Financial Projects Manager

SUMMARY: The Financial Projects Manager's primary focus is to make the best possible use of all available business resources to deliver the maximum value and benefits from projects and programs within the bank's strategic portfolio. The position includes ownership for identifying, prioritizing, and coordinating project and program resources engaged with all initiatives within all applicable projects. The Financial Projects Manager is a primary resource for Corporate Finance, SOX program, project/program-related steering committees, and the senior leadership assigned to oversee the portfolio.

This role assumes the overarching responsibility for supporting organizational and Corporate Finance leadership in their efforts at overseeing, managing and leveraging applicable projects and initiatives to optimally achieve enterprise goals and objectives while ensuring compliance with SOX requirements, promote strong internal controls, and support timely and accurate financial reporting.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties and special projects may be assigned.

• Oversee and ensure successful implementation of portfolio of projects on an ongoing basis.
• Works with project teams to manage and/or oversee the full range of project life cycles (initiate, plan, execute, test, monitor, close).
• Delivers projects according to agreed-upon timeline, budget, and scope.
• Creates strategies for risk mitigation and formulate complex project plans and schedules with project teams to manage accounting and reporting implications and ensure SOX compliance.
• Works with project teams to manage accounting and reporting implications and ensure SOX compliance.
• Identifies staffing needs as mandated and resourced by leadership, ensuring a balance of availability of the required skills and competencies across project teams within the project portfolio.
• Schedules and conducts quarterly (or at other intervals as applicable) project updates with Corporate Finance Senior and Executive Management. On an ongoing basis engage with the SOX Program Director and Project Owners to apprise them of significant issues impacting projects.

Effectively manage portfolio roadmaps

• Facilitates and coordinates the efforts of senior leadership toward the establishment of project definitions, structure and processes, from demand management and strategic alignment, through evaluation, selection and prioritization to execution, tracking and measuring the achieved results.
• Participates in the capital planning process for Corporate Finance working closely with the Business Relationship Management team.
• In conjunction with the IT Project Management Office, assist with IT strategy and vendor evaluation and selection of new solutions.

Ensure governance of the project lifecycle

• On behalf of Executive and Senior Management, ensure adherence to the appropriate governance functions relating to the portfolio in accordance with enterprise guidelines, policies and practices.
• Performs regular health checks of project QA checklists. Ensure scheduling of key tollgates project conception and initiation, project definition and planning, project launch and execution, monitoring of project performance and project close meetings.
• Ensures acceptance criteria for operational readiness are met prior to project close.
• Monitors for proper change management of scope, budget, and schedule.

Process Improvement and Advisory Support

• Assists with evaluating the SOX impact of new systems, process changes, and initiatives.
• Supports control design and remediation efforts in relation to financially relevant projects.
• Identifies opportunities to strengthen internal controls, improve efficiency, and reduce SOX compliance risk.
• Identifies, designs, and documents new internal controls required to mitigate financial reporting risk (as applicable and necessary).
• Direct or participate in the creation and maintenance of the required project portfolio documentation and artifacts.

Develops and maintains industry knowledge

• Develops and maintains appropriate banking industry, technical accounting, finance and regulatory knowledge of common financial services concepts, practices and procedures. Develop and maintain project, program management practices.

Obtains and maintains relevant certifications

• Collaborates with Executive and Senior Management to identify opportunities for applying technology developments particularly those related to digitalization and artificial intelligence.
• Keeps "abreast" of industry technical/ business trends and assess relevance to the Banks corporate finance environment.

Identifies and shares best practices

• Adheres to and complies with applicable, federal and state laws, regulations and guidance, including those related to anti-money laundering (i.e. Bank Secrecy Act, US PATRIOT Act, etc.).
• Adheres to Bank policies and procedures and completes required training.
• Identifies and reports suspicious activity.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a…