Director, Technology Project Management (Annuity Modernization Program)

If you’re passionate about being part of a dynamic organization that enables a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales to drive innovation and adopt new technologies that deliver business results, then Nationwide’s Technology team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

Director, Technology Project Management (Annuity Modernization Program)

• Location: This role will work a hybrid schedule coming into the Columbus, Ohio, Des Moines, Iowa, or Scottsdale, Arizona office 2 days per week. Remote internal associates may also be considered.
• Department: Nationwide Financial – Annuity Technologies

Position Summary

The Director, Technology Project Management role for the Annuity Modernization Program is responsible for leading the execution and delivery of one of Nationwide Financials’ most strategic technology transformation initiatives. This leader will oversee a complex portfolio of work focused on modernizing annuity platforms, business capabilities, and supporting technology ecosystems to enable future growth, operational efficiency, and enhanced customer and associate experiences.

The role requires strong leadership across technology, business, and vendor organizations to drive delivery excellence, manage transformational change, and ensure successful realization of program objectives. The Delivery Leader will serve as a key partner to senior executives, business stakeholders, and technology leaders while maintaining accountability for program outcomes, financial performance, risk management, and organizational alignment.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership & Transformation Execution

Lead end-to-end delivery of the Annuity Modernization Program, ensuring alignment to enterprise strategy and business objectives.

Drive execution of complex, multi-year transformational initiatives spanning policy administration, digital capabilities, data, integration, and operational platforms.

Establish and maintain integrated delivery plans, key milestones, dependencies, and critical path management across multiple workstreams.

Ensure successful delivery of business capabilities while balancing scope, schedule, quality, risk, and financial commitments.

Portfolio Governance & Delivery Oversight

Provide leadership and governance across a portfolio of modernization initiatives and associated technology investments.

Drive effective program management disciplines, including risk management, issue resolution, dependency management, and executive reporting.

Lead governance forums and decision-making processes to accelerate delivery and improve organizational alignment.

Monitor and communicate program health, delivery performance, and value realization to executive stakeholders.

Strategic Business Partnership

Partner closely with business executives and product leaders to translate strategic priorities into executable delivery roadmaps.

Facilitate alignment across technology, operations, product, and business teams to ensure successful program outcomes.

Influence prioritization decisions and investment strategies to maximize business value and customer impact.

Ensure modernization efforts support long-term operational scalability, flexibility, and innovation objectives.

Financial & Vendor Management

Manage large-scale program budgets, resource plans, and investment portfolios.

Drive financial accountability and transparency across modernization initiatives.

Lead strategic vendor relationships and oversee delivery performance across partner organizations.

Identify opportunities to optimize costs, improve delivery efficiency, and maximize return on investment.

Leadership & Talent Development

Build, develop, and lead high-performing delivery organizations focused on accountability, collaboration, and execution excellence.

Coach and mentor leaders across the program to strengthen delivery capabilities and organizational effectiveness.

Foster a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, transparency, and servant leadership.

Champion adoption of new delivery practices, AI-enabled ways of working, and modernization strategies.

Executive Communications & Reporting

Provide clear, concise, executive-level communications regarding program status, risks, financial performance, and strategic decisions.

Prepare and present updates to senior executives, governance committees, and business leadership teams.

Develop KPIs and performance metrics that measure delivery effectiveness, operational outcomes, and value realization.

Qualifications & Requirements

Experience

Proven success leading enterprise-scale modernization initiatives involving technology platform transformation and business process change.

Experience overseeing multi-million-dollar programs with significant organizational impact.

Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams across technology, business, operations, and vendor organizations.

Strong background in Agile, SAFe, and hybrid delivery methodologies.

Leadership Competencies

Strategic thinking and enterprise mindset.

Executive presence with exceptional communication and influence skills.

Ability to navigate ambiguity and drive alignment across competing priorities.

Strong decision-making, negotiation, and stakeholder management capabilities.

Proven success leading organizational change and transformation initiatives.

Skills

Portfolio and program management

Transformation leadership

Financial and budget management

Vendor and partner management

Risk and dependency management

Executive communications and reporting

Organizational change management

Cross-functional leadership and team development

Preferred Qualifications

Experience leading policy administration platform modernization programs.

Experience delivering large-scale cloud, data, digital, or customer experience transformation initiatives.

Certifications such as SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), PMP, or related leadership and delivery certifications.

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Job Description Summary

If you’re enthusiastic about delivering secure technology solutions to support a company providing extraordinary care to its customers, then Nationwide Technology is the place for you. Nationwide's industry-leading technology workforce embraces an agile work environment and a collaborative culture to deliver outstanding solutions and results. If that sounds like something you aspire to, we want to hear from you!

As a Delivery Leader you’ll be responsible for delivering value and outcomes. Delivery leaders are expected to have an end-to-end vantage point on delivery, manage dependencies, remove blockers, engage partners, manage financials, maximize vendor relationships, and enable an iterative delivery of value. You will need to keep pace with software delivery and organizational change methods and tools. Delivery leaders should also understand relevant Financial and Agile/Lean/DevOps tools and techniques.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

Responsible for the End to End management of associates including but not limited to performance management, salary planning, training, development, workforce planning, hiring, and disciplinary actions; and attracts, hires, engages and develops the team through impactful recruitment, coaching and feedback.

Accountable for the delivery of expected business outcomes, realization of benefits as outlined in the business case, drives incremental value, drives incremental planning, and drives dependency scope definition.

Responsible for applying secure software and systems engineering practices throughout the delivery lifecycle to ensure our data and technology solutions are protected from threats and vulnerabilities.

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