Job description

Solutions for Today’s Challenges. Vision for Tomorrow’s Opportunities. Join William Blair, the Premier Global Partnership. William Blair has delivered trusted advice for nine decades, and we continue to deepen our expertise and relationships across regions, asset classes, and markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. We are committed to our people and culture, values, clients, and local communities. What sets us apart is that we are an independent partnership, with employees who have unique experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet clients’ evolving needs amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries. We strive to attract the most qualified, passionate candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and a variety of other business functions. We work tirelessly to create an inclusive culture and take pride in fostering employees’ professional and personal growth. We empower our people to bring their best thinking each day so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem-solving abilities that our clients expect. Equally, we are proud of our long-term partnerships with the communities in which we live and work, a legacy we inherited from our founder. We invite you to learn about how we are seeking excellence in everything we do and empowering our clients’ success with passion, creativity, and rigor. For more information, visit williamblair.com. Director, Modern Workplace and Digital Experience Location: Chicago (Hybrid – 2 days onsite per week) The Director of Modern Workplace and Digital User Experience is a strategic leadership role responsible for defining, executing, and evolving the company's digital workplace vision. This leader will ensure a seamless, secure, and productive technology experience for all employees, focusing on the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem, with a keen emphasis on driving user adoption and maximizing the value of AI tools like Microsoft Copilot. This role bridges the gap between infrastructure engineering, application support, and user-centric design to deliver a world-class employee experience. The role holder is a senior stakeholder in internal business engagements as well as external relationships with vendors and providers within the supported products and services. As part of the senior Central IT leadership team, this role helps define and execute the enterprise IT strategy, ensuring Central IT delivers maximum business value through alignment and innovation. Digital Experience, Adoption, and Change Management: Champion a user-centric digital workplace strategy, focusing on measurable improvements in employee productivity and satisfaction through effective change management. Define and track Digital Employee Experience (DEX) metrics (e.g., time to task, application performance, user satisfaction) and translate insights into actionable technology and process improvements. Lead user research, feedback loops, and usability testing to understand employee needs and pain points across all digital workplace tools. User Adoption and Training: Develop and execute comprehensive user adoption strategies for new and existing Microsoft 365 applications and features, moving users from legacy tools to modern solutions. Direct the creation and delivery of engaging training and educational materials (webinars, short videos, quick-start guides) tailored to different user roles and proficiency levels. Build and maintain a network of Digital Champions across the business to facilitate grassroots support, best-practice sharing, and enthusiasm for the modern workplace. Microsoft Copilot and Generative AI Integration: Drive the strategy, governance, and adoption of Microsoft Copilot and other generative AI tools to transform user productivity and collaboration across the organization. Copilot Strategy and Adoption: Develop and own the rollout and adoption roadmap for Microsoft Copilot (across Microsoft 365 and other relevant applications), focusing on maximizing its value proposition for key business functions. Work with business unit leaders to identify and prioritize high-impact use cases for Copilot that enhance individual productivity, automate routine tasks, and improve data discovery. Establish and lead initiatives focused on 'prompt engineering' education to empower users to leverage Copilot effectively and derive optimal results. Collaboration and Improvement: Monitor, measure, and report on the impact of Copilot on user productivity and collaboration metrics, continuously seeking ways to optimize the employee workflow. Partner with other teams in IT, Legal and Compliance to establish and enforce a Responsible AI Governance Framework for Copilot, ensuring data security and privacy. Stay current with emerging generative AI capabilities from Microsoft and other vendors, evaluating their potential for integration into the modern workplace ecosystem. Microsoft 365 Engineering and Platform Support: Lead the technical strategy, engineering, and support for the core Microsoft 365 platform and its associated applications, ensuring stability, security, and optimal performance. Platform Engineering & Back-end Support: Oversee the management and operational support of the Microsoft 365 tenancy, including core services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive. M365 Product Ownership: Monitor M365 feature releases, assess applicability to environment and oversee timeline for testing, rollout and adoption.  Collaborate with the teams responsible for back-end security, governance, compliance, and lifecycle management of the platform and related infrastructure (e.g., system engineering and endpoint management via Microsoft Intune/Endpoint Manager). Front-end Application Support: Own the technical roadmap for the front-end deployment, configuration, and integration of core Microsoft 365 applications (e.g., Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Manage L2/L3 support teams to resolve complex user-facing application issues quickly and effectively, ensuring a low-friction employee support experience. Establish technical standards and governance for the creation and management of collaborative spaces (e.g., Teams channels, SharePoint sites). QUALIFICATIONS Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in computer science, information systems, business administration, or IT related field preferred  15+ years of experience in Information Technology, with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role overseeing Digital Workplace, User Experience, or a related function. Deep, hands-on expertise with the entire Microsoft 365 ecosystem, including engineering, governance, and application support. Proven experience developing and executing large-scale user adoption, change management, and training programs for enterprise technology. Demonstrated ability to develop a strategy and deployment plan for Microsoft Copilot or other GenAI technologies in an enterprise environment, including governance and user enablement. Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences up to the executive level. Professional certifications preferred #LI-CH #LI-HYBRIDA reasonable estimate of the current base salary range at time of posting is below. Base salary does not include other forms of compensation or benefits. Actual base salary within the specified range is based on several factors, including but not limited to applicant's skills, prior relevant experience, specific degrees and certifications, job responsibilities, market considerations and, if applicable, the location of the position. This role is eligible for either a discretionary annual bonus (based on company, business unit and individual performance) and/or commission-based incentives. Our featured benefit offerings include medical, dental and vision coverage, employer paid short & long-term disability and life insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, paid time off, Maven family & fertility benefit, parental leave (including adoption, surrogacy, and foster placement), as well as other voluntary benefits.  Salary Range$235,000—$260,000 USD   William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for. EOE m/f/d/v Be aware of hiring scams: William Blair has clear processes and guidelines with regards to recruiting. We do not request personal financial information in connection with an employment application nor does William Blair extend any employment offers without first conducting an interview through one of its registered offices. William Blair does not use instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or iMessage as part of the recruiting or interviewing process. Note to External Recruiters / Search Firms: William Blair does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not pay for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Any unsolicited resumes received will not be considered as a valid submission. Download William Blair's privacy policies for job applicants: California Consumer Privacy Act Privacy Notice (CCPA) General Data Protection Regulation Privacy Notice (GDPR) Contact us should you have any questions or concerns.

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