Associate Director of Special Projects

About This Role

The Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives & Special Projects leads high-priority, cross-functional initiatives that are critical to the company’s growth and evolution. This role is designed to drive execution of complex projects that do not sit neatly within one department—such as major product launches, new business model rollouts, enterprise software deployments, and other company-defining initiatives.

You operate at the intersection of strategy and execution. You translate executive vision into structured plans, build alignment across departments, anticipate risk, and ensure initiatives deliver measurable results.

This role carries executive-level visibility and accountability without necessarily having direct team ownership.

Your Impact & Contribution

You ensure the company can launch, scale, and evolve without organizational breakdown. By bringing structure, clarity, and disciplined execution to ambiguous initiatives, you reduce risk and increase the probability of success for the company’s most important bets.

Your work directly impacts revenue growth, operational efficiency, and long-term strategic positioning.

Your Professional Learning Journey

This role develops enterprise-level thinking, executive communication, and multi-functional leadership. You will refine:

• Strategic planning and prioritization
• Program-level execution across departments
• Organizational influence without formal authority
• Risk management and decision escalation
• Executive-level reporting and stakeholder management

This role prepares you for Director-level ownership of a function or broader operational leadership.

Key ResponsibilitiesEnterprise Initiative Leadership

• Lead complex, high-impact initiatives from concept through execution and stabilization
• Define scope, success metrics, governance structure, and stakeholder alignment
• Build detailed execution roadmaps with clear milestones and accountability
• Ensure initiatives align with company strategy and financial objectives

Major Launch Oversight

• Drive readiness for major launches such as new software platforms, GPO programs, or new revenue models
• Coordinate cross-functional workstreams across Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Support
• Establish launch criteria and readiness benchmarks
• Identify and mitigate operational, financial, and adoption risks
• Oversee post-launch performance tracking and optimization

Cross-Functional Alignment & Influence

• Facilitate alignment between senior leaders and functional teams
• Clarify decision rights, roles, and responsibilities
• Remove obstacles that slow progress
• Escalate material risks or tradeoffs appropriately

Governance & Risk Management

• Create structured reporting cadence for executive visibility
• Anticipate downstream operational or financial risks
• Ensure compliance, contractual, and system dependencies are addressed
• Protect the organization from avoidable launch or implementation failures

Operational Design & Repeatability

• Build scalable frameworks for future launches and strategic initiatives
• Document lessons learned and institutionalize best practices
• Recommend improvements to company-wide initiative governance
• Identify capability gaps that limit execution speed

What Success Looks Like

• Major initiatives launch on schedule with minimal disruption
• Cross-functional teams operate with clarity and accountability
• Leadership has real-time visibility into progress and risk
• Strategic initiatives deliver measurable business outcomes
• The organization becomes more capable of executing complex initiatives over time
• Fewer surprises occur during launches or rollouts

Requirements

• 6–10+ years of experience in operations, strategy, program management, or similar
• Proven experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives
• Strong executive communication skills
• High comfort level with ambiguity and shifting priorities
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders
• Structured thinker with bias toward execution

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Ability to Commute:

• Irving, TX 75062 (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Irving, TX 75062