Corporate Strategy Manager Sr

GENERAL SUMMARY:

This position will require the applicant to work 3-days per week at our op center located in El Segundo, CA.

The position is a dedicated strategy role at Kinecta and is responsible for the analytical and program engine behind enterprise strategy: the annual and long-range strategic planning process, the enterprise OKR framework, initiative tracking and benefits realization, competitive and market intelligence, and merger, acquisition and partnership evaluation. The position serves as an internal strategy consultant to the executive management team, scoping ambiguous business questions, building the fact base and financial analysis required to answer them, and converting that analysis into recommendations that executives and the Board can act on.

NATURE AND SCOPE OF POSITION:

The position works with a minimal amount of supervision and direction, is self-motivated, and is authorized to take reasonable actions necessary to carry out the assigned responsibilities of the position, provided that such action is consistent with cost-effective practices and with the policy and procedures of Kinecta Federal Credit Union. The position is defined by the ambiguity of the problems it receives work typically arrives as an unstructured executive question rather than a defined assignment, and the incumbent is expected to structure the problem, source the data, select the analytical approach, form a point of view, and bring back a recommendation with the reasoning exposed. The position operates across every division of the Credit Union and its CUSOs, engages regularly with the executive management team, and prepares material presented to the Board of Directors.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities. The incumbent is expected to lead cross-functional project teams, direct the work of resources assigned to strategic initiatives, and set analytical standards for contributors outside their reporting line. As the enterprise strategy function matures, this position may be expanded to include direct reports.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Planning Duties:

• Owns the mechanics of the annual and long-range strategic planning process end to end — the planning calendar, pre-work, executive and Board sessions, and the resulting written plan — in support of the VP Finance & Treasury and the executive management team.
• Builds the analytical pre-work that makes the planning conversation productive: macroeconomic and industry outlook, PESTLE trend assessment, peer benchmarking, balance sheet and earnings trajectory scenarios, and quantified sizing of the strategic options on the table.
• Translates strategic direction into a costed, sequenced multi-year roadmap, and works with Finance to reconcile that roadmap to the financial plan so that strategy and budget describe the same institution.
• Maintains the strategic plan as a living document between planning cycles, refreshing assumptions as conditions change and surfacing where the plan and reality have diverged.

Enterprise OKR and Initiative Tracking Duties:

• Administers the enterprise OKR framework: intake and validation of objectives and key results against the Credit Union’s admission standard (stated baseline, numeric target, specific due date, named single owner, and outcome rather than activity), maintenance of the OKR register, and enforcement of check-in cadence.
• Produces the monthly executive pack and the quarterly Board roll-up
• Maintains the enterprise initiative portfolio: scope, sponsor, dependencies, milestones, resource commitments and status; escalates slippage and unowned dependencies to the executive management team with a recommended decision attached.
• Conducts post-implementation benefits realization analysis, comparing actual results against the business case commitments made by the executive and business sponsor, and reports findings without softening them.

Competitive Intelligence and Market Analysis Duties:

• Maintains a standing competitive intelligence capability covering California credit union and bank peers, national credit union peers, digital-first and fintech entrants, and adjacent non-bank competitors across product, pricing, distribution, digital capability, growth and financial performance.
• Builds and refreshes peer benchmarking analysis using call report, Callahan, S&P Capital IQ and comparable industry data sources, with particular attention to performance gaps that carry a quantified earnings implication.
• Monitors regulatory, technological, demographic and competitive developments in financial services, and proactively advises leadership on the ones with genuine strategic consequence for Kinecta — filtering signal from volume rather than circulating a news digest.
• Delivers findings as executive-ready analysis with the recommendation stated up front, the supporting evidence traceable, and the uncertainty acknowledged.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Development Duties:

• Supports the development and execution of the Credit Union’s merger and acquisition strategy, including the framework for identifying, screening and prioritizing targets of opportunity.
• Performs target screening and preliminary evaluation: financial and credit profile, balance sheet and capital impact, field-of-membership and geographic fit, cultural and operational compatibility, and estimated synergy value.
• Builds and maintains merger and acquisition financial models covering pro forma capital, earnings accretion or dilution, purchase accounting impact, and integration cost, in coordination with Finance, Accounting and Risk.
• Coordinates due diligence workstreams across business units and external advisors, tracks findings to resolution, and maintains the diligence record.
• Evaluates CUSO investments, fintech partnerships and other inorganic growth opportunities, developing the business case, revenue model and recommendation for executive and Board review.

Cross-Enterprise Initiatives and Executive Support Duties:

• Leads or serves as the analytical lead on cross-organizational initiatives that do not sit naturally within a single business unit, providing structure, project discipline and objective analysis where ownership is shared or unclear.
• Develops business cases, financial models and decision papers for major investments, new lines of business, channel and market expansion, and significant vendor or partnership commitments.
• Prepares material for the Board of Directors, the executive management team and management committees, and presents that material directly.
• Acts as a neutral, credible party across divisions, capable of pressure-testing a business unit’s numbers and assumptions without damaging the working relationship.
• Establishes the operating standards of the strategy function — analytical templates, documentation, source discipline and reporting cadence — so that the work is reproducible and does not depend on a single individual.

NON-ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Performs other duties including special projects as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Structured, hypothesis-driven problem solving: the ability to take an unbounded business question, decompose it into answerable parts, identify the analysis that would actually change the answer, and reach a defensible conclusion on a deadline.
• High tolerance for ambiguity and demonstrated ability to operate productively with minimal direction. This position is expected to define its own workplan, set its own intermediate deadlines, and return with a recommendation rather than a request for further instruction.
• Strong financial modeling and quantitative analysis capability, including business case construction, scenario and sensitivity analysis, valuation, and return-on-investment and risk-adjusted return concepts.
• Executive communication and storytelling: the ability to compress a complex analysis into a clear written recommendation and a small number of well-constructed exhibits, and to defend that recommendation under questioning from executives and Board members.
• Intellectual honesty and the willingness to deliver findings that are unwelcome, including to senior stakeholders and about initiatives already underway.
• Strong project and program management skills, including scope definition, dependency management, milestone tracking, and stakeholder communication across functions.
• Ability to build influence and credibility without formal authority across a matrixed organization.
• Knowledge of the financial services industry — institutions, competitive dynamics, the regulatory environment, and the economics of retail banking and credit union products — or demonstrated ability to acquire industry depth rapidly.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Working knowledge of Power BI, SQL, and peer and market data platforms (Callahan, S&P Capital IQ, NCUA call report data or equivalent) preferred.

Education, Training and Experience:

Potential candidates for this position must meet the following requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, or a related field required. MBA or CFA preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive experience in corporate strategy, management consulting, corporate development, investment banking, or a comparable analytical and advisory role.
• At least 2 years in a top-tier or regional management consulting firm, or in a dedicated corporate strategy function, strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience owning strategic analysis end to end — from problem framing through executive recommendation — with limited oversight.
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, or corporate development transactions preferred.
• Financial services, banking or credit union industry experience preferred; strong candidates from outside the industry with demonstrated learning velocity will be considered.
• Experience with strategic planning processes and goal-setting frameworks such as OKRs preferred.
• Employee must adhere to all compliance regulations in the strictest manner during the performance of their job duties.

One year of relevant professional-level work experience may be substituted for one year of required education.

WORKING CONDITIONS :

• The working environment is generally favorable. Lighting and temperature are adequate, and there are no hazardous or unpleasant conditions caused by noise, dust, etc.
• The job may require flexibility with regards to scheduling days, hours, and work location, depending on business needs.
• The job is typically sedentary but may require standing and walking up to 35% of the work time to transfer files, ask questions, and related activities.

PHYSICAL ABILITIES, MENTAL DEMANDS, AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

Must be able to exercise sound judgment, effectively plan and be well organized, have excellent oral and written communications skills, work well under changing timelines, take the initiative and be flexible and cooperative. Accuracy, timeliness and maintaining confidentiality related to member, employee information and company records is required.

While performing the job duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to sit; talk or hear in person and by telephone; use hands to operate standard office equipment; reach with hands and arms; lift minimum 10 lbs.The employee is frequently required to walk and stand. Vision abilities required by this job include close vision and the ability to adjust focus to read and operate office equipment, as necessary. The employee works under typical office conditions and noise levels.

Disclaimer:

The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.