VP, Business Liaison

Job Description

Job Description

Harrison Street Asset Management ("HSAM") is a leading global alternative investment management firm focused on real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies across North America and Europe. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto, and London with offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm has over $108 billion in assets under management on behalf of institutional investors and registered investment advisors globally.

Founded on a culture of innovation, HSAM is an early mover in alternative real estate and mid-market infrastructure. Today, the firm’s global team, consisting of more than 520 professionals, is committed to creating long-term value through deep sector expertise and forward-thinking strategies.

Under direction of the Head of Technology Enablement, BTG, the successful Business Liaison candidate will serve as proxy between Line of Business (LOB) stakeholders and the BTG by providing a single source of business domain and process knowledge; facilitating the prioritization of business and technology requirements based on time, budget, and scope; and managing vendor relationships and related business expectations.

The Business Liaison will have the overall responsibility to serve as the strategic interface between the BTG and assigned business units or functional areas for the purpose of business technology strategy development, solution discovery, service management, risk management and relationship management. The Business Liaison provides strategic, consulting level support and guidance through key technology initiatives. They communicate decisions, priorities and relevant project information to appropriate levels of staff regarding LOB requests and initiatives. They proactively share knowledge of technology risks and opportunities to build competitive advantage and improve efficiency and effectiveness of business units. They partner with LOB and BTG leadership to manage expectations, define opportunities, and articulate next steps based on pre-defined processes and workflows.

The Business Liaison proactively serves as a “trusted advisor,” and is the primary BTG point of contact to business line managers. Proactive and anticipatory in their thinking, they drive and provide significant value to LOBs they partner with. The Business Liaison facilitates the investment intake process and the high-level planning and execution of business initiatives through the use of technology. They serve a lead role in enabling the business to achieve their objectives through the effective use of technology.

40% Technology Strategy, Planning, and Partnership

• Acts as the key liaison across assigned Lines of Business and their key platforms, the Business Technology Group, and outside vendors.
• Develops and enhances key business and vendor relationships to establish partnerships, build and leverage influence, and shape and drive LOB expectations.
• Possesses a broad knowledge of most technical and business resources and uses them to effectively coordinate team members and external resources.
• Acts as technology business partner to determine requirements and schedule with key business leaders, their delegates, and external vendors as needed.
• Plans, budgets, oversees, and documents all aspects of the program(s) they are managing.
• Documents, summarizes, and presents portfolio financial updates surrounding investment in BTG areas related to LOB(s).
• Acts as voice of their LOB(s) in development, implementation, and refinement of a technology-focused solution roadmap that meets Harrison Street firmwide and LOB(s) needs; supports roadmap prioritization and provides insight on how to potentially approach competing needs.
• Collaborates with the Head of Technology Enablement, BTG and LOB management to develop annual budgets for LOB partner areas.
• Develops solution concepts and business cases for new investments.
• Performs business analysis and prepares recommendations and business plans as needed; represents the Business in technology and data planning conversations while representing the BTG in LOB discussions.
• Provides subject matter expertise and consults with business-level subject matter experts on business user needs, requirements, and preferences (individually or through looping in other contacts).
• Creates and analyzes relevant data and data visualizations; develops recommendations to present to senior management on LOB technology investment areas.
• Ensures the collection of projects within their program(s) are benefiting each other and aligning to the overall firm and LOB goals, while providing guidance and leadership to project team members.
• Identifies, screens, and evaluates new solution opportunities to address unmet LOB needs.
• Possesses strong analytical skills, including an understanding of business economics and financial resources.
• Collaborates with BTG peers to ensure solution meets company standards and is cohesive with overall strategy of the firm’s direction.
• Collaborates with the BTG and other business teams on the intake process and prioritization of candidate projects across the company.
• Coach and mentor junior-level Business Liaisons where the junior-level Business Liaison is supporting projects and/or applications they are responsible for.

40% Technology Operations, Project Management, and Vendor Management

• Manages application-level access and overall governance and oversight model to designated LOB applications.
• Provides status for application and technology upgrades & maintenance to key stakeholders within and outside LOB(s).
• Manages key technology vendors, including contracting, onboarding, & partnerships.
• Oversees the work performed by Service Providers relevant to LOB(s).
• Creates, manages, and leads complex programs with multiple departmental stakeholders, vendors, and LOBs with high risk.
• In partnership with BTG team members, supports migration of technology support of new applications to Service Desk and Providers as applications and services are implemented.
• Proactively resolves problems and highlights key risk areas within and between project teams.
• Conducts advanced ongoing analysis to identify trends, variances, and issues.
• Effectively leads and facilitates meetings (including strategic planning and road mapping).
• Communicates program status to key business stakeholders and executive level management.
• Monitors and communicates BTG Delivery Team progress against roadmap using key metrics established in partnership with the LOB and BTG.
• Approve, in partnership with LOB Business Sponsor, application go-lives for relevant applications and services.
• Proactively seeks to prevent problems or issues from arising by analyzing metrics and feedback then implementing the necessary changes.
• Acts as escalation point for LOB(s) and BTG on technology-related risks, issues, and decisions.
• Develops and manages project plan, timeline, and budget for assigned projects.
• Creates structured programs to deliver on key LOB objectives and desired outcomes.
• Produces executive level documentation, reports, analysis, technical writings, and communication.
  • Communicate details around complex topics.
  • Set and manage realistic and appropriate expectations.
• Documents specific duties, activities, problems solved, and issues resolved.
• Frequently updates FAQ’s and SOP’s.
• Continuously improves and documents processes and procedures to follow best practices and minimize resource waste.

5% Cybersecurity Program Management

• Mitigates technology-based risks in partnership with Managing Director of BTG, CISO, and other BTG Team Members
• Embeds with CISO to provide adequate oversight of CISO’s security platform

5% Technology R&D & Proof of Concept

• Research multiple new or existing technologies to satisfy business requirements.
• Manage initiatives to document and test these technologies.
• Create presentations for senior leadership that document research conducted, outline top options, and provide an opinion on which solution should be implemented.

10% Miscellaneous

• Attend meetings and serve on committees, as requested.
• Maintain and increase knowledge and skills through attendance at meetings, conferences, training seminars and in-service training sessions.
• Program and project management for complex, ad hoc initiatives

• Bachelor's Degree in a discipline such as Computer Science, Information Services, Real Estate, Finance, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in a mid-market technology environment supporting a variety of systems and overseeing a portfolio of third-party vendors.
• Knowledge of hardware and software installation, testing, and operation; knowledge of application of computer software for automating organization activities.
• Experience with Zendesk or comparable service desk IT Help Desk platform.
• Experience with Monday.com or comparable work management tools.
• Knowledge of database fundamentals.
• Knowledge of platform and system integrations.
• Experience with Program and Project Management, Change Management, Requirements Gathering, User Acceptance Testing, and Platform Implementations.
• Familiar with Enterprise Architecture design.
• Must be able to maintain professional and effective working relations with supervisors, co-workers.
• Must be able to work flexible hours, including weekends and evenings.
• Must be able to manage support issues remotely during off hours.
• Must be able to learn new skills and technologies.

For Illinois Only: The expected base salary range for this position is $150,000 to $250,000. Actual salaries may vary based on a number of factors, including skills, experience, and qualifications.

In addition to base salary, total compensation at Harrison Street includes a generous discretionary bonus, along with a comprehensive range of benefits — including medical, financial, and wellness programs — designed to support our employees both professionally and personally.

Harrison Street is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to veteran status, uniform service member status, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information or any other protected class under federal, state, or local law.

If you require accessibility assistance applying for open positions, please contact our ADA Accessible Line at (312) 920-0500 or [email protected]. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

Harrison Street does not accept unsolicited headhunter and agency resumes. Harrison Street will not pay fees to any third-party agency or company that does not have a signed agreement with Harrison Street.