AVP, Application Development

BITCO Insurance Companies•Davenport, IA

About The Position

The AVP, Application Development will lead the development team vision and technical strategies/standards across all business enterprise class applications, practical implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Workforce (RPA), and new product/innovation. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker with deep technical expertise who will champion the implementation of a microservices model, robust integration layer, enabling multiple core systems to deliver seamless, modern experiences for our employees, agents, and policyholders. This role is central to the Company's strategy, bridging the gap between current business application portfolio and emerging tech and practical, scalable business applications. This role will be responsible for leading technical roadmaps, mentoring development talent, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, current, and modern software solutions providing a competitive edge. This role acts in complete partnership and coordinates closely with Enterprise Architecture (EA), Business Solutions (BS), Digital Solutions (DS), and Data Services (DSS) leaders.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in appropriate field of study or equivalent work experience. Degrees in computer science, information systems, or business administration with technology as a core component preferred
10+ years of experience in software engineering/application development, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership capacity (Director, AVP, or equivalent) leading software engineering/application development teams with ultimate accountability for the delivery of high-quality, secure, and performant software
Proven, direct experience leading a large-scale application modernization program off of legacy systems (e.g., mainframe, AS/400.)
Deep technical understanding of composable architectures, microservices, API-first design principles, and enterprise integration patterns
Demonstrated experience delivering complex projects within a waterfall/agile/scrum framework and a mature understanding of CI/CD and DevSecOps principles.
Detailed experience with transitioning organizations into agile/scrum frameworks including executive, business, and technology teams.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate and work effectively with internal and external customers; ability to articulate complex technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
Highly proficient in maintaining and writing code with current technologies related to the discipline you are leading.
Strong understanding of microservices architectures and enterprise applications to include Duck Creek Technologies, Salesforce, Service-Now, Digital portals, API partners.
Strong understanding of managing vendor partners, managed services, and staff augmentation partners with on/near/offshore resources.
Effectively able to prioritize multiple workloads while maintaining a sense of urgency.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the insurance (P&C.) or financial services industry is a plus.
Experience architecting solutions around core insurance domains (Policy, Billing, Claims) and integrating with major platforms like Guidewire, Duck Creek, or similar is a plus
Experience leading the modernization or scaling of an enterprise RPA program.
Practical experience in leading AI/ML proof-of-concept projects and understanding their business application.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the long-term strategy for migrating applications from legacy systems to a modern, composable, and cloud-native architecture.
In partnership with Enterprise Architecture and Business Solutions, help define the technical vision and application development roadmap, with a strong focus on evaluating/incorporating new architectures and emerging technologies and processes. Architect and oversee the implementation of a robust, API-first enterprise integration layer to unify data and functionality across disparate core systems.
Champion best practices for managing technical debt, ensuring new development enhances system agility and long-term maintainability.
Establish and enforce high standards for in-house and partner sourced software engineering, including code quality, security (DevSecOps), CI/CD, release automation, and performance.
In coordination with IT leadership, develop and implement the department's strategic vision, long-term goals, and objectives to enable company's business while supplying expertise and guidance to development managers.
Lead the strategy for implementing and maturing our Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities, identifying opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce operational costs.
Collaborate closely with the established AI Committee to align enterprise strategy, governance, and priorities.
Drive the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by identifying high-value use cases and leading initiatives from proof-of-concept to production.
Lead a development team by establishing and fostering a culture of accountable delivery, high performance, experimentation, and continuous learning across multiple disciplines, ensuring the quality, quantity, and timeliness of work to meet project and business goals and milestones.
Work closely with Sr. Manager and Supervisors in developing, monitoring, and maintaining departmental metrics, guidelines, and workflows; lead, mentor, and grow our Development and Quality Assurance (QA) teams, fostering a culture of innovation, teamwork/collaboration, and accountability.
Provides clear verbal and written communication to department and IT management regarding team assignments and ongoing projects.
In partnership with EA, manage the design, development, and implementation of complex enterprise applications utilizing microservices-based architecture, ensuring services are independently deployable, reusable, and highly resilient.
In partnership with EA and Business Solutions, function as primary technology partner for initiatives focused on improving digital experience for both insurance agents and policyholders.
Develop and review budgets and ensure they comply with stated goals, guidelines, and objectives in partnership with Data Services Solutions, establish and manage the standards for API design (REST, GraphQL), development, and documentation, promoting consistency and reusability across the organization.
Define the strategy, services library/inventory, and implementation plan for enterprise-wide application, 3rd party API system integration, and reusable microservices standards
Define and build a culture of continuous improvement across all development processes to include recommending and building automation pipelines and methodologies (e.g., Services architecture, CI/CD, DevOps, Agile).
Lead the “design and build for” discipline mindset to achieve application stability, scalability, and security through built-in instrumentation, development standards, and monitoring handoff with post-production support through appropriate technical solutions and controls.
Lead development vendor evaluation, proof-of-concept, and selection, negotiation, and contracting for various deliverables, team augmentation, et. This includes non-functional requirements, service level agreements (SLAs), and performance to ensure vendor accountability to meet defined expectations and deliver maximum quality value within given timelines.
Collaborate and influence how EA, BS, DS, and DSS deliver business strategic goals through technical solutions in the enterprise applications/suites we have adopted or available in the marketplace.
Lead and mature the on-going portfolio rationalization efforts to maintain long-term application currency, reduce/eliminate technical debt through application consolidation, modernization, sun-setting, and replacement in partnership with Business stakeholders and leaders.
Empower and partner with Application Development management team to attract, interview, onboard, and retain top-tier development talent while promoting a culture of teamwork and accountable delivery Encourage and guide performance management processes, providing constructive feedback, and identifying professional development opportunities for team members.
Participate in influence varying levels of long-term planning at the functional or organizational level through effective business communication (void of technical complexity language)
As a management representative, consistently acts in the best interests of BITCO and provides leadership and communication to actively promote BITCO's mission, values, and culture
Performs other duties as assigned