VP, Lead Customer Activation Initiatives Manager

Synchrony is a leading financial services company, and they are seeking a VP, Lead Customer Activation Initiatives Manager to lead and develop a team responsible for delivering business-critical customer activation initiatives. This role involves managing complex, cross-functional programs, ensuring stakeholder alignment, and driving execution across various initiatives related to customer marketing and compliance.

Responsibilities:

• Own and drive end-to-end delivery of complex customer activation initiatives across Performance Marketing and Growth, ensuring integrated plans, milestones, deliverables, and readiness criteria
• Lead and directly manage a team of Customer Activation Initiatives Managers/resources; coach on project/program management standards, stakeholder management, and delivery excellence in a regulated environment
• Execute delivery planning and manage workstreams for Growth initiatives such as card reissues/upgrades, vendor migrations, billing statement software deployments, and change-in-terms efforts—prioritizing business-critical activities and sequencing across shared capacity
• Stay current on relevant credit card industry standards, regulations, and legislative changes impacting card issuance and regulated customer communications; incorporate changes into delivery plans and controls
• Own the Synchrony Plastics Strategy (vision, principles, decision framework, and multi-year roadmap) across card package/design, inventory readiness, kit/envelope options, and alternative fulfillment approaches; ensure alignment to Growth priorities and platform capabilities
• Create, document, and maintain executive-ready strategy artifacts (e.g., strategy deck, roadmaps, operating assumptions, decision logs, standards, playbooks) that clearly communicate 'what we do, why we do it, and how we execute it.'
• Establish strategy governance: define the intake/decisioning process, facilitate executive reviews, capture decisions and rationale, and maintain version control so updates are traceable and audit-ready
• Translate complex inputs into clear executive narratives by synthesizing perspectives from client teams, Technology, Operations, Compliance, and suppliers into crisp recommendations, tradeoffs, and decision points
• Lead executive communications for plastics strategy including pre-reads, leadership updates, and operating reviews; ensure messaging is consistent, visually clear, and action-oriented
• Support additional duties and special projects, as assigned

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree required. In lieu of degree, HS Diploma/GED and 8+ years program/project delivery
• 5+ years of program/project delivery experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives (marketing activation, customer communications, card lifecycle, or regulated operations preferred)
• 3+ years of people management experience, including coaching/developing delivery talent
• Demonstrated experience delivering in highly regulated environments with strong controls, documentation discipline, and audit-ready execution
• Demonstrated ability to develop executive-level strategy materials (PowerPoint narratives, decision memos, roadmaps) that drive alignment and enable leadership decisioning
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, and risk/dependency management skills; ability to drive decisions in a matrixed organization
• Ability and flexibility to travel for business as required including travel for partner planning and supplier QA events, as needed
• MBA and/or specialization in finance, operations, technology, or program management
• Experience leading enterprise delivery governance and scaling repeatable playbooks across multiple clients/initiatives
• Exceptional executive storytelling and written communication skills; proven ability to synthesize complex, ambiguous inputs into crisp, decision-grade narratives and presentation materials
• Advanced proficiency in PowerPoint (or equivalent) with a track record of producing high-quality strategy decks for senior leadership and client executives