Director, Platform Programs

Job Summary

We're rebuilding how the Platform organization operates at Mercer Advisors — and we need someone who makes sure that transformation actually lands. This is not a coordinator role. This is not a status-tracker. This is the operating nerve center of a modern Platform org, and you'll own the systems, cadences, and discipline that determine whether we ship the right things, in the right order, at the right speed.

This role owns four things at a high level: roadmap planning and management; the end-to-end development process from intake through delivery; project management and execution across the Platform org; and a set of shared platform utilities — including budget and resource tracking, platform metrics, vendor coordination, and serving as the primary conduit between the Platform org and central functions like compliance, legal, finance, and BI.

You'll work directly with and on behalf of the Chief Platform Officer. You give leadership clear visibility into what's on track, what's at risk, and what needs a decision. You raise unblockers before they become blockers. You carry real authority across engineering, product, and data to define how work gets done and hold the org to it. When people ask what the Platform org committed to this quarter and how we're doing against it — your answer will be the answer.

Essential Job Functions

1) Roadmap Planning and Management

• Own and facilitate the quarterly and annual roadmap planning process — connecting business goals to squad capacity to committed delivery. Keep the rhythm consistent and the process honest: no sandbagging, no last-minute pivots that weren't surfaced early.
• Prepare and deliver Advisors Leadership Forum (ALF) updates on behalf of the Platform org. These should be clear, well-framed, and ready — no deck that takes three hours to produce, no spin. Platform leadership should be able to walk in with confidence in what's being presented.
• Organize and run sprint demos that are worth attending: tight, outcomes-focused, and useful to leadership. Run retrospectives that actually change behavior — not sessions that produce a parking lot and no follow-through. Own the connection between what we planned, what we shipped, and what we learned.

2) Development Process

• Design and own the end-to-end development process — from intake and requirements through build and delivery. This is the agile operating model for the Platform org: how requests are evaluated, how work is sized and scoped, how it moves through the system, and how changes to scope get approved. These aren't suggestions — they're the standard.
• Build and run the intake framework that scores every feature request, initiative, and technical investment against business impact, strategic alignment, squad capacity, and level of effort. Make intake legible and trusted: business stakeholders know how to submit and what happens next; squads know what's coming and why it was prioritized; nothing slides sideways into the roadmap.
• Define roles and responsibilities across product management, engineering, design, and data — so there's no ambiguity about who decides what at each stage. Introduce estimation discipline without bureaucracy. Partner with product managers to pressure-test scoping, surface hidden dependencies, and catch scope creep before it derails a commitment.

3) Project Management and Execution

• Own delivery execution across the Platform org. Track commitments, surface risks early, and drive accountability across teams. When something is off track, you're the one who knows first — and you bring a recommendation, not just a flag.
• Raise unblockers proactively on behalf of Platform leadership. When a team is stuck, a dependency isn't moving, or a decision is sitting idle, surface it with context and a path forward. Own the follow-through until it's resolved — and escalate when it needs to go higher.
• Serve as a trusted proxy in cross-functional conversations. Represent the Platform org's priorities clearly and consistently — especially in forums where Platform leadership isn't in the room. Build strong working relationships across the organization to keep alignment moving without requiring executive escalation every time. Support the standing up of the full squad model: help the org understand what it means, track the transition, and make sure the new structure has the process clarity it needs to work.

4) Platform Utilities

• Budget and resource allocation. Own the tracking and reporting of development hours and team capacity across the Platform org. Partner with finance to maintain budget visibility, flag variances, and support resource planning decisions. The squads do the work — this function makes sure leadership has an accurate, real-time picture of where time and money are going.
• Platform metrics. Own the internal health metrics for the Platform org: delivery velocity, planning accuracy, intake cycle times, and system-level indicators like uptime and SLAs where they fall within scope. Partner with the appropriate teams — including customer experience and advisor experience functions — to define where platform metrics end and client-facing metrics begin, and make sure there's no gap between the two.
• Central functions conduit. Act as the primary interface between the Platform org and central functions — compliance, legal, finance, BI, and people — that receive requests from across the organization and struggle to independently prioritize them. This role doesn't change where accountability lives (squads own their work), but it adds a prioritization lens so central teams can sequence Platform requests coherently and Platform teams aren't competing against themselves for shared capacity.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• 8+ years in program management, PMO leadership, or a senior operational role inside a product and/or technology organization — ideally at a company going through transformation, not just steady-state execution
• Proven track record of building operating models from the ground up — not inheriting and maintaining someone else's system
• Deep fluency in agile product delivery: how software gets built, how roadmaps get set, and what breaks when process is absent
• Experience designing and running intake and prioritization frameworks that stakeholders actually trust and use — you've built the scoring model, defended it, and evolved it
• Skilled at running planning cadences that work: quarterly roadmaps, sprint demos, retrospectives, and executive-facing updates that are worth the calendar time
• Strong command of sizing and estimation methodologies — you can calibrate effort across teams without turning it into a bureaucratic ritual
• Skilled facilitator and decision-driver — you can run a room of PMs and engineers and walk out with a decision, not a list of follow-up items
• Proactive escalator — you surface blockers with context and a recommended path forward, not just a flag. You know when to solve it yourself and when to bring it to leadership
• Comfortable owning budget tracking and resource allocation — you can partner with finance to maintain visibility and flag variances without needing someone to hand you a template
• Experience coordinating across central functions — you know how to be a useful interface without becoming a bottleneck
• Experience building executive-facing reporting that's honest, concise, and actionable — you've presented to senior leadership and know what they actually need to see
• Data fluency — you can define metrics, read dashboards, and make decisions from them. You don't need a data team to produce your own analysis
• Strong communicator across technical and non-technical audiences — engineers respect your understanding of the craft; business leaders trust your judgment on what the org can actually do
• Strong cross-functional relationship builder — you can work effectively across organizational boundaries without positional authority, and you know that trust is earned over time, not assumed
• Comfortable with ambiguity and competing priorities — you create structure where there wasn't any without needing someone to hand it to you
• Experience in financial services or regulated industries a plus, not a requirement

Work Schedule

This professional role requires availability during standard business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM. At times, the role may have early or late hours to meet business tasks and deadlines for external and internal client needs.

Working Conditions

This position may be in a professional office environment or a dedicated home office workspace that is free of interruptions. Whether in a dedicated office or home office, basic technology needs will be provided to satisfy position requirements. Routinely sitting and standing for periods of time. No heavy lifting over 10 lbs.

Application Deadline: The initial deadline for applications is 11/3/2026. Applications submitted after this date may still be considered on a rolling basis until the position/program is filled. We encourage all interested candidates to apply as early as possible. If a final decision has not been made by the initial deadline, subsequent applications will be reviewed as they are received.