Summary
The IT Manager - Business Alignment & Strategic Engagement (BASE) is responsible for executing the BASE program strategy by building trust, credibility, and working alignment with business and IT counterparts to deliver value-driven outcomes for Subaru.
This role ensures that business needs, technology investments, and realized value outcomes are consistently aligned across the organization by deepening business relationships, shaping demand, managing intake, and supporting prioritization activities across the IT portfolio.
Acting as a critical link between business stakeholders, BASE analysts, and IT delivery teams, the BASE Manager ensures that initiatives are clearly defined, aligned to enterprise strategy, and translated into actionable solution packages for delivery. The role champions transparency, consistency, and value-driven decision-making from project initiation through final delivery with ROI validation upon close reinforcing IT's position as a trusted strategic partner.
Additionally, the Manager is accountable for building and developing a high-performing team of BASE Analysts through coaching, mentoring, and career development, while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Primary Responsibilities
Business Relationship Building
Build trusted relationships with business teams to understand strategy, goals, and success measures.
Engage in key business forums and operational activities to identify needs, pain points, and opportunities.
Acts as a strategic advisor by proactively bringing forward ideas, reusable solutions, and innovations.
Demand Management & Intake Governance
Manage demand shaping and formal intake processes to ensure business needs are captured, qualified, and routed consistently.
Additionally, extend demand management beyond immediate intake by helping business partners define (and maintain) a forward-looking roadmap that aligns to business strategy, objectives and technology roadmap.
Ensure requests entering the intake process are aligned to business objectives and adequately defined.
Establish and enforce standardized intake practices, tools, and documentation.
Prioritization & Portfolio Alignment
Lead prioritization activities using value-based frameworks and trade-off analysis.
Evaluate initiatives for cross-functional impact and enterprise alignment.
Support governance by preparing recommendations and prioritization inputs.
Partner with Solutions team to understand current and future capacity constraints to properly stage future work and set realistic expectations for delivery timing with business stakeholders.
Solution Definition & Business Requirements
Oversee development of business requirements, charters, and supporting artifacts.
Ensure initiatives include clear objectives, scope, risks, benefits, and business impact.
Promote consistent outputs for successful transition to delivery teams.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Alignment
Act as a coordination point between business stakeholders, analysts, and delivery teams to ensure shared understanding of business needs, constraints, and opportunities.
Maintain strong relationships with IT delivery teams to align feasibility and capacity.
Facilitate collaboration among BASE team members to ensure clear understanding of cross-functional impacts and shared value realization.
Promote a culture of partnership between IT and the business, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and shared ownership.
Enterprise Alignment & Value Optimization
Balance reuse with new solution acquisition to optimize ROI, reduce complexity, and accelerate time-to-value.
Help maintain an enterprise capability catalog to enable reuse, standardization, and reduce duplicate solutions.
Ensure holistic evaluation across departments to avoid duplication.
Support alignment to enterprise architecture and strategy.
Identify opportunities to leverage emerging technologies to improve business processes, customer experience, and operational efficiency.
Governance & Communication
Support IT governance forums with materials and status updates.
Provide transparency into prioritization decisions and portfolio status.
Communicate decisions and impacts in business terms.
Create and maintain feedback loops and communication channels with business and IT stakeholders to ensure needs are understood and addressed.
Promote the business impact of IT on value realization from IT delivered initiatives.
Team Leadership
Coach and mentor BASE Business Analysts.
Foster collaboration, accountability, and enterprise thinking.
Drive consistency and continuous improvement in team practices.
Support the career development and upskilling of the team.
Portfolio Monitoring & Continuous Improvement
Monitor portfolio health, risks, and progress.
Capture feedback to improve intake and prioritization processes.
Drive continuous improvement across BASE operations.
Periodically reevaluate existing technology and platforms to ensure they continue to align with business and IT strategy.
Qualifications
Education & Experience
Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business, or related field required.
8-12 years of relevant IT or business experience.
Professional Expertise
Strong understanding of IT delivery models and demand management.
Experience with intake, prioritization, and governance processes.
Ability to translate business needs into actionable requirements.
Demonstrated experience or formal certification in process optimization and continuous improvement frameworks, including Lean, Six Sigma, and Human-Centered Design, is preferred.
Skills
Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
Ability to lead through influence across teams.
Analytical thinking and decision-making capabilities.
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and build relationships across IT teams and across the organization.
Travel Requirements - International and Domestic 15%
EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS: BA/ BS, 8-10 years of progressive IT experience, with at least 3-5 years of IT Management with direct reports.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Office Location: Camden, NJ apart of the Greater Philadelphia Area (Philly)
Hybrid Role: Hybrid Role - Remote work 2 days per week (after 90 days) [Wednesdays & Fridays]
COMPENSATION: The recruiting base salary range for this full-time position is $145,000 - $160,000 / year. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Additionally, this role is bonus-eligible, with a target bonus percentage that provides an opportunity to earn even more based on your performance. (Internal Job Grade: M1)
WHY JOIN US? In addition to competitive salary and an incomparable culture, Subaru offers an amazing benefits package that include:
Total Rewards & Benefits:
Medical, Dental, Vision Plans
Pension, Profit Sharing, and 401K Match Offerings
15 Vacation days, 5 Floating Holidays, 5 Sick days, and 9 Company Holidays
Tuition Reimbursement Program: Fifteen-thousand-dollar yearly benefit
Vehicle Discount Programs
Learning & Development:
Professional growth and development opportunities
Direct partnership with senior leadership
Formal Mentorship Program
LinkedIn Learning License
Visit our careers landing page for additional information about our compensation and benefit programs.
ABOUT SUBARU
Love. It's what makes Subaru, Subaru®. As a leading auto brand in the US, we strive to be More Than a Car Company®. Subaru believes in being a positive force in the communities in which we live and work, not just with donations but with actions that set an example for others to follow. That's what we call our Subaru Love Promise®.
Subaru is a globally renowned automobile manufacturer known for its commitment to innovation, safety, and sustainability. With a rich history dating back to 1953, Subaru has consistently pushed the boundaries of automotive engineering to deliver vehicles that offer not only exceptional performance but also a unique blend of utility and adventure.
Subaru's company culture is built on collaboration, diversity, and a shared passion for our product. We foster an inclusive environment that encourages employees to bring their unique perspectives and talents to the table. Our team members are driven by a common goal: to create exceptional vehicles that inspire and delight our customers.
