Director, D&CX Program Manager

About the Role

This role serves as the operational and strategic backbone for D&CX's horizontal capabilities (Ethos design system, tagging infrastructure) that enable consistent, scalable digital experiences across TIAA. The Program Manager balances delivery of new features, sustaining BAU operations, and driving planning cycles that keep capabilities aligned to enterprise priorities. Success in this role directly influences the quality, consistency, and measurability of digital experiences delivered to TIAA customers. The ideal candidate combines strategic thinking with disciplined execution, communicates fluently across all organizational levels, and exercises the judgment to resolve challenges before they become liabilities.

Responsibilities

• New Feature & Function Delivery — Lead end-to-end delivery of new capabilities across D&CX using a hub and spoke model, ensuring all new requests are evaluated against capacity, strategic value, and readiness before commitments are made.
• BAU Operations & Capability Health — Own the operating rhythm that keeps horizontal capabilities running effectively, maintaining visibility into Ethos adoption, tagging quality, and performance indicators while proactively resolving systemic friction before it compounds.
• Planning Cycles — Drive a multi-horizon planning framework spanning monthly execution health, quarterly roadmap refresh, annual budget input, and long-term senior leader engagement to shape a multi-year vision for D&CX horizontal capabilities.
• Monthly Stakeholder Updates — Produce concise, insight-driven updates that give leaders an honest picture of capability status, delivery progress, adoption metrics, risks, and pending decisions to build confidence and enable informed action.
• Issue Resolution — Own the identification, escalation, and resolution of capability blockers by bringing rigor to problem definition, framing decision options with honest tradeoff analysis, and treating every resolved issue as an opportunity to strengthen the system so the same friction does not recur.
• Stakeholder Partnership — Partner with cross-functional teams across TIAA to define capability scope, ownership, and success criteria, translating technical complexity into clear executive insight that gives leaders an honest picture of what is happening, why it matters, and what TIAA gets for its effort.
• Operational Excellence — Establish governance structures, reporting mechanisms, and operating rhythms that provide transparency and accountability at scale, balancing process rigor with the agility needed to keep the work reliable and fast-moving.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in Program Management (required); 7+ years (preferred).
• University degree preferred.
• Experience working in a Digital & Client Experience environment (not IT-specific).
• Proven ability to execute in a SAFe environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including MS Project, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Skills

• Required Skills: Adaptability, Collaboration, Communication, Consultative Communication, Executive Presence, General Risk Management, Influence, Problem Solving, Program Management, Project Management, Relationship Management, Stakeholder Engagement.
• Preferred Skills:
  • Working in a matrixed environment.
  • Working with senior leadership on strategic initiatives.
  • Leading project meetings and identifying cross-functional impacts to project initiatives; developing recommendations to influence programs for end-to-end customer/associate journeys.
  • Proactively driving integration and collaboration across key business partners (e.g., technology/engineers, finance, legal, regulatory, and cross-enterprise stakeholders).
  • Communicating program updates to leadership, stakeholders, and project teams; ensuring stakeholder agreement across enterprise impacts.
  • Creating executive-level presentations for leadership (Board, Executive Committee, and Quarterly Business Reviews) to monitor progress, manage interdependencies, and report on performance, risks, and issues.
  • Working with Business Owners to identify, mitigate, and monitor risks, issues, and cross-project dependencies; assisting with clearing obstacles.
  • Driving outcomes and performance metrics; owning and managing timelines, planning deliverables, resource requirements, scope, stakeholder engagement, and budget.
  • Providing guidance to execution teams and identifying cross-enterprise impacts and resource needs.
  • Tracking and reporting on project portfolio performance, offering a real-time, comprehensive, and prioritized view of all projects.
  • Sharing lessons learned and best practices across programs; building relationships with stakeholders and brokering relationships at all levels.
  • Maintaining processes to ensure project management documentation, reports, and plans are relevant, accurate, and complete.
  • Partnering with business owners and senior leaders to ensure programs/projects are managed appropriately (no direct reports).

Benefits

The organization is committed to making financial well-being possible for its clients and is equally committed to the well-being of our associates. That’s why we offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package designed to make a positive difference in the lives of our associates and their loved ones. Our benefits include a superior retirement program and highly competitive health, wellness, and work-life offerings that can help you achieve and maintain your best possible physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

Pay

Base Pay Range: $139,000/yr - $188,000/yr. Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, base salary of internal peers, prior performance, business sector, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, the competitive compensation package may include participation in an incentive program linked to performance.

Company Overview

Every worker deserves a secure retirement. For more than 100 years, TIAA has delivered it for millions of people. Founded to help educators retire with dignity, today we’re a market-leading retirement company fueled by world-class asset management. But we’re not just another legacy financial services firm. We’re fighting harder than ever before for our clients and the many Americans who need us.

Culture

At TIAA, we're on a mission to build on our 100+ year legacy of delivering for our clients while evolving to meet tomorrow's challenges. We equip our associates with future-focused skills and AI tools that enable us to advance our mission. Together, we are fighting to ensure a more secure financial future for all and for generations to come. We are guided by our values: Champion Our People, Be Client Obsessed, Lead with Integrity, Own It, and Win As One. They influence every decision we make and how we work together to serve our clients every day. We thrive in a collaborative in-office environment where teams work across organizational boundaries with shared purpose, accelerating innovation and delivering meaningful results. Our workplace brings together TIAA and Nuveen's entrepreneurial spirit, where we work hard and work together to create lasting impact. Here, every associate can grow through meaningful learning experiences and development pathways—because when our people succeed, our impact on clients' lives grows stronger.

Physical Requirements: Sedentary work.

Career Level: 9IC (Individual Contributor).