Director, IT - PMO

Kohler Co.; Wisconsin; On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Kohler Co. is seeking a Director of IT, Portfolio & PMO Management to translate business strategy into an executable, governed portfolio. The role drives transparent investment decisions, validates value, and leads executive portfolio reviews with insight on priorities, funding, and outcomes.

You will guide strategy, governance and delivery standards across IT, ensuring measurable benefits, alignment with enterprise objectives, and robust capacity planning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in information technology, computer science, engineering, business administration or related field; equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of progressive technology portfolio or PMO leadership in a global organization with substantial revenue.
• Experience with executive governance, investment prioritization, portfolio financial management, resource planning and value realization.
• Experience establishing or improving portfolio governance, benefits realization, tooling or PMO operating models.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary delivery professionals and influence senior stakeholders across business and technology.
• Experience in complex environments with transformation and mergers/acquisitions, strong communication and decision-framing skills.
• Experience with portfolio and project management platforms, financial planning tools and executive dashboards; commitment to data quality and automation.

Responsibilities

• Lead IT portfolio strategy, intake, sequencing and prioritization aligned with objectives.
• Maintain transparent portfolio view; recommend investment, trade-offs and sequencing decisions.
• Lead executive portfolio reviews and ensure accountability and escalation paths.
• Provide reporting on portfolio health, value, financials, capacity and risks.
• Align demand with capacity, skills, sourcing and delivery constraints; resolve bottlenecks.
• Establish delivery standards across predictive, Agile, hybrid, product and vendor-led delivery.
• Develop PMO staff and promote disciplined execution with strong stakeholder partnerships.
• Ensure investments have sponsors, measurable outcomes and validated benefits.

Skills

Portfolio management

PMO leadership

Executive governance

Budgeting

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA or Masters

Equivalency experience

Tools

Portfolio management tools

Financial planning tools

Executive dashboards

Job description

The Director - IT, Portfolio & PMO Management leads the enterprise IT portfolio management and PMO disciplines and team, translating business strategy into an executable, governed, and value-driven portfolio. The role enables transparent investment decisions, validates value delivery, manages portfolio-level dependencies and capacity, improves predictable delivery across projects, programs, and products, and leads executive portfolio reviews with decision-quality insight on priorities, funding, risks, benefits, and outcomes.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBLITIES

Portfolio Strategy, Intake and Prioritization

• Lead IT portfolio, strategy, intake, sequencing and prioritization aligned with business and technology objectives
• Apply consistent criteria for strategic value, urgency, risk, cost, dependencies and capacity
• Maintain a transparent portfolio view and recommend investment, trade-off and sequencing decisions
• Partner with business and technology leaders to strengthen proposal, ownership, outcomes and readiness

Executive Governance and Decision Support

• Lead executive portfolio reviews, recommendations, escalation and decision follow through
• Establish governance, decision rights, stage gates, accountability and escalation paths
• Provide clear reporting on portfolio health, value, financials, capacity, risks and required decisions
• Tailor governance to initiate size, complexity, risk and deliver approach

Financial Management and Value Realization

• Lead portfolio planning, forecasting, investment scenarios and capital & operating expense oversight with Finance
• Establish standards for business cases, total cost of ownership, benefits and value validation
• Challenge investment assumptions and provide transparency into forecast and actual spend
• Track adoption, outcomes and realized value with benefit owners, addressing gaps as needed

Resource and Demand Management

• Align portfolio demand with capacity, skills, sourcing options and delivery constraints
• Identify resource bottlenecks and recommend sequencing, staffing, sourcing or scope trade-offs in alignment with the respective resource managers.
• Improve visibility into workforce and partner allocation while maintaining functional accountability

Delivery Standards and Portfolio Assurance

• Establish fit-for-purpose standards and tools across predictive, Agile, hybrid, product and vendor-led delivery
• Monitor portfolio health, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues and recovery plans
• Define intervention thresholds and lead recovery planning for initiatives outside tolerance
• Integrate architecture, cybersecurity, privacy, compliance, data, change, procurement and operational readiness into governance

PMO Leadership and Continuous Improvement

• Lead and develop portfolio, program, project, business analysts, Agile and change professionals
• Establish clear roles, career paths, standards and accountability
• Simplify governance, automate reporting, improve data quality and reduce administrative burden
• Promote disciplined execution, constructive challenge and strong stakeholder partnerships

Performance Outcomes

• Enable timely executive decisions supported by reliable data and clear recommendations
• Aling portfolio commitments with funding, capacity, dependencies and risk tolerance
• Ensure investments have accountable sponsors, measurable outcomes, credible plans and validated benefits
• Improve delivery predictability, risk transparency, reporting quality and PMO responsiveness
• Build a high- performing PMO team with consistent standards and clear accountability
• Maintain more than 90% of the portfolio in green status monthly and achieve a Net Promoter Score above 25% on project delivery.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, engineering, business administration or related field or equivalent relevant experience
• 12+ years of progressive experience in technology portfolio, program, project or PMO leadership, including leading an IT PMO function in a global organization with more than $2 billion in revenue
• Demonstrated experience with executive governance, investment prioritization, portfolio financial management, resource and demand planning, delivery assurance and value realization
• Experience establishing or materially improving portfolio governance, benefits realization, delivery tooling or PMO operating models
• Experience leading and developing multidisciplinary delivery professionals and influencing senior stakeholders across business and technology functions
• Experience in a complex, multi-functional environment with significant transformation and merger and acquisition activity
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, analysis, conflict resolution and decision-framing skills with the ability to convert complex portfolio data into clear choices
• Experience with portfolio and project management platforms, financial planning tools and executive dashboards with a commitment to data quality and automation

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in business, technology or a related field
• PMP, PgMP, PfMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe or a comparable portfolio, program, project or agile certifications

Applicants must be authorized to work in the US without requiring sponsorship now or in the future.