Manager, Transformation Performance and Finance

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

The Manager of Transformation Performance and Finance will establish the financial, performance-management and benefits-realization disciplines required to ensure that the Wealth Management transformation portfolio delivers its commitments. This manager will create a single, reliable view of investment, resource utilization, delivery performance, adoption, client and field outcomes, and realized value. 

Reporting to the Head of Transformation Enablement, the manager will oversee data and financial analysts and partner with Finance, Strategic Planning, Capital Management, Procurement, Technology, Product, Program Management and initiative leaders. The role will manage the full financial lifecycle of transformation activity, including annual planning, capital and expense budgets, forecasts, software and vendor costs, consulting arrangements, capitalization and utilization, reallocations, accruals, benefits tracking and executive reporting. 

This is a hands-on management role with enterprise visibility. The manager will not merely report historical results. The manager will challenge assumptions, identify performance gaps, improve the quality of decisions, and recommend actions when initiatives are over budget, underutilizing approved capital, missing milestones, failing to adopt, or not producing the intended client, field, operational or financial benefits. 

Key Responsibilities 

Transformation Performance Management 

• Design and own the integrated performance-management framework for the transformation portfolio, covering delivery, financial performance, client outcomes, advisor and employee impact, adoption, service, risk, controls and benefits realization. 

• Define standard KPI dictionaries, calculation methods, baselines, targets, data sources, owners, reporting frequency and escalation thresholds. 

• Create portfolio dashboards and executive reporting that distinguish activity, outputs, adoption, outcomes and realized benefits. 

• Establish a disciplined monthly performance review process and surface initiatives requiring intervention, additional evidence, reforecasting, scope change or discontinuation. 

• Ensure reporting is decision-oriented, concise and traceable to authoritative financial and operational data. 

Benefits Realization and Value Assurance 

• Create and maintain benefits records for each transformation initiative, including expected client, field, growth, revenue, expense, productivity, capacity, risk and service outcomes. 

• Validate benefit assumptions, baselines, timing, dependencies and accountable business owners before investment approval. 

• Monitor whether delivered capabilities are adopted and whether adoption is producing the expected outcomes. 

• Partner with initiative and business owners to define corrective actions when benefits are delayed, overstated or not supported by evidence. 

• Coordinate post-implementation reviews and maintain a clear line of sight from approved business case through realized value. 

Budgeting, Forecasting and Financial Planning 

• Lead annual and multi-year financial planning for the Transformation Office, including capital, operating expense, software, vendors, consulting, data, technology and internal resource requirements. 

• Coordinate transformation inputs to strategic planning, annual budgeting, quarterly forecasting and capital-planning processes. 

• Maintain initiative-level and portfolio-level budgets, forecasts, commitments, actuals, accruals, variances and estimate-at-completion views. 

• Develop scenario analyses and recommendations to support sequencing, funding tradeoffs, capacity decisions and portfolio reallocation. 

• Ensure financial plans reconcile across Transformation, Finance, Technology, Procurement and business records. 

Capital Governance and Utilization 

• Monitor approved capital, release schedules, capitalization eligibility, utilization, in-service timing and forecasted carryover in partnership with Finance and Accounting. 

• Identify underutilized, delayed or stranded capital early and recommend acceleration, reallocation, reforecasting or release. 

• Ensure initiative teams understand approved funding boundaries and provide timely evidence supporting capitalization and financial controls. 

• Prepare capital-governance materials and maintain a transparent record of funding decisions, conditions, changes and accountable owners. 

• Track the relationship between capital consumed, capabilities delivered, adoption achieved and benefits realized. 

Expense, Vendor and Consulting Management 

• Manage the transformation portfolio view of software licenses, subscriptions, data expenses, external services, contractors and consulting arrangements. 

• Coordinate statements of work, purchase orders, contract financials, rate cards, milestones, invoices, accruals, renewals and termination dates with Procurement, Legal and initiative owners. 

• Assess consulting and vendor utilization against contracted deliverables, internal capability transfer, budget and measurable value. 

• Identify duplicate tools, unused licenses, overlapping consulting scopes and other opportunities to reduce or redirect expense. 

• Maintain forward visibility into contractual commitments, renewal decisions and exit costs. 

Management Information and Data Quality 

• Establish the authoritative portfolio dataset and controls required for consistent reporting across finance, delivery, adoption and benefits. 

• Partner with source-system owners to improve data definitions, completeness, timeliness, reconciliation and lineage. 

• Automate recurring reporting and analysis where practical while maintaining appropriate review and control points. 

• Ensure assumptions, manual adjustments and data limitations are transparent in management reporting. 

• Produce targeted analyses that identify performance drivers, emerging risks and opportunities for resource or funding reallocation. 

Team Leadership 

• Lead, develop and set priorities for data analysts and financial analysts supporting the transformation portfolio. 

• Allocate analyst capacity across recurring reporting, planning cycles, initiative support, ad hoc analysis and executive requests. 

• Establish quality standards, review controls, documentation and cross-training to improve consistency and reduce key-person dependency. 

• Build team capability in financial analysis, data management, visualization, benefits realization, executive communication and business partnership. 

• Create a culture of constructive challenge, accuracy, responsiveness and accountability. 

Governance and Executive Support 

• Prepare materials for transformation investment, portfolio and performance forums, including financial position, KPI performance, benefits, risks and decisions required. 

• Maintain the portfolio decision log for budget changes, funding reallocations, benefit changes and material performance interventions. 

• Partner with initiative owners to ensure that investment requests are complete, comparable and grounded in measurable outcomes. 

• Support the Chief Transformation Officer and strategic transformation executives with fact-based insight and recommendations. 

Experience and Qualifications 

• 8+ years of progressive experience in financial planning and analysis, corporate finance, capital management, portfolio management, transformation performance, management information, consulting or related disciplines. 

• At least 3 years of people-management or substantial team-leadership experience, including responsibility for developing analysts and reviewing complex work products. 

• Proven experience managing capital and expense budgets, forecasts, vendor or consulting spend, accruals, variances and executive financial reporting. 

• Experience defining KPIs, managing benefits realization and integrating financial, operational and delivery data into decision-oriented reporting. 

• Strong analytical and data-management capability, including advanced spreadsheet skills and experience with financial, portfolio, visualization or business-intelligence tools. 

• Ability to challenge assumptions, reconcile inconsistent data, explain complex financial information clearly and influence senior stakeholders. 

• Experience in wealth management, banking, asset servicing, financial services, technology or another highly regulated environment preferred. 

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business, data analytics or a related field required; MBA, CPA, CFA or other relevant advanced credential preferred. 

Key Success Measures 

• Accurate and timely portfolio forecasts with reduced unexplained variance. 

• High utilization of approved capital and early identification of at-risk or stranded funding. 

• Clear linkage among investment, delivery, adoption and realized benefits. 

• Consistent KPI definitions and trusted executive reporting across the portfolio. 

• Reduced duplicate, unused or low-value vendor, consulting and software expense. 

• Timely interventions for initiatives that are off plan or not delivering expected value. 

• A high-performing analyst team with strong controls, documentation and succession capacity. 

Leadership Scope 

The manager will have direct responsibility for a team of data and financial analysts. The initial team size may evolve with the transformation portfolio. The role is expected to operate as both a people leader and a working manager, with direct involvement in planning, analysis, portfolio reviews and senior-management deliverables. 

Salary Range:

$137,400 - 233,600 USD

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).

Working with Us

As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.

Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.

Reasonable Accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected], or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.