Sr Manager, Business Strategy

Charles Schwab; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Charles Schwab is seeking a Strategic Program Lead focused on Digital Asset and transformation initiatives in Chicago. The role drives strategy-to-execution across cross-functional teams, partnering with business, technology, operations, and risk to ensure initiatives move forward with clarity and momentum.

The candidate will shape actionable plans, define milestones, and enable timely decisions. In a highly matrixed environment, you will elevate governance, improve program health visibility,

Qualifications

• 7+ years in program execution, transformation, or business strategy roles.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning business, technology, and operations.
• Strong program execution leadership with clear milestones, dependencies, and decision points.
• Ability to manage cross-functional dependencies and drive decisions.
• Excellent communication to senior leadership and diverse stakeholders.
• Proven ability to operate in ambiguity while maintaining forward progress.
• Experience influencing outcomes in a highly matrixed organization without direct authority.
• Strong stakeholder management with senior leaders across functions.

Responsibilities

• Translate strategy into executable programs with milestones and decision points.
• Drive delivery with governance, risk management, and readiness practices.
• Collaborate across a matrixed organization to align senior stakeholders.
• Reduce delivery risk and enable sustainable transformation across multiple initiatives.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic planning

Ambiguity navigation

Executive communication

Stakeholder management

Influence without authority

Delivery governance

Job description

Your opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

As a Strategic Program Lead focused on Digital Asset and transformation initiatives, you will play a critical role in translating strategy into execution across complex, cross-functional programs. You will serve as a central driver of aligned delivery, connecting business, technology, operations, and risk partners to ensure initiatives move forward with clarity, accountability, and momentum.

In this role, you’ll bring structure to ambiguity and guide programs from early planning through execution and operational readiness. By shaping actionable plans, defining milestones, partnering with project management resources on delivery mechanics, and enabling timely decision-making, you’ll help ensure delivery remains predictable, efficient, and scalable as organizational complexity grows. Your ability to surface risks early, frame trade-offs clearly, and guide leaders toward informed decisions will be essential to achieving strong outcomes.

You will collaborate closely within a highly matrixed environment, influencing without direct authority while building alignment across senior stakeholders. Through a disciplined approach to execution, you will help strengthen governance practices, improve visibility into program health, and contribute to building repeatable execution practices across programs. Your work will elevate discussions from status updates to forward-looking, decision-oriented conversations while directly contributing to reducing delivery risk, enhancing readiness at launch, and enabling sustainable transformation across a growing portfolio of initiatives.

What you have

To ensure that we fulfill our promise of "challenging the status quo," this role has specific qualifications that successful candidates should have.

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in program execution, transformation, or business strategy roles
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning business, technology, and operations teams
• Strong program execution leadership, with an ability to translate strategic objectives into clear execution plans, including milestones, dependencies, and decision points
• Strong ability to manage cross-functional dependencies and drive decisions
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly to senior leadership and diverse stakeholders
• Proven ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, balancing competing priorities while maintaining forward progress
• Experience influencing outcomes and driving accountability across a highly matrixed organization without direct authority
• Strong stakeholder management experience with senior leaders across multiple functions

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting large-scale transformation initiatives or emerging business areas such as Digital Assets
• Demonstrated ability to build and scale repeatable execution practices, governance frameworks, or program disciplines
• Familiarity with risk-aware delivery approaches, including operational readiness planning and decision governance frameworks

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities

What’s in it for you

At Schwab, you’re empowered to shape your future. We champion your growth through meaningful work, continuous learning, and a culture of trust and collaboration—so you can build the skills to make a lasting impact. Our Hybrid Work and Flexibility approach balances our ongoing commitment to workplace flexibility, serving our clients, and our strong belief in the value of being together in person on a regular basis.

We offer a competitive benefits package that takes care of the whole you – both today and in the future:

• 401(k) with company match and Employee stock purchase plan
• Paid time for vacation, volunteering, and 28-day sabbatical after every 5 years of service for eligible positions
• Paid parental leave and family building benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• Health, dental, and vision insurance