Executive Director CIDO Business Operations & Enterprise Portfolio Excellence
MSD
Summary
The individual in this role serves as the central IT operations and portfolio lead reporting directly to the Chief Information & Digital Officer (CIDO). The Executive Director, CIDO Operations & Portfolio Excellence runs the business of IT for the enterprise - ensuring operational execution of IT processes, portfolio governance, driving performance tracking, enabling frictionless execution of IT / Digital processes, improving overall delivery speed and quality of outcomes, and aligning technology investments to the highest areas of business value.
Job description
This role leads enterprise-wide IT operational execution, governing a significant technology investment portfolio, embedding continuous process improvement (Lean / Agile), driving technology financial management (FinOps / TBM) in partnership with Finance, and overseeing preferred vendor and workforce ecosystems in partnership with Supplier Management team members. Partnering with the ITLT (IT Leadership Team) and SLN (Senior Leader Network) and various enabling functions, this role ensures that global technology investments deliver tangible ROI, reduce friction, and drive ongoing continuous improvement effort, leveraging the latest generative and agentic AI capabilities.
Key Responsibilities
Enterprise IT Portfolio Management & Strategic Governance
- Portfolio Health & Phase-Gating: Govern the global technology investment portfolio; implement transparent demand intake criteria, rigorous business case validation, prioritization frameworks, and milestone phase-gating across corporate and divisional teams.
- Integrated Demand & Capacity Planning: Deploy predictive capacity models to balance incoming divisional demand against delivery capacity, eliminating bottlenecks, resource contention, and organizational overcommitment.
- Benefits Tracking & Value Realization: Measure, audit, and report post-implementation value capture and ROI for major transformation initiatives, delivering transparent reports to the CIDO and executive stakeholders.
- Risk, Dependency & Variance Management: Maintain an enterprise-wide view of portfolio interdependencies, budget variances, and delivery risks, establishing proactive mitigation playbooks and escalation paths.
IT Financial Management (FinOps) & Vendor Governance
- Enterprise FinOps & TBM: Partner with Finance to enable a central IT financial management capability; institutionalize various cost optimization capabilities such as AI and cloud cost optimization (FinOps), and Technology Business Management (TBM) methodologies to model total cost of ownership (TCO) and unit economics.
- Run vs. Grow Optimization: Systematically optimize and reduce "run-the-business" operational costs to shift capital toward strategic digital modernization and growth initiatives. Identify and drive optimization both on a divisional level and across divisions on an enterprise-wide basis.
- Strategic Vendor & Software Asset Governance: Partner with Supplier Management to manage preferred technology partners, software licensing/SaaS portfolios, and systems integrators to maximize contract value and reduce vendor lock-in.
IT Performance Management
- Executive Performance Cockpit: Design and manage unified IT dashboards, Performance reporting agents, and balanced scorecards tracking key indicators: MTTR/MTBF, cost-to-serve, deployment frequency, SLA attainment, system availability, and strategic OKRs.
- Agentic capabilities: optimize the IT operational execution processes through simplification, standardization, and digitization including the use of generative and agentic AI capabilities to make the overall function more effective and efficient over time
Office of the CIDO Governance Cadence and Reporting
- Rhythm of the Business: Structure and orchestrate the operating rhythm of the CIDO organization, including monthly divisional operational reviews, leadership meetings, and operational deep dives, Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), etc.
- Executive Reporting: Synthesize complex IT specific portfolio, risk, and financial performance data into concise executive briefings and presentations.
Requirements
- Minimum of 15 years of progressive leadership experience spanning IT strategy, technology business operations, enterprise PMO/portfolio management, IT financial operations, or management consulting within large-scale, matrixed environments.
- Demonstrated track record governing and optimizing technology portfolios across federated business units, global cost centers, and/or complex, global consulting accounts.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Accounting, Information Systems, Finance, Operations Management, or related field required.
- Expertise in ITIL v4, Lean / Six Sigma, OKR, Agile portfolio frameworks (SAFe / Lean Portfolio Management), and cloud FinOps principles.
- Proven ability to build automated performance dashboards, establish meaningful operational KPIs, and translate complex financial/operational data into actionable decisions.
- Experience with leading IT platforms such as Apptio Target Process, SAP, Power BI, Jira, etc.
- Extensive experience presenting strategy, financial business cases, and operational reviews to C-level executives, board committees, and divisional presidents.
- Enterprise thinking and operational rigor with a transformation mindset.
- Ability to influence executive stakeholders and align multi-functional delivery teams.
Benefits
- Medical, Dental & Vision
- Retirement benefits
- 401(k)
- Paid holidays
- Vacation
- Compassionate and sick days
Company overview
MSD, known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the United States and Canada, is a global research-intensive biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey. Founded in 1891, the company has established itself as one of the world's leading pharmaceutical corporations with a rich history spanning over 130 years. MSD operates as the international division of Merck & Co., Inc., focusing on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of innovative medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products. The company's extensive portfolio includes groundbreaking treatments in oncology, infectious diseases, cardiology, diabetes, and vaccines, with notable products such as Keytruda (pembrolizumab) for cancer immunotherapy, Gardasil for HPV prevention, and Januvia for diabetes management. MSD maintains a strong commitment to research and development, investing significantly in scientific innovation to address unmet medical needs worldwide. With approximately 75,000 employees globally, the company operates through four main segments: pharmaceuticals, animal health, healthcare services, and strategic alliances. MSD's mission centers on using leading-edge science to save and improve lives around the world, guided by the principle that medicine is for people, not profits.