Engineering Senior Manager, Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)

M&T Bank; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 168,000 - 279,000; Full time

Job summary

M&T Bank in Buffalo, NY seeks a senior technology leader to direct the CIAM platform's strategy, engineering delivery, operational excellence, and ongoing modernization. You will lead teams delivering secure, scalable authentication and authorization services for customer-facing channels, with 24x7 availability and strong focus on security and user experience.

Responsibilities include setting standards, coaching teams, aligning with product, security, and fraud stakeholders, and owning the CIAM

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in CIAM and enterprise-grade identity platforms.
• Strong knowledge of authentication/authorization protocols and cloud-native architectures.
• Proven ability to drive security, scalability, and availability in customer-facing services.

Responsibilities

• Lead CIAM platform engineering, operations, and support teams.
• Set engineering standards and continuous improvement programs.
• Coach and develop talent; workforce planning and succession planning.
• Partner with product, security, infrastructure, fraud, and compliance stakeholders to prioritize and deliver strategic initiatives.
• Own CIAM strategy, roadmap, delivery, and lifecycle management.

Skills

CIAM leadership

Authentication protocols

Cloud-native platforms

Cybersecurity

Agile practices

Vendor management

Job description

• Extensive experience in a senior technology leader responsible for the strategic direction, engineering delivery, operational excellence, and continuous modernization of the enterprise Customer Identity and Access Management platform.
• Led teams responsible for delivering secure, scalable, resilient, and highly available authentication and authorization services that support customer-facing digital channels.
• Possess deep expertise in customer identity technologies, modern authentication protocols, cloud-native platforms, cybersecurity principles, and identity fraud prevention.
• A proven track record of leading engineering teams, managing mission-critical platforms with 24x7 availability requirements, and implementing modern authentication capabilities that improve both customer experience and security posture.
• Extensive experience running development & engineer initiatives using Agile practices.
• Experience with modern developer tools and languages

• Extensive experience in a senior technology leader responsible for the strategic direction, engineering delivery, operational excellence, and continuous modernization of the enterprise Customer Identity and Access Management platform.
• Led teams responsible for delivering secure, scalable, resilient, and highly available authentication and authorization services that support customer-facing digital channels.
• Possess deep expertise in customer identity technologies, modern authentication protocols, cloud-native platforms, cybersecurity principles, and identity fraud prevention.
• A proven track record of leading engineering teams, managing mission-critical platforms with 24x7 availability requirements, and implementing modern authentication capabilities that improve both customer experience and security posture.
• Extensive experience running development & engineer initiatives using Agile practices.
• Experience with modern developer tools and languages

Scope of Role

Manages the activities and strategic direction of the Department including indirectly managing several diverse types of Technology teams. Responsible for the budget of multiple cost centers spanning concurrent development streams. Provides long and short-term strategic direction for the entire Department, multiple applications and/or cost centers. Serves as primary contact to Divisional peers, Technology leadership team, Management Group and business partners. Oversees development and career planning for all team members.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead and develop high-performing engineering teams responsible for CIAM platform engineering, operations, and support.
• Establish engineering standards, operational excellence practices, and continuous improvement programs.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, workforce planning, talent development, and succession planning.
• Partner with Product Management, Information Security, Infrastructure, Fraud, Compliance, and Business stakeholders to prioritize and deliver strategic initiatives.
• Own the strategy, roadmap, delivery, support, and lifecycle management of the enterprise CIAM platform.
• Ensure the platform meets or exceeds availability, resiliency, performance, scalability, and security requirements.
• Maintain operational accountability for mission-critical customer authentication services with 24x7 support expectations.
• Establish and monitor platform SLAs, SLOs, operational metrics, and reliability targets.
• Lead the implementation, operation, and enhancement of core CIAM capabilities including:
• Customer Authentication
• Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
• Step-Up Authentication
• Adaptive/Risk-Based Authentication
• Customer Registration and Enrollment
• Password Reset and Recovery Processes
• Identity Verification and Identity Proofing
• User Profile and Account Management
• Customer Authorization Services
• Session Management
• Device Trust and Recognition
• Consent and Preference Management
• Federation and Identity Brokering
• Provide technical leadership and governance for the implementation and operational management of industry-standard protocols, including:
• OpenID Connect (OIDC)
• OAuth 2.0
• OAuth Security Best Practices
• Financial-grade API (FAPI)
• SAML 2.0
• JWT, JWS, and JWE Standards
• API Security and Authorization Frameworks
• Identity Federation Architectures
• Monitor technology direction of the industry and vendor applications specific to areas and businesses supported.
• Manage supporting research and initiation of change to the status quo, when necessary to ensure implementation of appropriate technologies.
• Manage vendor/product analyses and recommendations to ensure delivery of the most appropriate end product based on available resources, inclusive of budget.
• Develop and manage cost center budgets.
• Provide senior level leadership to multiple application development, support testing efforts, technology infrastructure/project management and/or other technology domains.
• Manage Technology department(s) and responsible for all financial, compliance, human resources and risk operations with the departments.
• Develop and maintain contacts within the organization to obtain the requisite support related to systems development activities managed.
• Maintain relationships with vendors and professional organizations to remain current on industry trends and best practices for supported systems and businesses.
• Direct systems development activities of assigned teams, including assignment of staff to various projects and ensure their timely completion within budget.
• Coordinate activities with other managers as required to support efforts of mutual interest.
• Manage the implementation of customer technology consistent with Division standards and long-range plans, seeking opportunities to leverage these across other teams as applicable.
• Ensure activities managed adhere to all Department and Technology standards and procedures, including all documentation requirements to protect Bank interests and serve as a reference source.
• Manage and ensure the recommendation of systems designs based on business and technology requirements.
• Manage identification of issues and concerns throughout the process and ensure they are investigated and resolved.
• Manage monitoring project plans of assigned teams to ensure they remain on track; identify and address significant issues that may result in delays.
• Remain current on activities outside assigned teams
• that may impact activities of the teams or systems managed.
• Exercise usual authority of a manager concerning staffing, performance appraisals, promotions, salary recommendations, performance management and terminations.
• Understand and adhere to the Company’s risk and regulatory standards, policies and controls in accordance with the Company’s Risk Appetite.
• Design, implement, maintain and enhance internal controls to mitigate risk on an ongoing basis.
• Identify risk-related issues needing escalation to management.
• Promote an environment that supports diversity and reflects the M&T Bank brand.
• Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.
• Manages a high performance application platform in a highly resilient manner with minimal downtime.
• Complete other related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience Required

• A combined minimum of 13 years’ higher education and/or work experience, including a minimum of 4 years’ engineering and/or architecture experience and 9 years' technology management / program leadership experience including people management
• Must be knowledgeable in building or support fraud risk processes and tools/
• Proficiency with pertinent project management, word processing and spreadsheet applications
• Capable of working on multiple projects of a complex nature
• Experience on large system enhancements, conversions, and production problem resolution
• Complete understanding of the system development life cycle
• Excellent problem-solving skills to assist in issue resolution
• Familiar with application development software and hardware platforms
• Understanding business(es) supported and its’ terminology
• Prior experience encouraging team work and serving as role model when leading and directing others
• Understanding of technical, business and operational impacts of a project or problem
• Confidence in leading multiple teams often in different geographic locations and time zones
• Prior experience presenting to senior management

Education And Experience Preferred

• Master’s degree
• Minimum of 12 years’ technology management or large program leadership experience
• Minimum of 10 years' technology experience in customer identity related deployments & systems
• Experience leading enterprise-scale customer identity modernization initiatives.
• Experience with large-scale Customer Identity and Access Management platforms such as Strivacity, Ping Identity, Okta, ForgeRock, Auth0, Entra ID External Identities, or similar solutions.
• Experience implementing Passkey and FIDO2-based authentication strategies.
• Experience deploying YubiKeys and other phishing-resistant authentication mechanisms.
• Experience supporting digital banking, financial services, or highly regulated industries.
• Experience implementing fraud prevention, risk-based authentication, and customer identity verification solutions.
• Experience defining technology roadmaps and presenting strategy to executive and senior leadership audiences.
• Experience with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), platform observability, disaster recovery, and operational resiliency practices.
• Knowledge of Zero Trust security principles and modern identity security architectures.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, budgets, and strategic technology investments.
• Good understanding of the Bank’s application framework
• Aware of the Bank’s business plan and strategic objectives with ability to shape direction
• Mastered knowledge and focus of the entire system and support projects outside of normal business-as-usual (BAU)
• Self-motivated and able to motivate others

M&T Bank is committed to fair, competitive, and market-informed pay for our employees. The pay range for this position is $167,600.00 - $279,400.00 Annual (USD). The successful candidate’s particular combination of knowledge, skills, and experience will inform their specific compensation.

Location

Buffalo, New York, United States of America