Strategic Implementation, Managing Director - Wealth Custody & Clearing

State Street’s Wealth Custody & Clearing (WC&C) division is seeking a Managing Director, Strategic Implementation to serve as a senior execution leader accountable for delivering and governing the division’s highest-priority strategic initiatives. This role is responsible for building transparency, discipline, and predictable delivery across growth, transformation, regulatory commitments, and operational resilience. 

You will establish and lead a best-in-class program and portfolio management capability—acting as an execution “control tower” for WC&C—so senior leaders can make informed decisions, manage trade-offs, and deliver against business, client, and regulatory outcomes. You will partner across business, technology, operations, risk, compliance, legal, and finance, and engage effectively with external partners when required. 

This is a hands-on leadership role with direct accountability for execution outcomes in a highly matrixed, global environment. 

Key Responsibilities 

Enterprise Portfolio Ownership 

• Own the end‑to‑end governance and execution of WC&C’s strategic initiative portfolio, including growth initiatives, platform modernization, acquisitions and integrations, regulatory-driven programs, and large-scale client delivery efforts. 

• Set and enforce enterprise‑level prioritization, sequencing, and funding discipline across competing initiatives, ensuring capacity is aligned to strategic objectives. 

• Make and recommend trade‑offs across scope, timing, resourcing, and investment, escalating decisions appropriately to executive forums. 

Governance, Control & Transparency 

• Design, implement, and operate an enterprise‑grade PMO governance framework aligned to State Street standards, including decision forums, tollgates, risk thresholds, and escalation mechanisms. 

• Ensure consistent, credible, and decision‑oriented reporting across financials, milestones, dependencies, risks, and outcomes. 

• Proactively identify systemic execution risks and lead corrective action before issues impact clients, regulators, or firm commitments. 

Senior Executive & Board Engagement 

• Serve as a trusted execution advisor to WC&C senior leadership, translating strategy into executable plans and providing clear, fact‑based insights on delivery health. 

• Prepare and deliver executive‑level and board‑ready materials on program status, risks, investment performance, and delivery outlook. 

• Represent WC&C execution posture in senior governance forums, including Executive Committee, risk and control forums, and board‑level discussions as required. 

Financial & Outcome Accountability 

• Partner with Finance to establish rigorous tracking of investments, benefits realization, and financial outcomes across the portfolio. 

• Ensure execution against approved business cases, regulatory commitments, and client obligations, with clear ownership for results. 

• Drive a culture of outcomes over activity, focusing on value delivered rather than volume of initiatives. 

Organization & Capability Leadership 

• Build, lead, and continuously mature a WC&C PMO organization capable of supporting enterprise‑scale delivery. 

• Set clear expectations for execution excellence, leadership presence, and senior stakeholder engagement across direct and matrixed teams. 

• Establish common standards, tools, and methodologies appropriate for a GSIB‑regulated, client‑critical environment. 

Success in this role (first 6–12 months) 

• Establish a clear portfolio operating rhythm (forums, tollgates, escalation paths) and embed it across WC&C. 

• Deliver consistent, decision-oriented portfolio reporting (milestones, dependencies, financials, risks, and outcomes) that leadership trusts and uses. 

• Drive prioritization and capacity alignment across major programs, surfacing trade-offs early and enabling timely executive decisions. 

• Strengthen delivery discipline across the portfolio, reducing surprises through proactive risk management and structured issue resolution. 

• Build and/or mature the WC&C PMO capability (people, standards, tools) to support enterprise-scale delivery. 

What we’re looking for 

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in portfolio, program, or enterprise transformation roles within financial services or similarly complex, regulated institutions. 

• Experience operating at Managing Director (or equivalent) level with accountability for enterprise-scale execution outcomes. 

• Proven ability to lead large, interdependent portfolios spanning business, technology, operations, and control functions (risk, compliance, legal, finance). 

• Comfort navigating ambiguity and driving clarity, structure, and momentum across competing priorities. 

• Track record of influencing senior leaders and driving alignment in highly matrixed, global organizations. 

• Strong executive communication skills, including creation of clear, decision-oriented materials for senior leadership and, when needed, board-level audiences. 

• PMP or other relevant certification preferred. 

Preferred qualifications 

• Experience supporting custody, wealth services, asset servicing, and/or capital markets businesses. 

• Background in acquisitions, integrations, platform transformation, and/or operating model redesign. 

• Direct exposure to executive committees, boards, regulators, and/or external stakeholders. 

• Familiarity with portfolio management, PMO, and financial tracking platforms and tooling.