Director of Enterprise PMO

The Team:

At Kind Lending, our family of diverse and talented Kind Ambassadors are the driving force behind our new approach to the mortgage experience. They're the heart and soul of the organization and our "People Before Profits" mentality shines through in every department. Kind Lending is growing and is looking for top mortgage professionals who value opportunity, lasting business partnerships, and who live out our KIND mindset. Kind Lending is determined to provide the best service in the industry while also providing homebuyers a great selection of products to enhance their buying experience. Backed by our trusted leadership team, Kind Lending's friendly and professional model puts the “fun” in funding.

Job Summary:

The Director, Enterprise PMO leads Kind Lending's enterprise project management function and a team of Project Managers. Reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, this role is responsible for portfolio governance, delivery standards, capacity planning, executive reporting, team development, and the systems and workflows that support consistent project execution. This is a player-coach role for an experienced project and program leader who can move between portfolio-level leadership and hands-on delivery. The Director will continue to lead a portion of the active project portfolio while improving consistency, accountability, visibility, and scalability across the EPMO.

Location: Office (Irvine, CA) or remote opportunity.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the enterprise project management function, including project intake, prioritization, resource allocation, governance, and portfolio reporting.
• Maintain clear visibility into project health, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and capacity constraints.
• Ensure consistent project management standards, documentation, controls, and delivery practices across the portfolio.
• Personally lead a portion of the active project portfolio in alignment with overall EPMO capacity and leadership responsibilities.
• Proactively identify delivery risks, bottlenecks, resource conflicts, and change impacts; drive mitigation and resolution.
• Support implementation readiness, change management, adoption, and post-launch review.
• Continuously improve EPMO processes, tools, reporting, automation, and workflow efficiency as the enterprise grows.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Project Managers responsible for complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Balance assignments and workload based on project complexity, priority, dependencies, and available capacity.
• Mentor Project Managers on planning, stakeholder management, executive communication, documentation quality, and delivery expectations.
• Participate in recruiting, onboarding, performance management, succession planning, and career development for the EPMO team.

Executive & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as a senior EPMO partner to the Chief of Staff, Executive Sponsors, and senior business leaders.
• Partner across business, technology, operations, finance, compliance, vendor, and other stakeholder teams to align scope, requirements, dependencies, and delivery expectations.
• Facilitate complex cross-functional discussions and help resolve competing priorities, unclear ownership, and delivery barriers.
• Provide concise executive-level portfolio reporting focused on decisions needed, material risks, capacity constraints, timeline impacts, and recommended actions.

EPMO Systems & AI-Enabled Workflow Governance

• Oversee project management systems, portfolio data quality, dashboards, templates, workflow standards, and reporting.
• Guide the responsible use of automation and AI-enabled workflows to improve efficiency, consistency, visibility, and follow-through.
• Ensure critical system and workflow knowledge is documented and cross-trained to support continuity and scalability.
• Partner with technology and system owners on integrations, enhancements, and platform improvements that support enterprise project delivery.

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong understanding of project, program, portfolio, and PMO management practices across Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery models.
• Demonstrated experience using enterprise project management platforms such as ClickUp, Jira, Asana, or similar tools.
• Working knowledge of workflow automation and AI-enabled productivity tools, with an understanding of appropriate governance and controls.
• Strong working knowledge of mortgage banking operations, systems, workflows, and regulatory considerations preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Strong people leadership, coaching, prioritization, conflict-resolution, and decision-support skills.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to synthesize information, evaluate trade-offs, and drive clear decisions.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity, balancing competing priorities, and leading change in a growing organization.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Finance, Communications, or a related field preferred.
• 7+ years of progressive project or program management experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Previous experience leading, mentoring, or managing Project Managers or a PMO function.
• Mortgage banking or financial services experience strongly preferred.
• Project management certifications such as PMP, PgMP, PMI-PMOCP, or Agile certification are a plus

Why Kind Lending?

• A culture built on trust, transparency, accountability, and KINDness.
• An environment where project leaders are empowered to influence outcomes and improve how work gets done.
• Leadership that values structure, clarity, collaboration, and thoughtful execution.
• An opportunity to shape enterprise project delivery while remaining close to the work.

If you're a senior project leader who understands mortgage banking, enjoys developing teams, and wants to improve how enterprise work gets delivered - we'd love to meet you.