AVP, Circle Lead

Travelers • Hartford, CT

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Travelers is seeking an AVP, Circle Lead to set direction and deliver results across multiple Agile product teams supporting our General Liability, Auto, and Shared Services portfolios within Claim. This role offers ongoing visibility with the Claim Senior Leadership team and Product Line Leads at key milestones throughout the year. You will own the roadmap and delivery outcomes for a portfolio of capabilities that span the business unit, contributing to trade-off discussions on funding, sequencing, and resource allocation that determine what gets built and when. You will formally manage the Product Owners on the circle and informally lead the broader circle — helping set priorities, removing obstacles, and holding teams accountable for outcomes rather than activity. Success in this role depends on strong partnerships. You will work shoulder-to-shoulder with technology leaders to translate business strategy into executable plans, and with business stakeholders across GL, Auto, and Shared Services to ensure what we deliver actually moves the needle for the front line. As a member of both the Claim Business Insights & Analytics (CBIA) and Analytic Value Stream leadership teams, you will help shape how the teams work — the practices, ways of working, and delivery discipline that determine whether the portfolio succeeds. This role requires prior experience in an analytics or information delivery organization. You don't need to be a hands-on practitioner, but you do need to understand how data products get built and delivered — from data sourcing through reporting, dashboards, and the analytical capabilities that put information into the hands of decision-makers. Equally important, you should be genuinely passionate about using AI to improve both how we work and what we deliver — bringing curiosity, conviction, and a willingness to challenge the status quo to help our teams adopt new tools and ways of working.

Requirements

• Seven years of relevant business experience.
• Four years of people leadership/ management experience.

Nice To Haves

• Six years of experience in an agile/execution leadership role delivering business solutions on a demanding schedule.
• Five years of people leadership /management experience.
• Strong business acumen and a deep strategic mindset.
• Proven analytical skills and experience making decisions based on hard and soft data.
• Deep knowledge of the line of Business with the ability to develop and leverage business and/or vendor partnerships, consult on business priorities, and optimize value through solution identification aligned with business objectives.
• Agile Mindset: Embody Agile core values of openness, courage, respect, focus, and commitment. Infuse Agile principles, practices and methodologies to achieve team success.
• Product Mindset: Focus on defining a product value proposition that aligns with and supports the circle/value stream objectives and which is the north star for the Circle.
• Change Agent: Expert change leadership skills including the ability to create an inclusive environment, manage conflict and develop solutions to mitigate risk.
• Influence: Ability to influence behaviors of leaders at all levels and without traditional hierarchy.
• Servant Leadership: Foster an environment where individuals thrive as empowered and equal members of a team.
• Communication: Ability to communicate thoughts, concepts, practices effectively at all levels, adjusting as needed to a target audience.
• Collaboration: Expertise working with others in a cross-functional multi-team environment.
• Continuous Improvement: Demonstrate a commitment to continually improve, share learning with others and encourage team development.

Responsibilities

• Lead, define, communicate and champion a large and complex body of work spanning multiple agile teams (i. e. Team of Teams) working toward common business outcomes typically impacting the entire line of business.
• Partner with Technology Circle Lead to manage and provide input to define multi-team vision and strategy, including the business architecture and roadmap for achieving the strategy, vision and business outcomes; articulate the Circle / Team of Teams vision and strategy effectively to teams and executive-level stakeholders.
• Effectively drive, manage, implement and track one or more complex portfolios of deliverables and capabilities as well as 'test and learn'/experimentation targeted at defining/refining future deliverables, measuring performance and adjusting the overall roadmap of deliverables as needed.
• Prioritize interdependent team backlogs addressing risks and dependencies (often spanning multiple Circle and Lines of Businesses) to defined outcomes and ensuring overall alignment with business strategy; make trade-off decisions to balance quality, cost, and timelines to maximize value in context of circle and value stream objectives.
• Identify innovative solutions both internally and in the external marketplace; ensure competitive and industry benchmarking of critical capabilities.
• Oversee and make data driven decisions related to funding and resource allocation, and prioritization of work; make trade-off decisions to balance quality, cost, and timelines to maximize value.
• Lead positive team dynamics, encourage collaboration and drive appropriate levels of self-organization; Assess, utilize, and partner with external resources and partners to meet agreed upon expectations, as needed.
• Manage multi-team dynamics; remove impediments to teams’ success and assist in conflict resolution, issue and dependency management.
• Build and foster collaborative relationships across other Circles, business areas and with key partners, with the ability to influence executive-level leadership.
• Share best practices with peers across the value stream to ensure alignment and consistency in ways of working.
• Help grow agile maturity within and across teams.
• People-management responsibilities for team members and may manage other Circle Leads.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Health Insurance: Employees and their eligible family members – including spouses, domestic partners, and children – are eligible for coverage from the first day of employment.
• Retirement: Travelers matches your 401(k) contributions dollar-for-dollar up to your first 5% of eligible pay, subject to an annual maximum. If you have student loan debt, you can enroll in the Paying it Forward Savings Program. When you make a payment toward your student loan, Travelers will make an annual contribution into your 401(k) account. You are also eligible for a Pension Plan that is 100% funded by Travelers.
• Paid Time Off: Start your career at Travelers with a minimum of 20 days Paid Time Off annually, plus nine paid company Holidays.
• Wellness Program: The Travelers wellness program is comprised of tools, discounts and resources that empower you to achieve your wellness goals and caregiving needs. In addition, our mental health program provides access to free professional counseling services, health coaching and other resources to support your daily life needs.
• Volunteer Encouragement: We have a deep commitment to the communities we serve and encourage our employees to get involved. Travelers has a Matching Gift and Volunteer Rewards program that enables you to give back to the charity of your choice.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed