Identity Program Lead

This role owns an enterprise identity governance and entitlement management program from strategy through go-live and transition to operations. As product owner and decision coordinator, the lead aligns Information Security, IT, HR, Compliance, application owners, a managed services partner, and implementation vendors across the Customer Identity and Access Management and Identity Governance Lifecycle implementations.

Logistics: Remote, contract (US). Must be located within driving distance of CT for quarterly site visits.

Here's what you'll be doing:

• Own the workstream vision, roadmap, delivery backlog, priorities, acceptance criteria, decisions, risks, and dependencies
• Lead recurring status, requirements, design, governance, and decision forums, and report progress, blockers, and recommendations to program and security leadership
• Coordinate delivery across Information Security, IT, HR, Compliance, Legal/Privacy, business teams, application owners, technical SMEs, a managed identity services partner, and implementation partners
• Review and formally approve deliverables with traceability from requirements through design, testing, deployment, and operational handoff
• Sequence dependencies with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud and nCino role and profile design, the customer portal, CIAM and fine-grained authorization, integrations, and data initiatives
• Direct IGA platform selection and implementation against business, technical, integration, security, and operational requirements
• Establish governance for authoritative identity sources, joiner/mover/leaver lifecycle states, access requests, approvals, provisioning and deprovisioning, access certification, RBAC, separation of duties, reporting, and exception management
• Build entitlement models that support least privilege, need-to-know access, customer data protection, segregation of duties, and auditable approvals
• Oversee non-human identity and service account governance, including inventory, ownership, lifecycle policy, and accountable use
• Define decision rights and ownership for identity policies, roles, entitlements, certifications, exceptions, and application onboarding
• Oversee authoritative source integration and phased onboarding of prioritized business applications
• Direct business testing, including test planning, requirements traceability, defect remediation, integration validation, rollback planning, security validation, and go-live readiness
• Coordinate release and environment promotion for access control changes and verify reconciliation, monitoring, and operational support
• Deliver hypercare, operational runbooks, application onboarding guides, configuration documentation, and knowledge transfer
• Partner with GRC, Compliance, Legal/Privacy, and Internal Audit on control design, access reviews, separation of duties, evidence, reporting, and regulatory readiness
• Establish KPIs and KRIs for access requests, lifecycle timeliness, certification completion, provisioning exceptions, reconciliation, policy violations, and application onboarding
• Drive corrective actions, escalate unresolved decisions, and mature identity governance based on audit results, incidents, stakeholder feedback, and evolving threats

And what you need to have:

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Computer Science, or a related field (Master's or equivalent experience preferred)
• 8+ years of progressive experience in IAM, IGA, cybersecurity, enterprise applications, or technology program delivery
• 3+ years leading complex cross-functional identity initiatives or serving as an IAM/IGA product owner
• Working knowledge of SailPoint, Saviynt, Microsoft Entra ID Governance, Okta, or comparable IGA platforms
• IGA operating models and lifecycle governance, RBAC, ABAC, ReBAC, separation of duties, access certification, privileged and non-human identity governance
• API and application integration concepts
• NIST CSF, NIST SP 800-53, FFIEC, and sector regulator expectations
• Proven ability to manage vendors and hold service providers accountable for deliverables and operational readiness
• Regulated financial services experience and managed service provider coordination strongly preferred
• Preferred certifications: CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CISA, CGEIT, or an IGA/IAM platform certification; PMP, PMI-ACP, or Certified Scrum Product Owner

No CTC or sponsorship at this time.