Executive Director - Emerging Strategic Priorities

Enterprise Technology & Services (ETS) delivers shared technology services for the Firm supporting all business applications and end users. ETS provides capabilities for all stages of the Firm's software development lifecycle, enabling productive coding, functional and integration testing, application releases, and ongoing monitoring and support for over 3,000 production applications.

The ETS Portfolio Governance & Delivery (PGD) team oversees the strategic alignment, execution, and governance of key initiatives, ensuring they deliver value, meet organizational goals, and adhere to compliance and risk standards, while also managing and facilitating cross-functional alignment and dependency management.Within PGD, the Emerging Strategic Priorities (ESP) function provides a consistent, structured approach to standing up high-priority initiatives. ESP evaluates and prioritizes incoming work, clarifies objectives and ownership, aligns stakeholders, identifies dependencies and risks, establishes the initial operating and governance model, and prepares initiatives for successful transition into formal delivery.

We are looking for a senior executive with deep experience in enterprise strategy, complex program leadership, cross-functional integration and executive stakeholder engagement. This leader will provide enterprise-level coordination across a dynamic portfolio of emerging priorities and create clarity, alignment and momentum where ownership, scope or execution paths are not yet fully established.

Position Description:

As the Executive Director for Emerging Strategic Priorities, you will lead the shaping and operationalization of new, ambiguous and cross-cutting priorities from initial intake through readiness for execution. You will provide an integrated view across initiatives, ensure the right stakeholders and decision-makers are engaged, surface conflicts and dependencies early, and translate strategic intent into clear outcomes, governance, resourcing and executable roadmaps.

The successful candidate will operate as an enterprise integrator and execution leader: trusted by senior management, comfortable navigating ambiguity, able to challenge constructively, and disciplined in converting complex, fragmented activity into a coherent portfolio narrative and action plan. The role may also transition to lead a major complex program once an emerging priority moves into formal execution.

Responsibilities include but are not necessarily limited to:

• •Lead the intake, triage and strategic assessment of emerging priorities, evaluating alignment to ETS strategy, business outcomes, criticality, complexity and execution risk.
• •Act as the enterprise orchestration lead across multiple emerging initiatives, maintaining a connected view of scope, sequencing, ownership, decisions, dependencies, resources and leadership commitments.
• •Translate broad or evolving strategic direction into clear problem statements, target outcomes, success measures, decision points and executable roadmaps.
• •Bring together senior stakeholders across multiple Tech Divisions and other partner organizations to establish shared direction and coordinated execution.
• •Design fit-for-purpose program structures, including governance forums, decision rights, escalation paths, stakeholder engagement models, workstreams and accountability frameworks.
• •Identify overlap, duplication, gaps and cross-program impacts; recommend prioritization, sequencing and trade-off decisions to senior leadership.
• •Provide concise executive reporting and recommendations that distinguish decisions required, delivery risks, interdependencies and actions from general status information.
• •Partner with initiative sponsors and functional leaders to determine the appropriate level of ESP support, from targeted advisory support through hands-on program mobilization.
• •Prepare initiatives for investment, governance and leadership reviews by strengthening scope, value proposition, delivery strategy, cost and resource assumptions, and critical success factors.
• •Establish transition criteria and lead the handoff of mature initiatives to accountable portfolio, program or business-as-usual owners, preserving continuity and decision history.
• •Step into direct leadership of a large, complex strategic program following the emerging stage, providing end-to-end ownership through execution when organizational need requires.
• •Mentor program leaders and managers, uplift delivery discipline, and reinforce consistent use of PGD frameworks, tools and standards.

What We're Looking For

• •15+ years of experience across enterprise strategy, transformation, program or portfolio leadership, including significant accountability for large, complex technology initiatives.
• •Demonstrated ability to operate credibly with senior executives, influence without direct authority and align stakeholders with competing priorities.
• •Proven success converting ambiguous strategic objectives into structured programs, executable plans and measurable outcomes.
• •Strong enterprise judgment, with the ability to connect activity across portfolios, anticipate second-order impacts and frame clear trade-offs for decision-makers.
• •Exceptional stakeholder leadership and facilitation skills, including the ability to resolve ambiguity, establish accountability and maintain momentum across matrixed teams.
• •Experience designing governance, operating models, decision frameworks, roadmaps, resource models and executive reporting for complex initiatives.
• •Broad technology fluency across infrastructure, engineering, operations, cyber/risk, cloud, data centers and applications, with the ability to engage deeply without needing to be the subject-matter expert in every domain.
• •Experience leading local, regional and global programs and working effectively across diverse cultures, functions and reporting lines.
• •Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a concise, outcome-oriented executive style.
• •Highly organized, proactive and resilient, with strong ownership, judgment and problem-solving skills.
• •Ability to lead multiple priorities concurrently while maintaining a coherent enterprise view and disciplined follow-through.
• •Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; advanced degree or relevant program, strategy or technology certifications are valued.

Nice to Haves

Experience in financial services or another highly regulated industry.

Background in both strategy / advisory work and hands-on program execution.

Experience mobilizing new enterprise capabilities or leading programs through incubation, funding, governance approval and full execution.

Familiarity with investment governance, portfolio management, risk and control frameworks, and technology delivery lifecycle standards.

Experience leading material infrastructure, cyber resilience, platform modernization, integration or operating-model transformation programs.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. Th