VP Engagement Strategy - Group Benefits

Description and Requirements
Title: VP Engagement Strategy - Group Benefits
Location: New York, NYAlternate Location(s): Bridgwater, NJ, Cary, NC, or Aurora, ILSetting: HybridReports to title: SVP Workforce Engagement and Benefits ConnectivityTravel: 25% or less
The Opportunity
The Vice President of Engagement Strategy will partner with the Senior Vice President, Workforce Engagement & Benefits Connectivity, to develop the Employee Engagement Strategy. This individual is responsible for developing short- and long-term holistic engagement strategies and implementing plans to achieve the organization's Employee and Employer Engagement objectives, including drive towards participation growth key results - growing enrollment and improving member persistency. By understanding the priorities across MetLife (products, capabilities, and services) as well as our customers and the workforce, this individual will help tie together our offerings to develop a more comprehensive and thoughtful engagement market story to accelerate MetLife's leadership position in this space. The Vice President of Engagement will work closely with Workforce Engagement, Marketing, Upwise, Product, Financial Wellness, DnA, and Technology Leadership to develop market leading solutions with the employee at the center of everything we do. MetLife's Group Benefits Engagement Strategy is a multi-year, high impact, cross-functional, strategic effort to differentiate our offerings for a better employee and employer experience.
As the agile product management leader, this role is accountable for guiding the overall vision, roadmap, ongoing work delivery and outcomes that encompass multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs) dedicated to this Strategy, including DnA, Marketing and Technology. As single point of contact, this role will have leadership responsibility and accountability for the execution and implementation of the engagement strategy, which includes workings closely with DnA, IT and Marketing to successfully build a data environment to enable data flow from systems of records (SORs) into marketing platforms to enable execution strategy. To execute on this program, this leader must guide, support and align with marketing teams and key stakeholders to deliver, measure and refine campaigns to enable key results. The incumbent will be accountable for realizing the value of ongoing solutions to deliver the end-to-end platforms, processes, and interactions across the employee journey.
How You'll Help Us Build a Confident Future (Key Responsibilities)

• This is an expertise-driven leader practitioner role responsible for high-performance consumer acquisition and loyalty activation across the customer journey and throughout the lifecycle.
  • Establish a strategic approach to designing high performing consumer journeys that drive desired behavior to increase take, utilization and ongoing retention
  • Multi-channel performance marketing via campaign activation across channels
  • Insights-led, data-driven, rapid iteration for ongoing optimization and build scalable capabilities integrating marketing technology platforms/tools with admin systems and the data ecosystem
• This is an Agile leadership role responsible for effective product management across solution design through delivery:
  • Understand the needs of the group benefits employee and the customer to align business outcomes and inform decisions
  • Partner with Business Owners and key partners (including Marketing and Products) to identify and address priority employee needs and pain points throughout the employee journey - and create high-impact solutions that drive customer value and business outcomes
  • Ensure each Program Increment focuses on work delivery with a maximum value, aligned with product strategy, roadmap, and key milestones
  • Help drive ongoing refinement, prioritization, and acceptance of work delivered across agile teams and partners across the delivery ecosystem against defined OKRs
  • Work with Business Owners and other key stakeholders to ensure alignment of solution intent and backlog
  • Consult with system architect and solution architects to understand what is possible and maintain the solution roadmap
• Lead a team of direct and non-direct reports
• Lead the Engagement Strategy effort, and work collaboratively with cross-functional teams within the Agile Delivery Model (i.e. DnA, Marketing, Technology) to deliver on needed capabilities
• Provide leadership to teams and cross-functional teams on the execution of an implementation, work plan, or other strategic initiatives
• Stay up to date with the latest trends and developments in the engagement space, and communicate market and business needs to Senior Leadership
• Leverage market/customer research, trends, and competitor analysis to drive additional opportunities and enhance employee and employer loyalty
• Provide, communicate, and implement strategy to address competition, changes in employee and employer preference, and improvements in technology and marketing tools
• Organize and implement pilots and programs
• Work with finance partners to perform financial analysis and modeling
• Develop and implement data-driven strategies to drive business growth and improve operational efficiency for Participant Engagement
• Lead the team to gather, analyze, and interpret data to provide actionable insights
• Summarize insights from analysis and clearly communicate analytical findings in a cohesive story; and articulate an argument to be presented to executives
• Build and coordinate training for appropriate external and internal client-facing materials and/or changes

What You Need to Succeed (Required Qualifications)

• 10+ years of experience in Group Insurance; must have a deep understanding of the Group Insurance business
• Experience with and understanding of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) approach and practices required
• Strong understanding of the business to interpret data needs and proven experience with technology as well as deep understanding of how marketing operates to enable success
• Must demonstrate specific experience developing the strategic vision for an organization and prioritizing its most critical needs; ability to develop a strong business case, drive interest and agreement to secure funding to deliver against the vision and manage large transformational programs
• Ability to develop strategic trusted partnerships with their internal partners, customers and brokers
• Ability to direct multiple teams' activities; ability to direct, motivate and develop project staff in an evolving environment.
• Strong interpersonal, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Undergraduate degree required, MBA or other advanced degree preferred

What Can Give You an Edge (Key Behaviors)

• Think critically and challenge assumptions, identifying areas of improvement and continuously driving the best solutions - Seize Opportunity
• Be consultative around the problems being solved, sourcing ideas and feedback from multiple people and areas - Seek Diverse Perspectives
• Practice keen negotiation skills, driving and prioritizing the best customer experience even if that doesn't directly tie to the original requirements - Deliver what Matters
• Build partnerships and bring the right people to the table to resolve issues and reduce risk - Create Alignment
• Ensure capabilities and solutions are delivered quickly and completely, understanding that every release is a chance to improve the customer experience - Act with Urgency
• Be accountable for the subject matter and accurate delivery of business documentation, knowing that details matter - Take Responsibility

The salary range for applicants for this position is 213,200 to 284,300 - This role is also eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives..
Benefits We Offer
Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no-cost short- and long-term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more!
About MetLife
Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the 2024 "World's Most Admired Companies", Fortune World's 25 Best Workplaces™ for 2024, as well as the 2024 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For ®, MetLife , through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by empathy, we're inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it's #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!
Equal Employment Opportunity/Disability/Veterans
If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [email protected]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process.
MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.
213,200 to 284,300 - This role is also eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives.
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