Job Description:We are actively seeking a talented
VP, Head of Enterprise Program Management Office (ePMO) to join Pacific Life in Newport Beach, CA reporting to the EVP, Chief Financial Officer. In this role, you will build and lead a new enterprise center of excellence that strengthens how Pacific Life prioritizes, governs, and delivers its most important strategic initiatives.
This leader will establish enterprise-wide portfolio and program management standards through a hub-and-spoke model, serving as the enterprise Hub while enabling divisions and functions to retain the agility and subject-matter expertise needed to execute within their businesses. The division and function PMOs will maintain direct alignment to their respective leaders and operate as the spokes of the model, with a dotted-line relationship to the ePMO.
Success will require an enterprise mindset, strong executive influence, practical transformation leadership, and the ability to create commitment across a highly matrixed international organization. This leader will build the ePMO team, operating model, governance forums, capabilities, and performance discipline needed to translate strategy into measurable outcomes.
How you'll help move us forward:Build the Enterprise PMO and Center of Excellence- Create the ePMO vision, mandate, operating model, roadmap, and service portfolio in alignment with enterprise strategy and business priorities.
- Build and lead a high-performing team with the portfolio, program, change, analytics, and governance capabilities required to support enterprise priorities.
- Establish the ePMO as a practical center of excellence that provides standards, tools, expertise, coaching, and decision support without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Define clear roles, decision rights, engagement models, and escalation paths across the hub-and-spoke model, with direct accountability for executing the enterprise Hub and enabling effective coordination with division/function PMOs.
Enterprise Portfolio Governance and Prioritization- Establish an enterprise-wide portfolio governance framework that connects strategic priorities, investments, capacity, risks, dependencies, and expected business value.
- Partner with executive leaders to evaluate, sequence, and prioritize initiatives using transparent criteria and enterprise-level tradeoffs.
- Design and facilitate executive governance forums that enable timely decisions, resolve cross-enterprise constraints, and maintain accountability for outcomes.
- Create a consistent approach for initiative intake, business cases, stage gates, health assessments, benefits realization, and closure.
Standards, Methods, and Delivery Excellence- Develop scalable standards, playbooks, templates, and minimum controls for portfolio, program, and project management across the organization.
- Establish common definitions and reporting practices for scope, milestones, financials, resources, risks, issues, dependencies, and value realization.
- Implement an appropriate mix of agile, hybrid, and traditional delivery disciplines based on initiative complexity, risk, and business need.
- Lead independent health reviews and recovery planning for strategically important initiatives when greater enterprise support or intervention is needed.
Matrixed Global Leadership and Partnership- Create a strong ePMO community across the enterprise by leading the Hub and connecting division/functional PMOs as spokes through a consistent dotted-line model.
- Influence senior leaders without direct authority and build shared ownership for enterprise standards, portfolio transparency, and delivery outcomes.
- Balance enterprise consistency with regional, regulatory, business, and functional requirements across a complex global financial services environment.
- Partner closely with Strategy, Finance, Risk, Technology, Data, Operations, People Experience, and business leaders to connect strategic intent to execution.
- Partner with People Experience to encourage ways of working and leadership practices that enable Execution Excellence across the enterprise.
Insights, Technology, and Continuous Improvement- Develop executive dashboards and concise portfolio narratives that surface progress, decisions, interdependencies, risk, capacity, and value.
- Use portfolio data and scenario analysis to improve investment decisions, resource allocation, and sequencing of enterprise work.
- Advance the use of modern project portfolio management platforms, workflow automation, data, and AI-enabled tools to improve visibility and execution.
- Build enterprise program management capability through assessment, learning, communities of practice, coaching, and talent development.
The experience you bring:- 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in enterprise portfolio management, transformation, strategy execution, program management, or a related discipline, including significant experience leading complex enterprise initiatives.
- Demonstrated success building, transforming, or resetting an enterprise PMO, portfolio management, or transformation function, including establishing the mandate, operating model, governance routines, standards, and adoption roadmap.
- Experience leading in financial services, insurance, or another highly regulated industry; strong understanding of governance, risk, controls, and regulatory considerations.
- Proven ability to operate across a highly matrixed, international organization and influence executive stakeholders, business leaders, and functional partners without relying on direct authority.
- Experience building and developing high-performing teams and leading a hub-and-spoke PMO model, including direct accountability for the enterprise Hub and dotted-line relationships with division/function PMOs.
- Track record building high-performing teams and communities of practice, while coaching, teaching, and enabling leaders and project teams to adopt practical portfolio, program, and project management best practices.
- Expertise establishing governance frameworks with broad organizational adoption, including enterprise portfolio governance, investment prioritization, resource and capacity planning, financial management, risk and dependency management, executive reporting, and benefits realization.
- Strong business and financial acumen, with the ability to connect strategy, execution, financial outcomes, organizational capacity planning, investment choices, execution risk, and measurable enterprise value.
- Exceptional executive presence, relationship-building, communication, and influence skills, including the ability to simplify complex information, facilitate difficult tradeoff decisions, and shape executive investment and prioritization decisions.
- Bachelor's degree required; an advanced degree such as an MBA and relevant credentials such as PMP, PgMP, PfMP, or equivalent are preferred.
What makes you stand out:- You are an enterprise leader who combines strategic perspective with execution excellence-creating the discipline, accountability, and operating rhythms required to turn strategy into measurable results.
- You build trust quickly, listen well, and create alignment across leaders with different priorities, operating models, and regional needs.
- You know how to introduce standards and governance in a way that improves speed, clarity, and accountability rather than creating process for its own sake.
- You bring a relentless focus on execution quality, ensuring enterprise initiatives have clear ownership, practical milestones, visible risks, and the follow-through needed to deliver outcomes at pace.
- You are comfortable building a function from the ground up, shaping the mandate while also establishing the foundational team, routines, and tools.
- You lead with courage, integrity, partnership, and enduring strength, and create an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives improve decisions.
- You are curious about emerging technology and use data, automation, and AI responsibly to improve portfolio insight and delivery effectiveness.
Base Salary Range:
$245,000 - $315,000
#LI-JVI1
Base Pay Range:The base pay range noted represents the company's good faith minimum and maximum range for this role at the time of posting. The actual compensation offered to a candidate will be dependent upon several factors, including but not limited to experience, qualifications and geographic location. Also, most employees are eligible for additional incentive pay.
Your Benefits Start Day 1 Your wellbeing is important to Pacific Life, and we're committed to providing you with flexible benefits that you can tailor to meet your needs. Whether you are focusing on your physical, financial, emotional, or social wellbeing, we've got you covered.
- Prioritization of your health and well-being including Medical, Dental, Vision, and Wellbeing Reimbursement Account that can be used on yourself or your eligible dependents
- Generous paid time off options including: Paid Time Off, Holiday Schedules, and Financial Planning Time Off
- Paid Parental Leave as well as an Adoption Assistance Program
- Competitive 401k savings plan with company match and an additional contribution regardless of participation
You Can Be Who You AreWe are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion that embraces the authenticity of all employees, partners and communities. We support all employees to thrive and achieve their fullest potential.
What's life like at Pacific Life? Visit Instagram.com/lifeatpacificlife
