Manager, IT Portfolio at The Institutes in Malvern, AR

About The Institutes
Located in beautiful Malvern, Pennsylvania, The Institutes® are a not-for-profit comprised of diverse affiliates that educate, elevate, and connect people in the essential disciplines of risk management and insurance. Through products and services offered by our nearly 20 affiliated business units, people and organizations are empowered to help those in need with a focus on understanding, predicting, and preventing losses to create a more resilient world.
Additionally, we understand the importance of work-life balance—in 2026 Philly.com named us a Top Workplace for the eleventh year and USA Today named us a USA Top Workplace for the fourth year. We provide excellent benefits and a friendly, team-focused work environment to drive employee engagement.
Manager, IT Portfolio
The Institutes’ IT organization is deliberate regarding how technology work is selected, routed, and delivered, and this role runs the project intake. Reporting to the Chief Information Officer, the Manager, Portfolio leads a small portfolio office that owns intake and prioritization for all technology work, the consolidated IT budget process, consultant contracts and procurement, vendor commercial performance, and outcome reporting to executive leadership.
This is deliberately not a traditional PMO position. We have been replacing heavy project-management overhead with an AI-first operating model, and we are hiring for judgment and communication rather than process apparatus. The role also carries a mandate to study the function and recommend its long-term design for automation and sourcing mix.
What We Mean by AI-First
AI-first does not mean being comfortable with chat tools. It means your first instinct when facing a coordination or reporting demand is an automated workflow, not added process, meetings, or headcount. From day one, this role runs intake triage, monthly status assembly from systems of record, budget variance reporting, and contract-renewal monitoring through AI-enabled workflows, reserving human judgment for what machines should not decide: what to prioritize, what to stop, and what to tell executives. We measure delivery outcomes from systems of record, not self-reported status. If you have designed or operated agent-based workflows inside a real business process, you will recognize the difference, and this job will feel like an opportunity.
What You’ll Do:
Operate a single front door for technology demand: ensure every initiative enters with a clear owner, intended outcome, and risk level, and decide what the delivery system accepts.
Route work by risk and complexity in partnership with engineering leaders; manage capacity and work-in-process; bring evidence-based continue/stop recommendations to the CIO.
Own the consolidated IT budget process — OPEX and CAPEX forecasting, variance analysis, and capitalization treatment — and the shared-services and portfolio budget lines.
Manage consultant contracts, renewals, and purchase workflows; own IT procurement governance; run vendor performance scorecards and commercial relationships.
Deliver outcome and benefits reporting that connects delivered work to business value for executive audiences — assembled automatically, narrated by you.
Lead a small blended team of employees and consultants spanning business engagement and project delivery, developing people while streamlining the work itself.
What We’re Looking For:
8+ years in IT portfolio, program, or delivery management, with at least 3 years managing teams — including blended employee/consultant teams.
Hands-on experience designing and operating agent-based AI workflows for business processes (intake triage, report assembly, analytics) — beyond personal-productivity use of AI tools.
Demonstrated command of IT budgeting (OPEX/CAPEX), vendor and contract management, and executive-level reporting.
An evidence instinct: you trust metrics drawn from systems of record over status decks, and you build reporting that keeps itself honest.
Executive-grade communication and facilitation, and the judgment and diplomacy to lead organizational design work involving established colleagues.
Experience redesigning or standing up a function, including workforce planning and sourcing transitions preferred.
Lean/flow-based delivery experience; business analysis background preferred.
Key Competencies
AI-First Delivery Orientation
Portfolio and Financial Management
Experimental mindset
AI Fluency
Resource Planning
Business Analysis
Decision Making
Communication
Relationship Building
Prioritization and Time Management
Enterprise Perspective
Vendor and Contract Management
Leadership
Strive to reflect our five cultural values in all efforts: Put the Customer First, Do What You Say, Work Together, Be Innovative and Do the Right Thing
The Best Part? The Benefits!
To enforce the importance of work-life balance, employees enjoy excellent benefits, including:
401(k) plan with company contribution up to 16%
Generous time off package that includes paid vacation, personal, sick, and holidays
Paid maternity and parental leave
Tuition reimbursement
Medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage
On our Malvern campus: Free lunch every day when working on campus, onsite fitness center, and a beautiful 1.25-mile walking path!