At Discover, be part of a culture where diversity, teamwork and collaboration reign. Join a company that is just as employee-focused as it is on its customers and is consistently awarded for both. We’re all about people, and our employees are why Discover is a great place to work. Be the reason we help millions of consumers build a brighter financial future and achieve yours along the way with a rewarding career.

The Innovation IT Project Manager is dedicated to the Innovation Office within the Business Strategy and Architecture Technology organization. The Project Manager will support the Innovation Office’s assessments, pilots, deployments and communication of new technologies. The role requires understanding of Discover business needs and the strategic direction of the Business Technology organization. The Project Manager will help support communication, event/meeting coordination within the Innovation Office and within the Innovation Office community and network. This person will also help organize and manage Innovation Office vendors, processes, and reporting.

This person will have an opportunity to grow their project management skillset while being part of an exciting technology team that focuses on a number of industry-related technological trends. We are looking for a candidate that will be comfortable with the flexible nature of the Innovation Office team work while adapting and contributing to various activities within the department.

Responsibilities:

This individual’s primary responsibilities as part of the Innovation Office team will include project planning and execution, innovation experiment tracking and reporting, as well as coordinating communications, events, demonstrations and meetings:

• Organize demonstrations of experiments, symposiums, and meeting coordination
• Vendor onboarding and management
• Organize functions with other departments, townhalls, lunch and learns
• Create quarterly department newsletters to support awareness of what our team is doing
• Assist with 3rd party/vendor talent interviews and onboarding
• Help with building, organizing, managing our projects, processes/reporting for Innovation Office activities

The internal Innovation Ecosystem includes:

• Business and Business Technology stakeholders, through the Innovation Council and through a broader network of business and BT colleagues
• Innovation Team technology gurus
• Innovation Team members
• Execution team (Story Teller, Designer, UX, Project Manager, etc.)

The external Innovation Ecosystem includes:

• External consulting resources (coding/delivery, general writing, etc.)
• Startups/entrepreneurs
• Universities
• Public institutions
• Research & development institutes
• Peer companies
• Customers

Additional Responsibilities:

• Initiates and leads projects, including creation of proposals, writing business requirements and negotiating timelines with business and technology partners. Coordinates the testing, installation and implementation of system modifications with the Processing Centers, business partners, internal applications teams and external vendors.
• Adheres to enterprise-wide company policies and procedures. Ensures compliance with federal, state and local regulatory mandates. Adheres to company guidelines for Change Management and the Product Development Process (PDP). Ensure the highest level of compliance with company directives regarding confidentiality, storage and access to secure data.
• Represents the organization as a primary contact on assigned projects. Utilizes expertise and leadership skills to direct natural work groups and to resolve issues to ensure project goals and requirements are met. Effectively and consistently communicate to provide timely and accurate information and status updates to all stakeholders.
• Solves unusual technical and business problems requiring innovative business solutions and state-of-the-industry subject matter expertise. Ensure solutions are consistent with organizational objectives.
• Responsible for managing all aspects of diverse, complex to very complex projects. This includes but not limited to project planning, execution, timing, functionality, testing, quality, cost benefit analysis, risk management, communication and documentation. Project types include new product launches, capital improvements, R&D, strategic initiatives and continuous improvement.

#LI-MF1

Minimum Qualifications

At a minimum, here’s what we need from you:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Communication or related field
• 2+ years of experience in Project Management, Operations or related field
• In lieu of a degree, 4+ years of experience in Project Management, Operations or related field

Preferred Qualifications

If we had our say, we’d also look for:

• Bachelor’s Degree (or equivalent experience)
• 2 + years of technology/business work experience
• Training in Project Management concepts and methodologies, Agile/Kanban understanding preferred but not required
• Background in administration, communications, or event planning helpful
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, with clear and confident verbal and written communication skills and high level of emotional intelligence
• Highly motivated, independent and adaptable individual, comfortable with ambiguity
• Organized, capable of effectively managing competing priorities, and delivering results
• Entrepreneurial attitude, willingness to tackle the unknown
• Outgoing and comfortable with communications inside and outside the organization
• Certification in Project Management
• SAFe (Scale Agile Framework), LEAN, or other Agile Certification (CSM, CSPO, Preferred, etc.)

Discover Financial Services is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, among other things, or as a qualified individual with a disability.

So, what are you waiting for? Apply today!