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Legal Lead Program and Portfolio Manager (Hybrid)

American Family Insurance · Madison, WI · $99,000–$167,000 a year · Full time

Posted Oct 2, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about a portfolio you managed. How did you decide what to stop or delay?

What they are checking: Whether they are willing to cut work, since a portfolio that never says no is just a list.

Tell me about a time you influenced a leader who did not report to you to change direction.

What they are checking: Whether they can act as a trusted advisor without formal authority.

Tell me about a time a major project went off track. What did you do to bring it back?

What they are checking: Whether they face problems early and honestly instead of hiding them in status reports.

What would you do

Two senior attorneys both say their project is the top priority. How do you resolve it?

What they are checking: Whether they can use agreed criteria and influence leaders instead of picking a favorite.

What is different about running programs for lawyers compared with other business teams?

What they are checking: Whether they understand legal work is hard to estimate and lawyers may resist project discipline.

How would you make portfolio governance useful instead of just more meetings and paperwork?

What they are checking: Whether they can keep governance light enough that people actually follow it.

What would your first 90 days look like in this role?

What they are checking: Whether they would listen and learn the current state before changing processes.

About the work

How would you set up demand intake and prioritization for a legal department that has more requests than capacity?

What they are checking: Whether they can build a fair, clear process that leaders trust to decide what gets done.

What metrics would you use to show legal leadership that the portfolio is delivering value?

What they are checking: Whether they can measure outcomes, not just whether projects finished on time.

How do you manage risks and dependencies across many projects running at once?

What they are checking: Whether they track how one delay ripples into others and raise it early.

How would you plan resources for legal operations when work spikes from unexpected matters?

What they are checking: Whether they build slack and flexibility into capacity planning for unpredictable demand.

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The full job description

As published by American Family Insurance.

Join our team where strategy, innovation, and execution come together. As the Legal Operations Program & Portfolio Manager with American Family Insurance, you will oversee the end-to-end management of Legal's program and project portfolio, helping transform ideas into results. You'll lead portfolio governance, demand management, resource planning, and performance oversight while serving as a trusted advisor to leaders across the business. If you excel at solving complex challenges, influencing partners, and driving continuous improvement, this is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact across the organization. You will report to the Director, Divisional Strategy and Legal Operations. #LI-Hybrid Position Compensation Range: $99,000.00 - $167,000.00 Pay Rate Type: Salary Compensation may vary based on the job level and your geographic work location. Relocation support is offered for eligible candidates. Primary Accountabilities • Lead the strategy, governance, and management of Legal's portfolio of programs, projects, and strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with business and enterprise priorities. • Oversee demand intake, prioritization, and resource planning to maximize portfolio value and optimize delivery outcomes. • Drive end-to-end portfolio execution by monitoring performance, managing risks and dependencies, and ensuring initiatives achieve intended results. • Establish and maintain portfolio governance frameworks, reporting, metrics, and KPIs that enable transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making. • Partner with business leaders, project sponsors, and partners to align priorities, resources, and execution strategies. • Deliver data-driven insights to leadership on portfolio performance, risks, opportunities, and investment decisions. • Champion operational excellence through the adoption of best practices, continuous process improvement, and enhanced portfolio management capabilities. • Foster collaboration, accountability, and communication across stakeholder groups to support successful delivery of strategic objectives. • Proactively adjust portfolio priorities, resource allocation, and delivery plans to achieve organizational goals. • Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership, translating strategy into actionable plans and measurable business outcomes. Specialized Knowledge and Skills Requirements • Demonstrated experience providing customer-driven solutions, support or service. • Extensive experience with project/program and portfolio management tools, methods and practices. • Demonstrated experience effectively communicating with senior leaders • Demonstrated experience with budget, metrics and other operational analyses. • Solid knowledge and understanding of operational and strategic planning. Preferred Skills: • Strong knowledge of portfolio management, governance, demand management, resource planning, and delivery best practices. • Proven ability to develop and implement portfolio governance frameworks, operating models, and prioritization processes. • Experience partnering with senior leaders and executive stakeholders to align strategic priorities, investments, and business outcomes. • Ability to analyze complex business challenges, assess tradeoffs, and provide data-driven recommendations. • Experience creating executive-level reporting, dashboards, metrics, and portfolio performance insights. • Demonstrated success driving continuous improvement, operational excellence, or business transformation initiatives. • Professional certifications such as PMP, PgMP, Lean Six Sigma, SAFe, or equivalent are preferred. • Experience supporting legal, compliance, risk, governance, or other highly regulated functions is desirable. Licenses • Not applicable. Travel Requirements • Up to 10%. Physical Requirements • Work that primarily involves sitting/standing. Working Conditions • Not applicable. Additional Information • To ensure a strong start, all employees participate in our New Employee Orientation during their first week.  This experience is held in person at our Madison, WI Headquarters or one of our AmFam core locations to help you connect with our mission, meet key team members and build relationships that support your growth.  At times, sessions may be delivered virtually based on scheduling and availability. • Offer to selected candidate will be made contingent on the results of applicable background checks • Offer to selected candidate is contingent on signing a non-disclosure agreement for proprietary information, trade secrets, and inventions • Sponsorship will not be considered for this position unless specified in the posting In this hybrid role you will be expected to work a minimum of 10 days per month out of our Madison, WI offices. We provide benefits that support your physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing. You will have access to comprehensive medical, dental, vision and wellbeing benefits that enable you to take care of your health. We also offer a competitive 401(k) contribution, a pension plan, an annual incentive, 9 paid holidays and a paid time off program (23 days accrued annually for full-time employees). In addition, our student loan repayment program and paid-family leave are available to support our employees and their families. Interns and contingent workers are not eligible for American Family Insurance Group benefits. We are an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws pertaining to non-discrimination, non-harassment and equal opportunity. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. American Family Insurance is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please email AskHR@AmFam.com to request a reasonable accommodation. #LI-AB1

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