Overview:
The Executive Director - Strategic Initiatives serves as the enterprise execution lead for the company’s highest priority, cross-functional initiatives, translating leadership priorities into coordinated action across the organization.
This role operates at the intersection of Operations, Business Development, Finance, IT, Quality, and Innovation, establishing the structure, accountability, and execution discipline needed to drive complex initiatives to completion.
The Executive Director - Strategic Initiatives partners closely with General Managers and executive functional leaders to lead initiatives that span organizational boundaries, remove barriers and ensure alignment without adding unnecessary process or overhead.
This role is critical to enabling a more consistent, standardized approach to executing enterprise priorities, improving efficiency, and supporting scalable growth.
Responsibilities:
1. Drive Enterprise Initiative Execution
- Define and structure a focused portfolio of high-impact, company-level initiatives aligned to leadership priorities
- Establish clear ownership, success metrics, and milestones for each initiative
- Drive progress across functions, proactively identifying and resolving risks, dependencies, and bottlenecks
- Ensure accountability and sustained momentum between leadership touchpoints
2. Establish Enterprise Execution Frameworks
- Design and implement consistent, standardized approaches for managing cross-functional initiatives across the enterprise
- Introduce scalable frameworks, tools, and governance to improve visibility, coordination, and execution discipline
- Reduce reliance on ad-hoc coordination and workarounds by embedding repeatable operating mechanisms
3. Support Leadership Operating Rhythm
- Partner with the COO to establish and maintain a consistent enterprise operating cadence
- Provide clear, decision-ready views of initiative status, risks, and trade-offs for executive leadership
- Ensure follow-ups, decisions, and actions are tracked and executed across team
4. Enable Cross-Functional Alignment
- Work across Operations, Finance, IT, Business Development, HR, and Quality to align stakeholders on shared priorities
- Facilitate decision-making across organizational boundaries where ownership is distributed
- Support GMs and functional leaders in advancing initiatives that require coordination beyond their direct organizations
5. Support Key Strategic Efforts
- Partner with Innovation to translate concepts into executable plans and ensure progress is tracked and delivered
- Lead or support priority initiatives such as:
- forecasting discipline and financial visibility improvements
- program management capability enhancements
- development of internal tools (e.g., PM portal)
- operational visibility and reporting improvements
6. Implement Practical Execution Practices
- Introduce pragmatic, outcome-oriented approaches to breaking complex initiatives into manageable workstreams
- Drive clarity, accountability, and forward momentum across teams
- Avoid unnecessary process, focusing on execution, alignment, and measurable outcomes
Qualifications:
- 15–20+ years of experience in operations, program leadership, or enterprise transformation roles within complex organizations
- Proven track record of leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives that span multiple business units or functions
- Demonstrated ability to operate effectively at the executive level, influencing senior leaders and driving alignment without direct authority
- Experience establishing enterprise-level operating models, governance, or execution framework
- Strong ability to translate strategy into execution, structuring ambiguous problems into clear plans and deliverables
- Experience working in a cleared government contracting environment
- Experience navigating and resolving organizational complexity, competing priorities, and cross-functional dependencies
- Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to frame issues, drive decisions, and influence outcomes at the leadership level
- Demonstrated ability to drive results in fast-paced, evolving environments with limited structure
- Experience with agile or iterative execution methodologies applied at the enterprise or program level
- U.S. Citizenship Required for the purposes of obtaining/holding a U.S. security clearance. Clearance not required to start
- Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies (applied practically, not academically)
Pay Transparency Statement:
AMERICAN SYSTEMS is committed to pay transparency for our applicants and employee-owners. The salary range for this position is USD $186,800.00/Yr. - USD $311,900.00/Yr. Actual compensation will be determined based on several factors permitted by law. AMERICAN SYSTEMS provides for the welfare of its employees and their dependents through a comprehensive benefits program by offering healthcare benefits, paid leave, retirement plans, insurance programs, and education and training assistance.
EEO Statement:
EEO Race/Sex/Disability Status/Veteran Status