Principal Problem Manager

PRINCIPAL PROBLEM MANAGER, ENTERPRISE ITSM

Hybrid Work Arrangement
Hybrid work arrangement required with 4 days on site and 1 remote in one of the following organizational hubs: Johnston, RI - Boston, MA  - Iselin, NJ.

SUMMARY
The Enterprise Problem Management team is responsible for identifying, analyzing, and eliminating the root causes of incidents to improve service stability, reduce operational risk, and enhance customer experience across the organization. This role drives enterprise wide Problem Management practices while also executing complex investigations, ensuring repeat incidents are minimized through structured root cause analysis, trend identification, and permanent resolution strategies.

Reporting to Service Management Leader, the Principal Problem Manager leads Problem Management across technology and business domains. This role partners closely with Engineering, Incident Management, Change Management, Production Support, and Risk teams to drive systemic improvements, strengthen enterprise resilience, and improve end to end service quality using ServiceNow as a core platform.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead high priority and complex problem investigations across multiple systems, platforms, and domains to identify root cause and drive permanent resolution
• Own and govern the end to end Problem Management lifecycle including intake, prioritization, investigation, known error management, and closure
• Perform and oversee deep root cause analysis using structured methodologies such as root cause analysis, five whys, and fishbone analysis
• Facilitate root cause discussions with technical teams and ensure clear, actionable outcomes and accountability for remediation
• Identify recurring incidents and emerging trends through data analysis and proactively raise problems
• Establish and enforce Problem Management standards, policies, and procedures aligned with ITIL best practices
• Partner with Incident Management to ensure effective transition from incident response to problem investigation and long term resolution
• Maintain and govern Problem and Known Error records within ServiceNow, ensuring data quality and usability
• Track corrective actions and partner with Change Management to ensure fixes are properly planned, approved, and implemented
• Facilitate problem review forums with senior stakeholders to track progress, remove blockers, and drive accountability
• Develop enterprise wide trend analysis to identify systemic issues, recurring patterns, and areas of operational risk
• Provide reporting and visibility into problem backlog, root cause categories, recurrence reduction, and service stability improvements
• Drive post incident review quality and ensure consistent, high quality analysis and follow through on remediation actions
• Champion continuous improvement initiatives to reduce incident recurrence and improve platform reliability
• Influence engineering roadmaps by ensuring problem driven fixes are appropriately prioritized and sequenced

DUTIES

• Learn and operationalize Problem Management policies, processes, procedures, and runbooks across the enterprise
• Act as escalation point for complex or high impact problems requiring senior leadership engagement
• Build strong relationships with Engineering, Production Support, and business stakeholders
• Ensure all problem records meet data quality standards including root cause, impact, contributing factors, and corrective actions
• Govern process adherence and consistency across all Problem Management activities
• Collaborate with Incident, Change, and Knowledge Management teams to improve end to end service quality
• Support development of Problem Management metrics, dashboards, and reporting capabilities
• Support major incident postmortems by ensuring rigorous analysis and action tracking
• Promote a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and prevention across technology teams
• Provide thought leadership on Problem Management tooling, automation, and maturity evolution
• Support escalation coverage and follow through for critical stability events as needed

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Experience leading or operating Problem Management in a large enterprise environment, preferably within financial services or a regulated industry
• Strong hands on experience performing root cause analysis for complex IT incidents and service issues
• Deep understanding of ITIL Service Management with strong expertise in Problem Management practices
• Hands on experience with ServiceNow ITSM, including Problem and Incident modules
• Proven ability to lead cross functional investigations and drive accountability across engineering and support teams
• Strong analytical skills with experience identifying trends, patterns, and systemic issues
• Experience developing metrics, reporting, and operational insights for service stability
• Ability to communicate effectively with technical teams and senior leadership
• Strong facilitation and coordination skills across cross functional stakeholders
• Experience partnering with engineering teams to translate problem insights into technical remediation
• Familiarity with Incident Management, Change Management, and service reliability practices
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast paced environment
• High level of professionalism, integrity, and sound judgment

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• ITIL Foundation certification
• ServiceNow certification such as Certified System Administrator or ITSM related certification
• Experience working in a multi tower environment including applications, infrastructure, and network domains
• Experience with incident trend analysis, operational reporting, or service improvement initiatives

PRINCIPAL LEVEL DIFFERENTIATION

• Operates at enterprise scope across multiple business and technology domains
• Defines and evolves Problem Management strategy, standards, and maturity roadmap
• Balances hands on execution with enterprise level leadership and influence
• Leads large scale, cross domain problem investigations with significant business impact
• Drives measurable reduction in incident recurrence and operational risk
• Acts as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on service stability, resilience, and continuous improvement

Pay Transparency

The salary range for this position is from $133,000 to $174,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to, the budget, work location, relevant skills, and experience.

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity and paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs, and more. Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory paid sick or paid time away policies of local and state jurisdictions in the United States. For an overview of our benefits, visit our Careers site - https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits.

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