Senior Lead – Access Management

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.

Position Summary

The Senior Lead of Access Management is responsible for leading the delivery, engineering, operations, governance, and continual improvement of enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) capabilities supporting both workforce and client-facing environments. This role oversees authentication, authorization, identity governance, access lifecycle management, privileged access integrations, and access control services while maintaining alignment with cybersecurity, regulatory, operational, and business objectives.

The position partners closely with cybersecurity, engineering, architecture, infrastructure, application development, risk, audit, and business teams to deliver secure, scalable, and resilient access management services. The Senior Lead serves as a key leader within the IAM organization and is accountable for operational excellence, platform stability, control effectiveness, modernization initiatives, and delivery of strategic roadmap commitments.

Primary Responsibilities

Access Management Engineering & Operations

• Lead teams responsible for authentication, authorization, identity lifecycle management, access governance, and related IAM services.
• Oversee day-to-day operation, support, maintenance, and continual improvement of access management platforms and services.
• Ensure availability, resiliency, performance, and operational maturity of identity and access capabilities.
• Drive remediation of operational issues, technical debt, platform risks, and control deficiencies.
• Establish and monitor service level objectives, operational metrics, and performance indicators.

Workforce and Client Identity Services

• Lead engineering and operational support for workforce and client authentication capabilities.
• Support identity lifecycle processes including joiner, mover, leaver, provisioning, deprovisioning, certification, and entitlement governance.
• Ensure secure onboarding and integration of applications with enterprise access management services.
• Partner with application teams to implement authentication and authorization patterns and controls.
• Support modernization of authentication and authorization capabilities across the enterprise.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure IAM services operate in compliance with enterprise standards, regulatory expectations, and security requirements.
• Support audits, regulatory reviews, risk assessments, certifications, and control testing activities.
• Track remediation activities and corrective action plans for findings and identified risks.
• Partner with Risk, Audit, Security Architecture, and Technology teams to maintain strong control effectiveness.
• Promote secure-by-design access management practices across the organization.

Program & Delivery Leadership

• Lead delivery of IAM strategic initiatives and modernization efforts.
• Coordinate execution across engineering, infrastructure, operations, architecture, cybersecurity, and business teams.
• Manage priorities, dependencies, risks, resource requirements, and delivery timelines.
• Develop and maintain operational roadmaps aligned with organizational objectives.
• Support execution of workforce and client access transformation initiatives.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with product owners, business leaders, technology teams, and cybersecurity stakeholders to deliver secure and effective IAM capabilities.
• Communicate status, risks, dependencies, and recommendations to leadership.
• Facilitate governance forums and support executive reporting activities.
• Maintain strong relationships with strategic vendors and technology partners supporting IAM services.

People Leadership

• Lead and develop engineers, architects, analysts, and operational support personnel.
• Establish goals and objectives aligned with organizational priorities.
• Drive accountability, performance management, mentoring, and succession planning.
• Foster a culture of operational excellence, innovation, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

Areas of Accountability

• Workforce Authentication Services
• Client Authentication Services
• Authorization Services
• Access Governance
• Identity Lifecycle Management (Joiner, Mover, Leaver)
• Role Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)
• Federated Identity Services
• MFA and Adaptive Authentication
• Access Certifications
• Application Onboarding & Integration
• Audit & Regulatory Readiness
• Operational Support & Reliability
• IAM Metrics, Reporting, and Control Effectiveness Monitoring

Required Experience

• 7+ years of experience in Identity and Access Management, Cybersecurity Engineering, Security Operations, or related technology disciplines.
• 3+ years of leadership experience managing engineering, delivery, governance, or operational teams.
• Experience with IAM technologies such as Okta, Entra ID, Ping, CyberArk, Saviynt, OAuth, OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML, MFA, federation, and access governance platforms.
• Experience leading technology initiatives within regulated financial services or similarly regulated environments.
• Familiarity with NIST, FFIEC, ISO 27001, SOC, NYDFS, and related regulatory frameworks.
• Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder management, and delivery management skills.

Success Measures

• Stable and resilient access management platforms.
• Effective identity lifecycle and access governance processes.
• Successful delivery of strategic IAM initiatives.
• Positive audit and regulatory outcomes.
• Strong control effectiveness and risk reduction.
• Improved user experience and operational efficiency.
• Achievement of service level, reliability, and security objectives.

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.

About Our Pune Office

The Northern Trust Pune office, established in 2016, is now home to over 3,000 employees. The office handles various functions, including Operations for Asset Servicing and Wealth Management, as well as delivering critical technology solutions that support business operations across the globe.

Our Pune team takes our commitment to service to heart. In 2024, they volunteered more than 10,000+ hours into the communities where they live and work. Learn more.