IT Business Relationship Manager - Marketing Technology

firstPRO, Inc; Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

firstPRO, Inc. seeks an experienced IT Business Engagement Manager to act as a strategic technology partner to senior Marketing and Sales leaders.

You will translate priorities into roadmaps, develop investment cases, evaluate solutions, and prepare initiatives for successful delivery. The role emphasizes marketing technology, requiring you to define opportunities from early-stage ideas, build alignment, and move them forward.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in IT or related technology leadership roles.
• Experience in IT business engagement and technology strategy.
• Marketing technology experience (DAM, PIM, CMS, CRM) preferred.
• Experience shaping initiatives from concept through business case and implementation.
• Strong capability in roadmap development, budgeting, and vendor mgmt.
• Able to influence executives and challenge assumptions diplomatically.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in related field.

Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with senior business leaders and act as their IT partner.
• Translate business strategies into 3–5 year technology roadmaps.
• Develop investment cases, evaluate solutions, and prepare initiatives for delivery.
• Identify opportunities to improve performance via technology with focus on revenue growth and efficiency.
• Clarify problems, outcomes, requirements, and priorities with stakeholders.
• Develop business cases with benefits, costs, and ROI.
• Lead vendor evaluations and RFP activities with Procurement.
• Collaborate to define scope, costs, resources, and timelines.
• Coordinate vendor agreements and licensing with Procurement.
• Prepare investment proposals and executive presentations for sponsorship.
• Manage portfolio, roadmaps, and budgets; support change planning and transition to delivery teams.

Skills

IT business engagement

Strategic partnership

Relationship management

Communication

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Presentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree (IS/CS/Engineering or equivalent)

Tools

DAM

PIM

CMS

CRM

Planview

Apptio

Job description

firstPRO is seeking an experienced IT Business Engagement Manager to serve as a strategic technology partner to senior Marketing and Sales leaders. This role will translate business priorities into technology roadmaps, develop compelling investment cases, evaluate solutions, and prepare initiatives for successful delivery.

The position has a strong emphasis on marketing technology and requires someone who can take an early-stage business idea, define the opportunity, challenge assumptions, and build the alignment needed to move it forward.

Key Responsibilities

• Build trusted relationships with senior business leaders and serve as their primary strategic partner within IT.
• Translate business strategies into technology capability roadmaps spanning three to five years.
• Identify opportunities to improve business performance through technology, with particular attention to revenue growth, efficiency, and measurable value.
• Work with stakeholders to clarify business problems, desired outcomes, requirements, and priorities.
• Constructively challenge requests to ensure proposed investments address meaningful needs and support long-term objectives.
• Develop business cases that quantify expected benefits, implementation costs, ongoing expenses, and return on investment.
• Lead functional vendor evaluations and solution selection, partnering with Procurement on RFP activities.
• Collaborate with Architecture, Business Analysis, Delivery, Finance, and business teams to define scope, costs, resources, and high-level timelines.
• Coordinate vendor agreements, statements of work, and licensing requirements with Procurement and delivery partners.
• Prepare investment proposals and executive presentations to secure sponsorship, funding, and resources.
• Manage the technology investment portfolio, maintain project roadmaps and budgets, and facilitate business reviews.
• Support change planning, stakeholder engagement, and the transition of approved initiatives to delivery teams.

Initial Priorities

• Finalize business scope and contracting for an initiative targeted to begin in January 2027.
• Develop a multiyear technology roadmap aligned with Marketing and Sales priorities.
• Build business cases and funding recommendations for upcoming technology initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in IT or related technology leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience in IT business engagement, business relationship management, technology strategy, or a comparable strategic business partnership role.
• Relevant marketing technology experience, such as digital asset management (DAM), product information management (PIM), content management systems (CMS), or customer relationship management (CRM).
• Experience shaping technology initiatives from an initial business concept through solution evaluation, business case approval, and preparation for implementation.
• Strong background in capability roadmap development, strategic planning, portfolio management, budgeting, and vendor management.
• Proven ability to partner with senior executives, influence decisions, and challenge assumptions diplomatically.
• Experience developing financial justifications that connect technology investments to measurable business outcomes.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional collaboration within a matrixed organization.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting both Marketing and Sales technology portfolios.
• Familiarity with portfolio and financial management platforms such as Planview or Apptio; experience with comparable tools is equally relevant.