Executive Director, Enterprise Programs and Governance

Position Summary:

Reporting directly to the Chief Information Officer, the Executive Director of Portfolio Management and Governance serves as the senior leader responsible for the successful execution of the university's strategic technology initiatives. The position provides executive leadership for enterprise portfolio management, governance, project delivery, organizational change management, and institutional transformation across the university.

The Executive Director ensures that institutional priorities move efficiently from strategy through execution by aligning governance, project management, stakeholder engagement, change management, and executive reporting. This leader partners closely with academic and administrative leadership to guide complex, cross-functional initiatives that advance the university's strategic objectives.

The Project Management Office (PMO) and Change Management Office (CMO) report directly to this position.

Primary Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership and Enterprise Portfolio Management (30%)

Provide executive leadership for the university's enterprise technology portfolio, ensuring strategic initiatives are prioritized, governed, funded, and successfully executed.

• Develop and maintain an enterprise portfolio management framework that aligns technology investments with institutional priorities.

• Lead executive portfolio reviews, ensuring transparency into project health, risks, dependencies, resource utilization, and institutional impact.

• Drive institutional execution by ensuring strategic initiatives progress from approval through measurable outcomes.

• Establish enterprise metrics and key performance indicators for project delivery, organizational adoption, and portfolio success.

• Partner with university leadership to evaluate emerging initiatives, prioritize investments, and balance competing institutional needs.

• Serve as executive sponsor for the university's highest-impact cross-functional technology initiatives.           

• Assist the CIO in the implementation and oversight of ITS strategic plan initiatives.

• Supervise directors and program directors. Indirectly oversee project managers, business analysts, and other and other individual contributors. Select, manage, and develop staff. Cultivate professional development providing opportunities for training in technical skills, leadership, project management and creative problem solving.

• As directed by the CIO, assist with resolving issues, problems, and special requests; participate in and lead special projects.

Enterprise Project Management Office Leadership (25%)

Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the Project Management Office, ensuring consistent project management methodologies, standards, governance, and service delivery across the university.

• Lead and mentor the PMO Director and project management staff.

• Establish enterprise project management standards, methodologies, templates, and best practices.

• Ensure appropriate project staffing, resource planning, scheduling, budgeting, and delivery across the project portfolio.

• Develop an institutional repository of project methodologies, lessons learned, and continuous improvement practices.

• Oversee customer engagement, project quality assurance, and executive reporting. Ensure satisfactory liaisons with customers at all levels. Understand the implications of different technical choices and guide discussions with leadership stakeholders across campus to the best solution for the situation.

• Remove organizational barriers that impede successful project execution.

Organizational Change Management Leadership (25%)

Provide executive leadership for organizational change management strategies that maximize institutional adoption and long-term success of enterprise initiatives.

• Lead the Change Management Office and provide strategic direction to the Change Management Director and team.

• Develop enterprise-wide change management frameworks supporting technology and business transformation.

• Ensure communication, stakeholder engagement, training, readiness, and adoption strategies are integrated into every major initiative.

• Partner with senior university leadership to cultivate a culture that embraces organizational change and continuous improvement. Build collaborations with senior Brandeis business partners to underscore the importance of change management strategies and practices in driving sustainable change.

• Establish metrics to evaluate organizational readiness, adoption, and business outcomes.

Enterprise Governance and Institutional Alignment (20%)

Provide executive leadership for the university's technology governance framework to ensure technology investments align with institutional strategy, operational priorities, and available resources.

• Oversee the university's technology governance structure, including enterprise systems governance committees (Workday, Salesforce, Slate), Administrative systems governance, and Academic Technology Governance.

• Facilitate executive decision-making regarding project prioritization, funding, and institutional resource allocation.

• Ensure governance processes are transparent, effective, and aligned with university strategic planning.

• Present recommendations, portfolio updates, and strategic analyses to executive leadership and governance committees.

• Foster collaboration across academic and administrative divisions while balancing institutional priorities.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree preferred.

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification required.

• Ten or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience overseeing enterprise project portfolios and organizational transformation.

• Demonstrated success leading large-scale enterprise implementations, including ERP, CRM, digital experience, or other institution-wide initiatives.

• Extensive experience leading Project Management Offices and organizational change management programs.

• Experience developing governance structures, executive steering committees, and portfolio management processes.

• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, facilitation, and relationship-building skills.

• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and navigate complex organizational environments.

• Experience managing strategic vendor relationships and enterprise procurement processes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within higher education or another similarly complex, decentralized organization.

• Experience leading enterprise digital transformation initiatives.

• Familiarity with Workday, Salesforce, enterprise data platforms, website modernization, and cloud technologies.

• Experience overseeing organizational change across multiple business units.

• Proven ability to build high-performing teams while fostering a collaborative and service-oriented culture.

Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strategic Thinking

• Executive Presence

• Organizational Influence

• Political Acumen

• Collaborative Leadership

• Change Leadership

• Portfolio Management

• Governance Excellence

• Customer Focus

• Operational Excellence

• Talent Development

• Results Orientation

• Exceptional Written and Oral Communication

Success in this Role

Within the first two years, the Executive Director will:

• Strengthen the university's enterprise governance framework.

• Mature the Project Management Office into a best-in-class strategic PMO.

• Advance organizational IT change management as a core institutional competency.

• Improve visibility into enterprise priorities through robust portfolio reporting and executive dashboards.

• Successfully lead high-impact institutional transformation initiatives from strategy through measurable business outcomes.

• Foster a culture of accountability, transparency, collaboration, and execution across the university.

The University's pay ranges represent a good faith estimate of what Brandeis reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting. The pay offered to a selected candidate during hiring will be based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience and education/training, internal peer equity, and applicable legal requirements.

Brandeis University is an equal opportunity employer which does not discriminate against any applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, genetic information, disability, caste, military or veteran status or any other category protected by law (also known as membership in a "protected class").