively to achieve results through others; express ideas clearly and persuasively in oral, written, and presentation forms. Strong ability to influence.

Professional certification preferred: CMA, CSCA, FP&A, Balanced Scorecard certification (Kaplan-Norton or Balanced Scorecard Institute), CTBME, ITIL or IT4IT

Physical Demands:

N/A

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:

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.