Senior Manager, Delivery Governance

Summary

The Role
As the Senior Manager, Delivery Governance, you will own the frameworks, standards, and controls that keep our delivery portfolio predictable, auditable, and outcome-focused. You will design and embed Agile and hybrid delivery models, stage‑gate structures, quality frameworks, and RAID practices that work in real-world, multi‑partner Guidewire Cloud implementations. You will partner closely with Engagement Managers, Project Managers, Enterprise Architects, and SI partners to ensure SOWs, contracts, and delivery practices are aligned, governed, and continually improved.

This role is ideal for a delivery leader who enjoys bringing structure to complexity—someone who can balance methodology with pragmatism, protect commercial and quality guardrails, and still keep teams moving quickly.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

Delivery frameworks & methodology

• Design, maintain, and continuously improve Agile, waterfall, and hybrid delivery frameworks that are fit-for-purpose for Guidewire Cloud and self-managed implementations.

• Define standard delivery patterns (e.g., by product, engagement type, or complexity) and ensure they are adopted consistently across regions and SI partners.

• Coach Project/Program Managers and Engagement Leaders on when and how to apply Agile, SAFe, Scrum, and hybrid models in the context of contractual and regulatory constraints.

• Align delivery frameworks with Guidewire Cloud Platform (GWCP) release, environment, and cutover practices so governance supports, rather than blocks, cloud agility.

Stage-gate design & retrospectives

• Define and own the end‑to‑end stage‑gate model (e.g., Discover, Define, Design, Build, Test, Deploy, Hypercare), including entry/exit criteria, artefacts, and decision rights for each gate.

• Facilitate or oversee go/no‑go reviews at key gates, ensuring scope, risk, quality, and financial health are understood before progressing.

• Establish a standard cadence and format for retrospectives at sprint, release, and phase levels, and ensure actions are captured, prioritised, and followed through.

• Use insights from gates and retrospectives to drive continuous improvement to delivery playbooks, checklists, and templates.

SOW & contract management

• Partner with Sales, Commercial, Legal, and Engagement Management to translate SOWs and contract constructs into clear, governable delivery baselines.

• Define standards for SOW structure, assumptions, and exclusions, focusing on outcome‑based and fixed‑price constructs where appropriate.

• Govern change control processes and artefacts, ensuring all material scope, timeline, or commercial changes are assessed, documented, and approved through formal governance.

• Monitor contractual compliance across active engagements (e.g., SLAs, KPIs, reporting obligations) and support remediation and escalation as required.

• Provide coaching and review on complex or high‑risk SOWs to protect both customer outcomes and Guidewire’s commercial position.

RAID log management & portfolio visibility

• Define and maintain standard templates and data models for RAID logs across all projects and programs.

• Ensure RAID practices are embedded in day‑to‑day delivery—risks are clearly articulated, actions have owners and due dates, issues are escalated with impact and options, and decisions are recorded and traceable.

• Aggregate RAID data across Planview/Clarity/Jira into portfolio‑level dashboards that highlight systemic risks, cross‑project dependencies, and emerging delivery patterns.

• Drive risk culture uplift, helping teams move from reactive issue management to proactive risk identification and mitigation.

Quality assurance frameworks

• Define and maintain quality assurance frameworks across the delivery lifecycle, including standards for requirements quality, design reviews, configuration/development practices, test coverage, and non‑functional validation.

• Establish independent quality gates and health checks (e.g., design reviews, test readiness, cutover readiness) for critical phases of Guidewire Cloud and on‑prem implementations.

• Work with Delivery Engineering and QA leadership to align governance with automated testing, DevOps, and CI/CD practices, ensuring quality controls are compatible with modern delivery.

• Analyse quality trends (defects, rework, production incidents) and drive targeted improvements to frameworks, training, and tooling.

Tooling, data & reporting

• Own governance standards for Planview / Clarity / Jira usage across projects (e.g., work type definitions, status codes, workflows, and data quality rules).

• Partner with PMO, Finance, and Engagement Management to define core delivery KPIs and dashboards (e.g., on‑time gate completion, governance exceptions, risk ageing, SOW variance, QA findings).

• Ensure tooling and reporting support both delivery teams on the ground and executive stakeholders (internal and customer) with the right level of transparency.

• Champion data quality in all governance artefacts so that portfolio reporting is reliable and decision‑ready.

KPIs & Success Metrics

• Framework adoption – % of active projects/programs using approved Agile/hybrid frameworks and governance standards.

• Stage‑gate compliance – % of gates completed on time with all entry/exit criteria met on first pass.

• Contract & scope integrity – Reduction in unplanned scope creep, unmanaged changes, and post‑hoc commercial disputes.

• Risk & issue management quality – Improvement in RAID data quality (completeness, ageing) and reduction in repeat or systemic issues.

• Quality outcomes – Reduction in critical defects and production incidents attributable to delivery process gaps.

• Stakeholder satisfaction – Internal and customer feedback on the value, clarity, and practicality of delivery governance.

Key Skills & Experience

• Experience: 10+ years in project/program management or PMO roles for enterprise software delivery, with significant experience in governance, methodology, or portfolio management. Experience in P&C insurance or enterprise SaaS/Cloud is highly regarded.

• Methodology depth: Strong working knowledge of Agile (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe) and traditional/waterfall delivery; proven ability to design and operate hybrid models in complex, regulated environments.

• Stage‑gate & retrospectives: Hands‑on experience designing and running phase‑gate structures and formal retrospectives across large programs or portfolios.

• SOW & contract management: Demonstrated ability to interpret, structure, and govern SOWs, MSAs, and change orders, particularly for fixed‑price or outcome‑based engagements.

• RAID & portfolio governance: Deep familiarity with RAID management, governance forums (steering committees, QBRs), and portfolio‑level risk and dependency management.

• Quality frameworks: Experience defining and implementing quality assurance frameworks for large-scale software implementations, including collaboration with QA, Architecture, and Engineering leads.

• Tooling: Practical expertise with Planview or Clarity (or equivalent PPM tools) and Jira for planning, tracking, and reporting; ability to define standards and coach teams on effective usage.

• Guidewire Cloud familiarity: Understanding of Guidewire Cloud Platform (GWCP) delivery patterns, environment strategy, release management, and how these influence governance, testing, and cutover planning.

• Stakeholder management: Strong communication and influencing skills, comfortable operating with senior customers, SI partners, and internal executives to drive alignment on governance decisions.

• Leadership: Experience leading small regional or global teams (direct and matrixed), with a focus on coaching, enablement, and uplift of delivery practices.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience establishing or scaling a Delivery Governance / PMO / Portfolio Office function in a regional or global services organisation.

• Direct experience on Guidewire implementations (PolicyCenter, ClaimCenter, BillingCenter) or comparable core insurance/ERP platforms.

• Background working in multi‑vendor, multi‑region delivery models, including coordination with System Integrators and offshore/nearshore teams.

• Exposure to regulatory or audit requirements that affect delivery governance (e.g., SOX, APRA/ASIC, FSA, internal audit frameworks).

• Experience designing and rolling out training, playbooks, and communities of practice for project and program managers.

• Comfortable operating in fast‑paced, matrixed environments with shifting priorities and high executive visibility.

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About Guidewire

Guidewire is the platform P&C insurers trust to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently. We combine digital, core, analytics, and AI to deliver our platform as a cloud service. More than 540+ insurers in 40 countries, from new ventures to the largest and most complex in the world, run on Guidewire.

As a partner to our customers, we continually evolve to enable their success. We are proud of our unparalleled implementation track record with 1600+ successful projects, supported by the largest R&D team and partner ecosystem in the industry. Our Marketplace provides hundreds of applications that accelerate integration, localization, and innovation.

For more information, please visit www.guidewire.com and follow us on Twitter: @Guidewire_PandC.

Guidewire Software, Inc. is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to an inclusive workplace, and believe that a diversity of perspectives, abilities, and cultures is a key to our success. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability. All offers are contingent upon passing a criminal history and other background checks where it's applicable to the position.