Program Manager, Customer Experience Technology

Principal Financial Group; Des Moines (IA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal Financial Group seeks a seasoned Program Manager II to join the Customer Experience Technology team. You’ll shape how customers experience Principal across digital channels while aligning enterprise initiatives across tech, product, and business partners.

You will lead high-visibility customer initiatives, drive collaboration, and manage stakeholder expectations, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and measurable outcomes.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of project or program management experience across technology, product, and business partners.
• Demonstrated success delivering cross-functional initiatives involving technology, product, and business partners.
• Strong program management with ability to balance strategic planning and execution.
• Ability to influence, collaborate, and drive outcomes without formal authority.
• Experience leading organizational change and driving adoption of new capabilities, processes, or operating models.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, facilitation, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to manage ambiguity, navigate competing priorities, and build alignment across large organizations.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex, high-visibility customer experience initiatives spanning multiple teams and align with enterprise strategy and priorities.
• Facilitate strategic alignment across business units by linking priorities, risks, and decisions affecting customer experience.
• Partner with product, engineering, delivery, and business leaders to drive collaboration and transparent decision-making.
• Drive stakeholder engagement and executive communication to convey strategic direction and priorities.
• Define and monitor success measures tied to customer outcomes, adoption, and business value.
• Lead change efforts for new technologies, operating models, and AI-enabled capabilities across teams.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Program management

Influence without authority

Change management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Ambiguity management

Job description

What You'll Do

We're looking for a Program Manager II to join our Customer Experience Technology (CXT) team. In this role, you'll help shape how individual customers experience Principal across digital channels while driving alignment and execution across some of our most visible enterprise initiatives.

As a Program Manager, you'll operate at the intersection of technology, business, and customer experience, helping teams translate strategy into action while ensuring priorities, dependencies, and decisions remain aligned across the enterprise. You'll partner closely with leaders, product management, engineering, marketing, UX/CX, and other key partners.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Lead complex, high-visibility individual customer experience initiatives that span multiple business, product, and technology teams, ensuring alignment to enterprise strategy, customer outcomes, and business priorities
• Facilitate strategic alignment across business units by connecting priorities, dependencies, risks, and decisions that impact the individual customer experience and enterprise customer experience strategy
• Partner with product, engineering, delivery, and business leaders to drive collaboration, influence decision-making, and create transparency around tradeoffs, resource constraints, and competing priorities
• Drive stakeholder engagement and executive communication, ensuring strategic direction, priorities, and decisions are effectively communicated and understood across the organization
• Define and monitor success measures tied to customer outcomes, adoption, business value, efficiency, and strategic objectives while helping teams accelerate value delivery, reduce organizational friction, and improve realization of customer and business outcomes
• Lead change efforts associated with new technologies, evolving operating models, AI-enabled capabilities, and enterprise transformation initiatives, building stakeholder alignment and driving successful adoption across teams
• Support strategic Customer Experience Technology initiatives focused on digital experiences, mobile capabilities, AI-enabled customer engagement, and enterprise modernization efforts, balancing strategic thinking with practical execution to move initiatives forward

Operating at the intersection of financial services and technology, Principal builds financial tools that help our customers live better lives. We take pride in being a purpose-led firm, motivated by our mission to make financial security accessible to all. Our mission, integrity, and customer focus have made us a trusted leader for more than 140 years!

Who You Are

• 10+ years project, program, initiative management experience or equivalent demonstrated through one or combination of the following: work experience, military experience, or education
• Demonstrated success delivering cross-functional initiatives involving technology, product, and business partners
• Strong program management experience with the ability to balance strategic planning and execution
• Ability to influence, collaborate, and drive outcomes without formal authority
• Experience leading organizational change and driving adoption of new capabilities, processes, or operating models
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, facilitation, and decision-making skills
• Ability to manage ambiguity, navigate competing priorities, and build alignment across large organizations

Skills That Will Help You Stand Out

• Experience leading customer-facing or digital customer experience initiatives
• Experience partnering across customer experience (CX), user experience (UX), product, and technology organizations
• Strong AI understanding and adoption
• Strong technical acumen and the ability to effectively collaborate with engineering leaders and technology teams
• Agile, Scrum, or similar program management certifications
• Financial services or other regulated industry experience

Salary Range Information

Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

$150000 - $185000 / year

Time Off Program

Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don't accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

Pension Eligible

Yes

Work Environments

This role offers an in-office and hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek) work arrangement in Des Moines, IA.

Work Authorization/Sponsorship

At this time, we're not considering applicants that need any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please use the following links. Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants

Investment Code of Ethics

For Principal Asset Management positions, you'll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of your household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.

Experience Principal

At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we're imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services - and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.

Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Principal uses artificial intelligence tools to assist in reviewing and evaluating job applications, fraud prevention, and candidate matching and comparisons. These AI tools support our human recruiters in the initial review process but do not make final hiring decisions without human involvement. By submitting your application, you acknowledge this use of AI in our recruitment process. Please review our Workforce (U.S.) Privacy Notice for more details on our practices and your data privacy rights.