Lead Project Manager (Innovation Programs)

The Intelligent Foundations & Experiences (IFX) Science & Academic Partnerships (S&AP) team is seeking a high-energy, highly organized, and self-motivated Manager, Project Management to lead high-impact projects and programs as part of our innovation portfolio. The primary focus of this role will be facilitating Capital One’s patent strategy in partnership with the OnePatents team, to ensure we capture business-critical IP.

In this role, you will have visibility into IFX’s most strategic innovation areas. You will serve as the bridge between our innovators and the Legal team, ensuring our foundational technology and novel solutions are identified, prioritized, and protected. This is a unique opportunity to empower global innovation and collaboration at scale across the company's most critical focus areas.

The Impact You Will Have: As the S&AP Innovations Lead, you will partner with Legal to drive the intentional "harvesting" of high-value Intellectual Property (IP). You are someone who moves comfortably between deep-dive sessions with tech teams and high-level strategic alignment with Senior Executives.

Job Responsibilities :

• Program Leadership & Management: Support complex programs by helping to facilitate and design the strategic direction alongside Legal, Tech, Product, and Chief of Staff offices. Run a well-managed program - this includes establishing regular presentation and meeting ceremonies to drive forward our strategic patent activities and meeting weekly with the OnePatents (Legal)to drive action. Develop and track OKRs to measure the effectiveness of IP programs and processes. Work with Tower level SLTs to ensure each IFX tower has a defined patent strategy to ensure the capture of business critical IP. Drive meeting ceremonies, and program structure to best support IFX and One patents. The output is prioritized areas of focus for the one patent team.
• IP Harvesting & Workshop Facilitation and support: Partner cross-functionally with inventors and senior leaders to facilitate “Harvesting Workshops.” You will provide the tactical framework and strategic thought partnership needed to identify and secure critical innovations in close partnership with the OnePatents team.
• IDF Submissions: Build strategies to best motivate associates to complete patent process steps for submissions.
• Op Excellence: Define and integrate into workflows where we can streamline the automatic capture of business critical IP.
• Communications: Effectively drive internal and external communications about Patents in close partnership with Corporate Communications. This includes drafting communications, and identifying external storytelling opportunities related to patents. Build in associate recognition and connect Patents into Capital One’s overall Innovation story.
• Structured Problem Solving: Bring immediate structure to ambiguous spaces, leveraging data and influencing skills to ensure project plans deliver on their original intent.
• Reporting: Establish clear ways to measure and report to leadership on our AI initiatives. Maintain meticulous documentation to mitigate risk and ensure the timely submission of patent submissions and strategic milestones.
• Innovation: Manage additional projects as needed that help Capital One build a strong innovation culture, including operational capacity and programming.

Who you are:

• Intellectual Curiosity: You have a natural interest in the tech landscape and the ability to follow along as engineering teams describe their breakthroughs. While you don’t need to be the expert: you are a proactive driver who is comfortable leading the discussion around identifying and prioritizing key innovations.
• An Autonomous Navigator: You thrive in ambiguity, knowing exactly when to drive forward independently and when to escalate for leadership support.
• An Executive Storyteller: You possess the communication skills to translate complex project updates into compelling narratives that drive transformational change.
• A Continuous Improver: You don’t just follow a process; you actively contribute to the evolution of our program management practices.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or Military experience
• At least 6 Years of Project Management experience
• At least 2 years of Jira experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters / MBA degree
• 7+ years of Project Management experience
• 2+ years of People Management experience
• PMP, Lean, Agile or Six Sigma certification

At this time, Capital One will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization, or offer any immigration related support for this position (i.e. H1B, F-1 OPT, F-1 STEM OPT, F-1 CPT, J-1, TN, E-2, E-3, L-1 and O-1, or any EADs or other forms of work authorization that require immigration support from an employer). The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

McLean, VA: $151,900 - $173,400 for Manager, Project Management

New York, NY: $165,700 - $189,200 for Manager, Project Management

Richmond, VA: $138,100 - $157,700 for Manager, Project Management

Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.

This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.

This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City’s Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.

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Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).