Executive Director CIDO Business Operations & Enterprise Portfolio Excellence

Job Description

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.

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.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: 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.
• Portfolio Scale: Demonstrated track record governing and optimizing technology portfolios across federated business units, global cost centers, and/or complex, global consulting accounts.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, Accounting, Information Systems, Finance, Operations Management, or related field required; Advanced degree (MBA or MS in Technology Management) preferred.
• Operational Methodologies: Expertise in ITIL v4, Lean / Six Sigma, OKR, Agile portfolio frameworks (SAFe / Lean Portfolio Management), and cloud FinOps principles.
• Data-Driven Governance: Proven ability to build automated performance dashboards, establish meaningful operational KPIs, and translate complex financial/operational data into actionable decisions.
• Platforms: Experience with leading IT platforms such as Apptio Target Process, SAP, Power BI, Jira, etc.
• Executive Presence: Extensive experience presenting strategy, financial business cases, and operational reviews to C-level executives, board committees, and divisional presidents.
• Behavioral Competencies: Enterprise thinking and operational rigor with a transformation mindset. Ability to influence executive stakeholders and align multi-functional delivery teams.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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Where required by law, the compensation range for this role is provided below.

The salary range for the primary location of this role is:

This range reflects the Company's reasonable expectation of the base salary applicable to this role at the time of posting. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, government requirements, and business or organizational needs. The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive, if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical, dental, vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family), retirement benefits, including 401(k), paid holidays, vacation, and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at https://jobs.merck.com/us/en/compensation-and-benefits.

Additional location(s): Please note the salary range above applies to the Primary Location of the position. Where a role has other listed locations, different compensation guidelines may apply. You may find the salary ranges for additional locations below. If the salary range is not listed for the location you are applying to, our Talent Acquisition team will provide further information to you relevant to your location.

Additional location(s) Compensation Information:

San Francisco Residents Only: We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Los Angeles Residents Only: We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance

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Our company is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines and animal health products. The difference between potential and achievement lies in the spark that fuels innovation and inventiveness; this is the space where we have codified our legacy for over a century. Our success is backed by ethical integrity, forward momentum, and an inspiring mission to achieve new milestones in global healthcare.

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