Senior Director - Enterprise Strategy (Enterprise Strategy and Competitive Intelligence)

About the team

Joining Northwestern Mutual's Enterprise Strategy team accelerates your career by engaging in impactful and complex projects with high visibility. You will be part of a highly collaborative team that prioritizes learning, professional development, and mentorship. Our team works closely with executives to build long-term outcomes, translate them into enterprise-wide strategic priorities, and guide investment decisions. You will partner across the organization and within our strategy team to leverage both internal and external perspectives to inform our strategy.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

In this role, you will be defining industry-leading strategies to drive enterprise growth and performance. You will lead fast-paced, high-priority projects essential to senior management and foundational to maintaining our competitive advantage. You will drive discussions with senior leaders across the enterprise to make strategic investments that significantly impact the company's future direction and performance. Key responsibilities include:

• Conducting thorough market analysis to evaluate opportunities, assess alignment with Northwestern Mutual's business model, estimate financial and organizational impact, and secure stakeholder approval to integrate into company priorities and execution plans.

• Leading cross-functional teams to build strategic priorities, establish clear success metrics through outcomes and key results, and partner with the business to craft the associated business case(s).

• Developing thought leadership and strategic perspectives that will drive discussion with senior leadership and oversight committees, including Board of Trustees meetings, Policyowners Examining Committee, and executive leadership meetings.

• Managing, training, and developing the next generation of Enterprise Strategists, fostering a team of strong, strategic thinkers for the company.

Joining our team means being at the forefront our strategy. We partner with executives to shape the future direction and performance of Northwestern Mutual.

What this role needs...

• Experience: 10+ years in strategy consulting, corporate strategy, startups, investment banking, private equity/venture capital, or similar roles, with at least 1+ year leading teams.

• Education: Bachelor's degree required, Masters or MBA preferred.

• Strategic Problem Solving: Expertise in navigating complex business challenges using structured problem-solving to develop recommendations and facilitate executive decision-making.

• Strategic frameworks: Extensive experience using industry strategy frameworks, including evolving them to be fit-for-purpose to support a comprehensive strategy development process.

• Initiative: Demonstrates high personal initiative by setting and achieving challenging goals, working comfortably under tight deadlines, and exhibiting entrepreneurial leadership.

• Strategic thought leadership: Expert in cultivating an enterprise-wide perspectives to enhance overall strategy, backed by data-driven insights, market analysis, competitive intelligence, and research.

• Communication: Skilled in storytelling and executive communication, capable of preparing and delivering presentations that articulate insights and synthesize complex ideas into accessible formats for c-suite and board audiences.

• Collaboration: Proven ability to build collaborative, cross-functional relationships across all organizational levels. Direct experience developing relationships with senior level executives.

• Leadership: Strong presentation and facilitation skills, with experience in coaching and mentorship.

• Technical Skills: Advanced proficiency in MS Excel and PowerPoint; familiarity with writing executive memos.

• People Management: Exceptional skills in leading small teams, setting clear goals, coaching strategic skillsets, and fostering a positive team culture.

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