Assistant Director, Privileged Access Management (PAM)

About the role

We are seeking an experienced Assistant Director of IAM to lead and mature our Privileged Access Management (PAM) team. This is a people-first management role responsible for a large team of engineers and analysts.

You will work as an engineering leader responsible for strategy, delivery, and operation of our enterprise PAM Program-driving automation of Elevated Privilege (EP) discovery and vaulting, managing EP access requests and certifications, non-human identity (NHI) governance and management, and delivering zero standing privilege and just-in-time access at scale.

Success in this role requires operating at a high tempo while maintaining strong operational disciple and driving automation, continuous improvement, and measurable impact for our customers and the business. We are looking for an Assistant Director with experience in building high-performing teams, influencing stakeholders, and delivering measurable business outcomes.

What You'll be doing

• Define and execute the multi-year IAM/PAM strategy and roadmap aligned to business priorities, risk reduction, and regulatory compliance.

• Own the end-to-end PAM program: non-human identity and agentic AI security frameworks and access control, secrets lifecycle management, service account certifications, PAM tooling capability development and deployment, and reporting.

• Accountable for a full range of people manager responsibilities including communication, coaching, mentoring and staff development, performance management, salary administration, and staffing decisions.

• Perform functional management duties to ensure optimum effectiveness and quality by managing adherence to strategies, goals, budgets, operating policies and procedures as an NM frontline manager.

• Accountable for translating the departmental strategy to IAM security operational objectives (OKR) including both systems and processes. Drives for results through others to include:

  • Integrating and designing measurement systems, targets and specific initiatives in support of the various strategies.

  • Partner with other IAM teams, including IGA, Directory Services, and Cloud IAM, to implement Elevated Privilege access controls across all applications and systems.

• Accountable for providing guidance and escalation avenues for the business unit based on understanding the business values, goals, work processes and workflows.

• Accountable for evaluation, review and approval of risk assessment and risk management strategies and processes to establish a foundation for appropriately managing systems and data risks.

What You'll Bring to the Role

• Bachelor's degree preferred; bachelor's or advanced degree in engineering, computer science, information systems, or related field.

• Eight (8) years of progressive IAM experience, with 3+ years running a PAM program.

• Hands-on experience implementing and operating enterprise PAM platforms such as CyberArk and Hashicorp Vault.

• Proven delivery of automated secrets management, agentic AI controls, EP access requests and certifications, just-in-time access, and role engineering at scale.

• Proven people management skills to include human relations and interpersonal skills necessary to manage multiple teams.

• Proven ability to build effective teams committed to organizational goals.

• Proven analytical abilities especially in decision making and problem solving.

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and the ability to handle ambiguity.

• Proven ability to cultivate relationships and counsel key business partners within all levels of the organization. Strong stakeholder management skills.

• Experience with Agile methodologies/DevSecOps environment desired.

• Relevant security certifications (CISM, CISSP, CCSP, etcetera) are desired.

What Sets you Apart:

• Ability to identify and cultivate relationships with key stakeholders representing a broad range of functions and levels to ensure alignment with departmental and enterprise business strategies.

• Ability to influence others through a combination of active listening, conveying and asserting complex ideas in simple terms, and persuading others.

• Accountable for an effective and efficient business unit designed and maintained to support the business outcomes. Responsible for the integration of:

  • Organization/department design and structure

  • Workforce management (forecasting, obtaining, developing and assigning the right resources)

  • Effective and efficient internal workflow and processes

  • Information and knowledge flows throughout the business unit and out to the organization through both formal and informal exchanges

• You identify with and exhibit the values of accountability, bias for action, engineering excellence, and a customer first mindset.

#LI-Hybrid

Compensation Range:

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We believe in fairness and transparency. It's why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you're living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable, click here to learn more.

Grow your career with a best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do. Get started now!

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.

Strategic Thinking (NM) - Advanced, Security Practices (NM) - Advanced, Cross Functional Partnering & Planning (NM) - Advanced, Technical Problem Solving (NM) - Intermediate, Prioritization (NM) - Advanced, Continuous Improvement (NM) - Advanced, Business Automation (NM) - Advanced, Compliance (NM) - Intermediate, Customer Centricity (NM) - Expert, Strategic Vision & Planning (NM) - Advanced, Talent Development & Planning (NM) - Advanced, Accountability (NM) - Advanced, DevSecOps (NM) - Intermediate, Adaptive Communication (NM) - Advanced, Identity Protocols (NM) - Advanced, Analytical Thinking (NM) - Expert, Identity & Access Management Industry Standards (NM) - Advanced, Business Influence (NM) - Advanced, Stakeholder Relationship (NM) - Advanced, Cloud Deployment Models (NM) - Intermediate, Learning Agility & Critical Thinking (NM) - Advanced, Access Management Tools & Technologies (NM) - Advanced

We're excited about the potential people bring to Northwestern Mutual. You can grow your career here while enjoying first-class perks, benefits, and our commitment to a culture of belonging.

• Flexible work schedules
• Concierge service
• Comprehensive benefits
• Employee resource groups