BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

City of Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 91,000 - 111,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Chicago is seeking a Business Relationship Manager to provide strategic leadership for technology initiatives across departments. This role directs a BRM team, coaches staff, and partners with business leaders to align IT services with business needs.

You will guide technology strategy, oversee ROI tracking, and help translate business requirements into IT solutions while ensuring effective vendor relationships and strong cross-functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Seven (7) years of work experience in business consulting or project management.
• Associate's degree in Computer Science, MIS, or a related field plus five (5) years of work experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, MIS, or a related field plus three (3) years of work experience.
• Master's degree or higher in Computer Science, MIS, or a related field plus two (2) years of work experience.

Responsibilities

• Builds and maintains strong relationships with business partners and acts as a liaison between DTI and City of Chicago departments.
• Manages and mentors a BRM team that builds and manages strategic relationships with business partners.
• Acts as an advisor to business partners to shape their technology strategy and ensure awareness of IT service offerings.
• Ensures stakeholders can navigate IT processes and communications to submit requests and support IT initiatives.
• Establishes and manages relationships to bridge business partners and technology providers.

Skills

Relationship management

Leadership

Project management

Strategic planning

Vendor management

Communication

Education

Associate's degree in CS/MIS or related field + 5 years experience

Bachelor's degree in CS/MIS or related field + 3 years experience

Master's degree in CS/MIS or related field + 2 years experience

Bachelor's degree in CS/MIS or related field

Job description

BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MANAGER

Department of Technology and Innovation

Bureau of IT Information Delivery

Number of Positions: 2

(Additional vacancies are possible pending budget approval)

Annual Starting Salary $100,776

Applications for this position will be accepted beginning 9-4-26 until 11:59pm on 9-18-26.

This position provides direction and guidance to overall technology strategies in operating departments to enable the best information technology (IT) solutions that meet business needs, and performs related duties as required.

This is a leadership role responsible for overseeing the identification, prioritization, and delivery of work activities, coaching and developing employees, providing thought leadership to business partners, and shaping and executing the technology vision and strategy to maximize business values.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Builds and maintains strong relationships with business partners and acts as a liaison between DTI and City of Chicago departments.
• Manages and mentors a BRM team that builds and manages strategic relationships with business partners.
• Acts as an advisor to business partners to shape their strategy regarding technology and ensures they are aware of IT service offerings.
• Ensures departmental stakeholders are able to navigate IT processes and communication channels to submit requests and support technology initiatives.
• Establishes and manages relationships to bridge the gap between business partners and technology solution providers.
• Promotes business projects and value to the IT leaders and community.
• Works with business analysts to help their business units define new capabilities.
• Defines, prioritizes, and manages program and project initiatives.
• Tracks ROI for business initiatives including cost, benefits, and risk.
• Helps define and communicate new services to support business needs.
• Participate in the development of business strategic planning and IT strategic planning.
• Assists in the development of metrics used to track value delivery.
• Provides details on cost, value, and opportunity to optimize IT spending (initiatives and support services).
• Communicates business needs with appropriate IT solution center to gain alignment between business needs and technical capabilities.
• Gathers high-level business requirements and defines scope during initial discovery by conducting meetings/interviews and facilitating large group/cross-functional sessions with partners.
• Leads in the development of business cases requiring IT-based solutions.
• Establishes initial vendor relationships and maintains a forward-looking view of vendor direction.
• Interfaces with vendors to understand whether vendor products will meet business requirements.
• Monitors that the solution center is meeting the partner's expectations.
• Refine service-level agreements (SLAs) based on business need.
• Maintains up-to-date awareness of industry and technology trends and makes recommendations for implementation of new/upgraded systems and technologies.
• Maintains knowledge of multiple business functions and initiatives to identify where conflicts/synergies exist between technologies and business functions.

Additional duties may be required for this position

Location: 2 N. LaSalle, Suite 1010

Chicago, IL. 60602

Days: Monday-Friday

Hours: 8:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. (Flexible)

THIS POSITION IS EXEMPT FROM THE CAREER SERVICE

Qualifications

• Seven (7) years of work experience in business consulting or project management.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college with an Associate's degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a directly related field, plus five (5) years of work experience in business consulting or project management.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a directly related field, plus three (3) years of work experience in business consulting or project management.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Master's degree or higher in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, or a directly related field, plus two (2) years of work experience in business consulting or project management.

Relevant industry specific experience preferred

Relevant industry specific experience preferred.

Licensure, Certification, or Other Qualifications

Preference may be given to applicants who possess a Master's degree in a directly related field, a Masters of Business Administration degree, professional IT security, firewall, and network certifications.

Please be advised that if you are selected to be hired you must provide, upon request, with adequate information regarding your educational and employment history as it relates to the qualifications of the position for which you are applying. If you received your degree internationally, all international transcripts/diploma must be accompanied by a Foreign Credential Evaluation. If the City of Chicago cannot verify this information, any offer extended to you will be withdrawn and you will not be hired.

This position requires applicants to complete an interview. The interviewed candidate(s) possessing the qualifications best suited to fulfill the responsibilities of the position will be selected.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY: To further our commitment to hiring applicants with diverse experience the City of Chicago has adopted the following ordinances 2-74-020 and 2-74-075. The ordinances provide a preference for applicants who meet minimum qualifications and who are veterans of the Armed Forces, and/or residents of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Areas (SEDA) and/or Chicago Public School (CPS) high school graduates to be referred to departments for consideration. These hiring preferences do not apply to bidders, as Collective Bargaining Agreements define the hiring process for bidders. For positions covered by a collective bargaining agreement, bidders will be considered before external candidates.

ALL REFERENCES TO POLITICAL SPONSORSHIP OR RECOMMENDATION MUST BE OMITTED FROM ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR CITY EMPLOYMENT.

The City of Chicago is an Equal Employment Opportunity, Military Friendly and Fair Chance Employer.

City of Chicago

Brandon Johnson, Mayor