Associate Director, Corporate Systems (Business Relationship Management)

Position Summary 

The Associate Director, Corporate Systems (Business Relationship Management) acts as the primary technology liaison for one or more assigned business functions at Bose. This individual is responsible for understanding business strategy and operational priorities, translating those priorities into a coherent technology roadmap, and working with delivery, architecture, and vendor partners to bring that roadmap to life. The role sits at the intersection of business strategy and IT execution, and is expected to operate comfortably in both worlds. 

This position reports within Global Enterprise Application Delivery and works in close coordination with Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure and Security, Data & Analytics, and the Project/Program Management Office, as well as with external implementation and managed-service partners. The Associate Director is accountable for the health of the business relationship, the integrity of the demand and investment pipeline for assigned functions, and the realized value of technology initiatives once delivered. 

This is an individual contributor leadership role; depending on organizational structure, the Associate Director may provide functional guidance to analysts or junior relationship managers but does not typically carry formal people-management responsibility for delivery teams. 

Scope of Ownership 

The Associate Director owns the business relationship and technology portfolio for Corporate Systems including but not limited to Supply Chain and Human Resources applications, and serves as the IT business partner for the Automotive and Audiotech business units. Scope may be adjusted over time to include additional business functions or business units as organizational needs evolve. 

• Supply Chain Tools: serves as the primary IT business partner for systems supporting planning, procurement, logistics, and supplier management, partnering with Supply Chain leadership to align technology investment with operational priorities. 

• HR Tools: serves as the primary IT business partner for human capital management, talent, and workforce systems, partnering with HR leadership to align technology investment with people strategy and compliance requirements. 

• Automotive and Audiotech: serve as the IT business partner for technology needs specific to the Automotive and Audiotech business units, including any business-specific applications, integrations, or emerging capabilities unique to those businesses. 

• Additional functions or business units may be assigned to this role at Bose's discretion as the organization's needs change. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

The responsibilities below are representative of the role and are not intended to be an exhaustive list. Bose reserves the right to assign additional or different duties as business needs require. 

Business Engagement and Strategic Alignment 

• Build and sustain working relationships with business unit leaders, functional directors, and senior IT stakeholders to maintain a current understanding of organizational priorities. 

• Translate business goals, operating model changes, and emerging pain points into actionable technology implications, surfacing risks or dependencies early. 

• Facilitate recurring planning sessions with business stakeholders to surface improvement opportunities and validate that the technology roadmap still reflects current priorities. 

• Maintain a rolling multi-year capability roadmap for each assigned business function, reviewed and adjusted at least annually or upon material change in business direction. 

• Advise business leaders on relevant technology and industry trends, recommending where new capabilities could create measurable operational or commercial benefit. 

Demand Intake, Portfolio Management, and Governance 

• Own the intake, triage, and prioritization of technology requests from assigned business functions, applying a consistent evaluation framework for value, effort, and risk. 

• Maintain visibility into the full portfolio of active initiatives, enhancements, and strategic investments for each function, and report status to stakeholders on a regular cadence. 

• Work with enterprise architects and technical leads to evaluate solution alternatives, ensuring proposed approaches are consistent with Bose's architecture and platform standards. 

• Balance demand against available delivery capacity and approved funding, escalating capacity or funding gaps to the appropriate governance forum rather than allowing scope to silently expand. 

• Participate in and, where appropriate, lead governance forums that adjudicate competing priorities across business functions. 

Business Case Development and Value Realization 

• Partner with business sponsors to help build business cases for proposed investments, including a clear statement of expected benefit, cost, implementation risk, and total cost of ownership. 

• Support budgeting and funding-approval discussions by providing accurate, well-substantiated estimates and assumptions. 

• Define measurable success criteria for each significant initiative prior to kickoff, and track those metrics through delivery and into the post-launch period. 

• Report realized business outcomes against the original business case at agreed checkpoints, documenting variances and lessons learned. 

Program and Project Oversight 

• Serve as the accountable business-facing IT leader for strategic initiatives within assigned functions, without displacing the formal project management role held by the PMO. 

• Coordinate with project managers, delivery leads, and business stakeholders to keep initiatives on scope, schedule, and budget, and to resolve issues that span business and technology boundaries. 

• Provide regular status reporting to business and IT leadership, escalating material risks in a timely manner. 

• Support organizational change management and business readiness activities, including stakeholder communication and training coordination, in partnership with the teams that own those functions. 

Stakeholder Relationship and Conflict Management 

• Set and manage expectations with business stakeholders regarding delivery timelines, resource constraints, and prioritization tradeoffs. 

• Resolve competing priorities and disagreements between business and technology teams through structured negotiation and, where needed, escalation to the appropriate governance body. 

• Coordinate with Global Application Delivery, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure and Security, and Data & Analytics teams to ensure assigned business functions receive coherent, well-coordinated support across IT. 

Subject Matter Expertise and Continuous Improvement 

• Develop and maintain working knowledge of the corporate systems, business processes, and industry practices relevant to assigned functions. 

• Evaluate opportunities to apply cloud platforms, automation, analytics, and AI-enabled capabilities to modernize processes and reduce operating cost, where appropriate to the business context. 

• Document and share lessons learned and best practices with peer Business Relationship Managers and technology teams to improve consistency across the function. 

Qualifications 

Required 

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. 

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in business relationship management, enterprise applications, technology strategy, product management, or IT leadership. 

• Demonstrated experience partnering directly with senior business leaders to define and manage a technology portfolio of comparable scale and complexity. 

• Experience leading or playing a senior role in large-scale enterprise application initiatives or digital transformation programs, including direct accountability for outcomes. 

• Working knowledge of at least one major corporate business function, such as Finance, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Procurement, Commercial Operations, or Customer Experience. 

• Demonstrated experience developing business cases, multi-year roadmaps, and investment or portfolio governance processes. 

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adapt technical content for executive and non-technical audiences. 

Preferred 

• Experience supporting major enterprise platforms relevant to Supply Chain or HR, such as SAP, Oracle, Workday , or comparable supply chain planning and human capital management systems. 

• Experience operating within a product operating model, Agile delivery organization, or global application delivery structure, including work with offshore or vendor-managed delivery teams. 

• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, automation tooling, AI-enabled application capabilities, analytics platforms, and enterprise integration technology. 

• Relevant industry certification, such as Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP), PMP, or an equivalent recognized credential.