Director, IT Project Management (R6372)

Job Description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

Job Description:

The Director of IT Project Management Office (PMO) leads the strategy, governance, delivery discipline, and portfolio management practices for enterprise technology initiatives. This role is responsible for ensuring that high-priority IT programs—including enterprise applications, cybersecurity, infrastructure, cloud, data, AI, and business transformation initiatives are delivered predictably, transparently, and in alignment with business objectives.

The IT PMO is a critical enabler of disciplined execution across a growing and complex technology environment. Success in this role equates to a well-governed portfolio, clear executive visibility into investments and risks, strong accountability for outcomes, improved cross-functional coordination, and reliable delivery of strategic programs.

As a senior IT leader, the Director establishes the operating model, standards, tooling, resource-management practices, financial controls, and reporting mechanisms required to scale enterprise program delivery. The ideal candidate brings deep experience managing complex technology portfolios, building and leading high-performing program and project management teams, and partnering with executives to convert strategy into measurable business outcomes.

What you'll do:

• Develop and execute the strategic vision, operating model, and multi-year maturity roadmap for the enterprise IT PMO.
• Establish portfolio governance, intake, prioritization, funding, resource planning, stage-gate reviews, and escalation processes for technology initiatives.
• Lead a portfolio of strategic enterprise programs spanning business applications, ERP, cybersecurity, infrastructure, cloud platforms, data and analytics, AI enablement, enterprise integrations, and end-user technology.
• Partner with IT and business leadership to translate corporate priorities into a balanced, sequenced, and executable technology roadmap.
• Define and enforce common program and project management methodologies, delivery standards, templates, controls, and performance metrics across the IT organization.
• Build and lead a high-performing team of program managers, project managers, portfolio analysts, and business operations personnel; establish clear roles, career paths, coaching, and performance expectations.
• Oversee delivery of large, complex, cross-functional transformation initiatives, ensuring scope, schedule, budget, dependencies, risks, security requirements, and business outcomes are actively managed.
• Establish executive-level portfolio reporting that provides transparent visibility into project health, milestones, financial performance, dependencies, resource capacity, delivery risks, and decision requirements.
• Create and maintain an integrated technology portfolio roadmap, including interdependencies across business functions, technology domains, vendors, and enterprise transformation programs.
• Drive disciplined demand management and business-case development, including strategic alignment, cost estimates, benefits realization, implementation effort, risk assessment, and operating-model impacts.
• Partner with Finance and IT leadership to manage technology investment planning, budget tracking, forecast accuracy, capitalization processes, vendor spend, and cost optimization initiatives.
• Implement benefits-realization practices to measure whether completed initiatives achieve intended operational, financial, security, compliance, and business outcomes.
• Lead program risk management, issue resolution, executive escalation, and recovery planning for initiatives that are off track or at risk of failing to meet commitments.
• Establish resource-management practices that improve allocation, capacity planning, prioritization, utilization visibility, and delivery predictability across internal teams and strategic partners.
• Partner closely with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, Business Systems, Data, Finance, Legal, People, and business unit leadership to align execution plans with enterprise strategy and operational readiness.
• Oversee relationships with systems integrators, implementation partners, consultants, and strategic technology vendors; ensure vendor delivery commitments, milestones, quality, and commercial obligations are actively governed.
• Advance adoption of modern delivery practices, including Agile, hybrid, and product-oriented operating models, appropriately matched to the nature of the work.
• Drive continuous improvement through portfolio analytics, post-implementation reviews, lessons learned, delivery-health assessments, and PMO maturity measurements.
• Ensure programs appropriately address security, privacy, compliance, audit, data-governance, and change-management requirements.
• Provide leadership during critical incidents, enterprise transformations, and high-visibility executive escalations as required.

Required qualifications:

• 12+ years of experience in technology program management, project management, portfolio management, business transformation, or related enterprise IT leadership roles.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing PMO, program management, project management, portfolio-management, or enterprise-transformation teams.
• Demonstrated experience building or maturing an enterprise IT PMO in a complex, rapidly evolving, or high-growth organization.
• Proven success leading large-scale, multi-year technology transformation programs with significant business impact, cross-functional dependencies, and executive visibility.
• Strong experience governing portfolios that include enterprise applications, ERP, cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data platforms, integrations, and end-user technologies.
• Deep understanding of portfolio governance, demand management, investment prioritization, business-case development, resource planning, financial management, and benefits realization.
• Experience managing program budgets, forecasts, vendor spend, statements of work, implementation partners, and financial controls.
• Proven ability to develop concise executive communications, including portfolio dashboards, program status reports, investment recommendations, risk summaries, and decision materials.
• Strong ability to identify delivery risks, clarify accountability, resolve cross-functional issues, and drive timely decisions across senior stakeholder groups.
• Experience with project and portfolio management methodologies, including Agile, Waterfall, hybrid delivery models, and ITIL-aligned service-management principles.
• Experience with enterprise portfolio-management, project-management, and collaboration tools such as Planview, Jira, Smartsheet, Asana, Microsoft Project, or equivalent strategic portfolio management platforms.
• Exceptional communication, influencing, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to engage effectively with executives, technical teams, and business leaders.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen, with the ability to connect technology investments to business value, risk reduction, operational efficiency, and strategic outcomes.
• Ability to participate in critical program governance, escalation management, and incident leadership as required.

Preferred qualifications:

• 15+ years of progressive experience in enterprise IT, technology transformation, consulting, or program leadership, including 7+ years managing multi-functional delivery organizations.
• Experience leading PMO functions in a defense technology, aerospace, manufacturing, regulated, security-sensitive, or high-compliance environment.
• Experience governing Oracle Fusion, Workday, Salesforce Agentforce, or similarly complex enterprise application and ERP transformation programs.
• Experience managing cloud modernization, cybersecurity transformation, identity, zero-trust, data-platform, AI, or enterprise automation initiatives.
• PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe, Lean, Six Sigma, ITIL, or comparable professional certifications.
• Experience implementing strategic portfolio-management platforms and enterprise reporting capabilities.
• Strong background in organizational change management, operating-model design, process transformation, and adoption planning.
• Experience establishing outcome-based delivery metrics, including on-time delivery, budget performance, delivery predictability, realized benefits, resource utilization, customer satisfaction, and risk reduction.
• Experience applying automation, AI-enabled portfolio analytics, or data-driven reporting to improve PMO efficiency and decision quality.

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Full-time regular employee offer package:

Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity

Temporary employee offer package:

Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

Salary compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background and possible reference check. Military fellows and part-time employees are not eligible for benefits. Please speak to your talent acquisition representative for more information.

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