Director, IT Strategy & Alignment

This is a strategic, business-facing role. The core of the role is product ownership, business process insight, and stakeholder engagement. This role is a bridge between business strategy and execution, making sure we are working on the right things, for the right reasons, at the right time. The Director of Strategy and Business Alignment is responsible for defining the strategic direction of business applications by identifying, prioritizing, and advocating for solutions that drive business value. This role works closely with business leaders, users, and technical teams to understand business processes, pain points, and opportunities, ensuring IT investments are aligned with organizational goals.

Responsibilities

Evaluate opportunities for application enhancements or new solutions based on business outcomes, ROI, and strategic fit; Serve as a key liaison between business stakeholders and IT, ensuring technology strategies align with overall business objectives; Realize a deep understanding of business processes, goals, and pain points to inform technology decisions; Translate business needs into clear problem statements and priorities; Facilitate the gathering, documentation, and validation of high-level business requirements; Develop business cases to support strategic initiatives; Define and manage the roadmap for business applications in alignment with business priorities; Develop and manage a multi-year IT application portfolio, balancing enhancements, new solutions, and technical debt remediation; Build strong business cases for new investments, including ROI analysis, cost/benefit evaluation, and risk assessment; Prioritize initiatives based on business value, urgency, risk, resource capacity, and dependencies; Analyze usage and performance of existing applications to recommend improvements; Create and deploy enterprise frameworks to drive improved requirements gathering, prioritization, communication and alignment; Lead governance forums to evaluate proposed projects and changes; Ensure transparency into roadmap progress and communicate decisions and rationale to stakeholders; Organize work into sprints, ensuring alignment between business needs, IT capabilities, and delivery timelines; Conduct agile delivery rhythms that promote high quality deployments and process adherence; Manage deployments to ensure adherence to requirements, minimization of risk, and maximization of value; Serve as the strategic advisor to business unit leaders, helping them leverage technology to achieve key outcomes; Communicate project status, risks, and dependencies to executives and stakeholders in a clear and concise manner; Facilitate workshops, design sessions, and planning meetings to align stakeholders on priorities and solution approaches; Drive change management efforts, ensuring smooth adoption of new technologies and processes across the organization; Lead and mentor business analysts to strengthen organizational capability; Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture between business and IT teams; Act as a strategic people leader, responsible for workforce planning, goal setting, performance management, and career development for team members; Instill Agile principles, continuous improvement, and customer-centric thinking across IT; Act as a role model for leadership excellence, demonstrating empathy, transparency, and inclusivity while driving high standards of performance and collaboration across IT and business teams

Requirements

Strategic Vision: Ability to translate business objectives into actionable IT roadmaps; Business Acumen: Strong understanding of business operations, financial drivers, and ROI-based decision-making; Agile Expertise: Deep knowledge of Agile frameworks, sprint planning, and iterative delivery methodologies; Communication & Influence: Exceptional ability to engage, influence, and build trust with stakeholders at all levels; Analytical Thinking: Skilled in prioritizing competing demands, evaluating trade-offs, and making data-driven decisions; Leadership: Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop cross-functional teams; 8+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, including business relationship management or similar roles; 3+ years leading IT strategy, portfolio management, or enterprise application roadmaps; Experience partnering with executive stakeholders to define and deliver business-driven technology solutions; Demonstrated success managing multiple initiatives in cross-functional environments; Hands-on experience implementing and managing Agile delivery frameworks; At least 15 years of IT applications experience

Nice to have

Bachelor's or Master's degree in a related field is preferred; Multi-location and international experience strongly preferred