Asst. Dir. Field Technology Operations

Northwestern Mutual • New York, NY

4d

About The Position

This position is pivotal in executing Northwestern Mutual’s Technology Success strategy by leading a team that provides day-to-day technology support to NM’s national network of financial advisors. Additionally, this role involves partnering with the Home Office (Corporate HQ) on critical technology initiatives to ensure the Field Technology Operations team is well-equipped to foster a positive technology-enabled client experience (CX) and field experience (FX). By representing the field’s voice of customer (VoC), the Assistant Director ensures that product development, deployment, and change plans effectively address pain points and meet the unique needs of the field.

Requirements

• Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field. Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of 5-7 years of experience in technology support or a related field, with at least 3 years in a lead, leadership, or managerial role.
• Proven track record of managing or leading technology support teams.
• Understanding of IT infrastructure, software applications, and network systems.
• Proficiency in troubleshooting and resolving technical issues.
• Experience with technology support tools and platforms such as ServiceNow or similar.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, and develop high-performing teams.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Experience in strategic planning and execution of organizational goals.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Strong presentation skills, with the ability to convey technical information to non-technical audiences.
• Strong commitment to customer service and satisfaction.
• Ability to understand and address the unique needs and challenges of end-users.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Ability to identify root causes of issues and develop effective solutions.
• Ability to adapt to rapidly changing technology and business environments. Proactive approach to learning and implementing new technologies and best practices.
• Ability to align technology support strategies with broader organizational goals.
• Experience in driving process improvements and operational efficiencies.
• Adaptive Communication: Formulates strategies to be used to convey complex information about services, products, systems, or processes to targeted audiences; communicates and liaises between technical and non-technical audiences.
• Analytical Thinking: Organizes and compares various aspects of a situation to comprehend and identify key or underlying complex issues using quantitative data and analysis; leverages strong business acumen, problem solving, and interpersonal skills to think critically about situations from multiple perspectives and consistently seeks ways to improve processes.
• Customer Centricity: Applies a customer first mindset to design and continuously improve solutions, systems, processes, and services that support enterprise strategy, impact critical business outcomes, and drive organizational success.
• Digital Products: Demonstrates expertise and knowledge of digital devices, communication applications, and networks to access and manage information.
• Escalation Management: Addresses and resolves incidents where customer wants to communicate with leadership or higher authorities regarding their problems. Empathizes, understands, and interacts with the customer to mitigate their issues using domain expertise and adaptive communication techniques.
• Field Advocacy: Serves as an advocate and liaison of the field to produce meaningful interactions with the field that increase awareness and satisfaction with products and services; brings a field-centric mindset to value creation, prioritization, sequencing, and/or design of digital product enhancements, to maximize value to the field and increase the effectiveness of adoption.
• Operational Excellence: Focuses on lowering operational risks, running costs, and increasing revenues by identifying, designing, and implementing efficient and effective operational processes and systems that drive performance improvement and achieve business goals.
• Performance Management & Reporting: Monitors and measures performance of the team and/or field and uses metrics to continuously track and compare the actual versus expected performance, and determines corrective actions as needed.

Nice To Haves

• Relevant certifications such as ITIL, PMP, or similar are preferred.
• Experience managing budgets and financial planning for technology support operations.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical practices and maintaining confidentiality.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach a geographically distributed team of technology specialists (TS) to successfully enable effective and efficient technology support.
• Develop and maintain relationships with Network and District office leadership to understand and address resource and programmatic needs by office.
• Lead working teams in the strategic design, implementation, and execution of departmental priorities that drive NM’s transformation agenda, while also minimizing technology-related business issues.
• Collaborate with digital products, technology, and business teams on key technology initiatives, providing field VOC and proactively influencing the direction of adoption and support plans.
• Partner and consistently deliver with peers across Field Technology Operations to establish and sustain best practices for program operations and delivery standards.
• Continuously assess team performance via quantitative and qualitative measures as appropriate; taking corrective action where needed to improve capabilities, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance customer experience.
• Oversee team support strategies ensuring high-quality, value-added touchpoints to enable high customer satisfaction.
• Lead the strategic engagement of major technology integrations and moves with Network Office leadership. Ensuring Technology Specialist are fully supported to execute locally.
• Partner with 3rd party vendors in the active sourcing and onboarding of technology specialists and consultants.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees