Vice President, Operations and Transformation

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Explore how you can contribute at AmeriLife.

For over 50 years, AmeriLife has been a leader in the development, marketing and distribution of annuity, life and health insurance solutions for those planning for and living in retirement.

Associates get satisfaction from knowing they provide agents, marketers and carrier partners the support needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry.

Job Summary

AmeriLife is a national leader in developing, marketing, and distributing life and health insurance, and wealth management solutions. AmeriLife’s strength is its mission: to offer insurance and retirement solutions to help people live longer, healthier lives. By putting its mission into practice, AmeriLife has become recognized as a national leader in developing, marketing, and distributing life and health insurance, annuities, and retirement planning solutions to enhance the lives of pre-retirees and retirees. For more than 50 years, AmeriLife has partnered with the nation’s leading insurance carriers to provide value and quality to customers served through a national distribution network of over 200,000 insurance agents and advisors, over 40 marketing organizations, and nearly 50 insurance agency locations.
The Vice President, Operations and Transformation is senior level position and member of the Operations and Technology organization primarily responsible for overseeing, planning, and executing multiple projects within the Enterprise Project Portfolio that delivers these solutions. The Vice President leads and manages a team of project managers, business analysts, and IT professionals, assigned to portfolio programs and projects, to successfully complete those projects, ensuring our Strategic Business Units (SBU) have the products and solutions needed to support business operations and meeting organizational goals.
This position supports the SVP, Operations and Transformation in the maturation of existing project management processes and implementation of new processes and governance structures that improve program delivery by ensuring initiative requests align with AmeriLife’s strategic business goals, reducing IT portfolio risks and optimizing the use of resources to deliver key projects on-time, within budget, and meeting defined objectives. This position further assists the SVP, Operations and Transformation to execute associated organizational change management and adoption strategies.
Location: Tampa Bay Tri-County area preferred. Remote candidates eligible with a ~25% travel commitment

Job Description

Duties/Responsibilities

• Develop and implement EPMO strategy in alignment with the organization’s overall strategic objectives
• Ensure the implementation and adoption of EPMO governance, processes, and procedures
• Lead and mentor team of project managers and business analysts, providing guidance in support of business goal achievement and continuous professional development
• Foster culture of accountability and high performance
• Own and drive successful creation, management and completion of the enterprise’s portfolio of projects
• Lead teams of IT, business unit associates, and vendor resources to successfully deliver IT Portfolio projects
• Apply scope, budget, schedule, resource, and risk management processes to execute full life-cycle project responsibilities (initiate, execute, control and close)
• Work with project managers, stakeholders and vendors partners to create project plans, establishing baseline to track and report project execution
• Provide timely and effective portfolio communication to the project team, sponsors, and executive leadership team
• Apply forecasting techniques for an accurate and objective view of IT and Business project health for performance reporting to prevent budget overall or schedule slippage
• Assess current state of Quality Assurance capabilities, develop and execute a comprehensive strategy to transition from manual to automated testing supporting large IT projects
• Provide input to annual planning in partnership with Strategy and FP&A teams
• Develop, manage to, and report on business unit performance metrics
• Develop and manage departmental budget, ensuring operational costs are kept within budget

Qualifications

• BS/BA in Business Administration, project management or related field; Master’s degree preferred
• 7 - 10 years proven track record of development, execution and first-hand delivery of successful technology programs and projects, managing program and project teams, and implementing project management processes
• Proven experience with program and project portfolio management, associated reporting and budget management
• Prior experience managing product development and/or operations within the financial services, insurance or retirement planning sectors
• Strong knowledge of Quality Assurance (QA) testing methodologies, tools, processes and associated frameworks
• Project management (PMP) certification preferred
• Prior management experience with Fintech (financial technology) services and products is a plus
• Scaled Agilist Certification is a plus (Lean Portfolio Management or Scrum Master)
• Prior experience managing Salesforce platform projects is a plus

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, continuously changing environment, collaborating across multiple internal and external stakeholders to achieve common business objectives
• Strong strategic thinking skills, with the ability to align and communicate project goals with overall organizational objectives
• Excellent communication skills, including ability to communicate effectively with all key stakeholders, direct reports, project team members, vendor partners, and executives
• Expert level Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Projects, and PowerPoint skills
• Proven experience with automated testing practices and applications
• Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills
• Ability to present complex information in a clear and concise manner
• Strong leadership skills that inspire and motivate others