Company: Union Bank of the Philippines
Position: IT Strategy Lead
Office Location:
Job Summary: The IT Strategy Lead is responsible for formulating and supporting the execution of the bank's IT strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and innovation objectives. This role works closely with Enterprise Architecture and other architecture teams to ensure strategic coherence across technology domains. The officer plays a key role in strategic planning, performance tracking, and stakeholder engagement to drive technology-enabled business transformation
Duties And Responsibilities
Strategic Planning and Execution
- Develop and maintain the bank's IT strategic roadmap, ensuring alignment with corporate, regulatory, and business unit priorities.
- Conduct strategic assessments of technology trends, market developments, regulatory changes, and internal capability readiness.
- Translate enterprise and business strategies into actionable IT programs with clear value, cost, and risk considerations.
- Integrate cost-efficiency strategies across platforms into planning and prioritization efforts.
- Define strategic guidelines on AI adoption, including where to apply low-code, no-code, automation, and advanced analytics.
Enterprise Architecture Alignment
- Coordinate with Enterprise Architecture to ensure proposed initiatives are technically feasible, cost-efficient, compliant, and aligned with architectural standards.
- Participate in joint planning cycles to harmonize strategic priorities, architectural blueprints, and investment decisions.
- Support Build vs. Buy evaluations, ensuring decisions are actionable and based on business value, cost, risk, and long-term scalability.
Enterprise Architecture Alignment
- Coordinate with Enterprise Architecture to ensure proposed initiatives are technically feasible, cost-efficient, compliant, and aligned with architectural standards.
- Participate in joint planning cycles to harmonize strategic priorities, architectural blueprints, and investment decisions.
- Support Build vs. Buy evaluations, ensuring decisions are actionable and based on business value, cost, risk, and long-term scalability.
Analytics and Reporting
- Define and maintain KPIs for IT strategy, major programs, and transformation outcomes.
- Prepare executive-level dashboards and insights on initiative progress, cost efficiency, performance gaps, and strategic risks.
- Drive performance analysis aligned to corporate strategy, enabling timely recalibration of programs and resource allocation.
- Oversee the performance of enterprise reporting, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with strategic priorities.
- Recommend adjustments to strategies based on performance insights, operational trends, and business needs.
Risk, Regulatory & Compliance Alignment
- Ensure IT strategies and programs comply with regulatory rules, risk frameworks, cybersecurity standards, and industry best practices.
- Embed compliance considerations into early-stage planning, technology adoption, data governance, and solution design.
- Collaborate with Risk, Compliance, and Audit units to assess and mitigate strategic and operational risks.
- Integrate Business Continuity Planning (BCP) strategy, ensuring readiness and intra-year implementation across IT and critical platforms.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Engage with business leaders to understand priorities, regulatory trends, and operational pain points, ensuring IT remains a strategic partner.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration with IT, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Operations, and external partners.
- Support strategic governance forums, investment committees, and performance review boards.
- Communicate strategy updates, regulatory impacts, performance outcomes, and technology roadmaps to senior management and key stakeholders.
People & Capability Strategy
- Support the development of IT capability roadmaps, competency frameworks, and workforce planning.
- Provide strategic input on talent development, succession needs, and future skills, including AI proficiency, coding standards, and automation literacy.
- Promote a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and engineering discipline across IT teams.
Required Skills
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Business Management, Human Resources, or a related field. Advanced degree preferred.
- Strong knowledge of banking regulations, compliance requirements, and industry standards.
- Familiarity (preferably with certification) in Strategic Management, Digital Transformation, or Innovation (e.g., Balanced Scorecard, ITIL, COBIT).
- Familiarity with architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF) is beneficial but not required.
- Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
- Analytical mindset with a focus on problem-solving and decision-making.
- Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives concurrently.
