Director IT PMO Remote

Reporting into the VP of Information Technology, the Director, IT Program Management Office is responsible for establishing and leading a centralized PMO function within Cole Haan's IT organization. The role ensures consistent, disciplined delivery of the enterprise IT project portfolio while serving as the primary interface between IT and business stakeholders on project status, risk, and change impact.

The Director owns the full delivery lifecycle-from methodology and governance through business communication and executive reporting. The role manages cross-project dependencies, drives proactive risk assessment, coordinates change management readiness with the business, and owns all executive-level project status communication. This enables IT domain leaders to remain focused on technical delivery and solution quality.

The role leads dedicated project coordination resources and provides dotted-line methodology oversight to project managers embedded within IT domain teams. The Director is expected to build a PMO culture where project managers are active delivery partners-anticipating risk, driving real-time adjustments, and contributing to solution outcomes-not passive status collectors.

CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Define, implement, and continuously improve standard IT project management methodology including project charters, stage gates, acceptance criteria, and formal project closure
• Establish and manage the IT project intake process, ensuring initiatives are properly scoped, resourced, and aligned to portfolio priorities
• Maintain delivery discipline across all active IT initiatives, providing visibility into timeline, scope, and budget performance
• Manage cross-project dependencies, resource conflicts, and sequencing across the IT portfolio
• Serve as the primary point of coordination between IT project teams and business stakeholders, ensuring alignment on scope, timing, and impact throughout the project lifecycle
• Own all executive-level project status communication, including IT Steering Committee reporting, leadership updates, and stakeholder briefings
• Drive ongoing risk assessment across active programs, surfacing issues early and partnering with IT and business leaders on mitigation strategies
• Coordinate change management readiness with business stakeholders-ensuring awareness of upcoming changes, impact to processes and people, and organizational preparedness for adoption
• Hold external vendors and implementation partners accountable to SOW milestones, acceptance criteria, and delivery timelines
• Lead milestone reviews and vendor performance assessments in partnership with domain leaders and IT Business Operations
• Support contract negotiations by providing delivery-informed input on scope, timeline feasibility, and performance incentive structures
• Define and own IT project management policies, standards, and templates
• Establish and maintain standard reporting cadence and tools across the portfolio
• Drive adoption of consistent delivery practices across domain teams
• Provide direct leadership to dedicated project coordinator(s) within the PMO
• Provide dotted-line oversight, coaching, and methodology support to project managers embedded within domain teams
• Set the standard for active, delivery-oriented project management-ensuring PMs are embedded in the work, planning ahead for risk, driving real-time course corrections with delivery teams, and contributing to outcomes rather than passively collecting status
• Lead post-implementation reviews to capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvement
• Free IT domain leaders and technical teams to focus on solution delivery and quality by absorbing coordination, communication, and status reporting responsibilities