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 stagegate structures quality frameworks and RAID practices that work in real-world multipartner 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 complexitysomeone 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 endtoend stagegate 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/nogo 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 outcomebased and fixedprice 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 highrisk SOWs to protect both customer outcomes and Guidewires 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 daytoday deliveryrisks 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 portfoliolevel dashboards that highlight systemic risks crossproject 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 nonfunctional validation.

• Establish independent quality gates and health checks (e.g. design reviews test readiness cutover readiness) for critical phases of Guidewire Cloud and onprem 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. ontime 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 decisionready.

KPIs & Success Metrics

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

• Stagegate 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 posthoc 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.

• Stagegate & retrospectives: Handson experience designing and running phasegate 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 fixedprice or outcomebased engagements.

• RAID & portfolio governance: Deep familiarity with RAID management governance forums (steering committees QBRs) and portfoliolevel 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 multivendor multiregion 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 fastpaced 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 and follow us on Twitter: @GuidewirePandC.

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 its applicable to the position.