AVP, Portfolio & Program Management Office
About The Position
Providing for loved ones, planning rewarding retirements, saving enough for whatever lies ahead – our policyholders count on us to be there when it matters most. It’s a big ask, but it’s one that we have the power to deliver when we work together. We collaborate and innovate – pushing one another to transform not just Pacific Life, but the entire industry for the better. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Pacific Life is more than a job, it’s a career with purpose. It’s a career where you have the support, balance, and resources to make a positive impact on the future – including your own. We’re actively seeking a talented Assistant Vice President, Portfolio & Program Management Office to join our Strategic Management & Services team in Newport Beach, California. This role follows a hybrid schedule of four days in the office. If you are not currently located near our office, we offer comprehensive relocation assistance. As Assistant Vice President, Portfolio & Program Management Office (PPMO), you will lead the Consumer Markets Division’s (CMD) Portfolio and Program Management Office and play a critical role in translating strategy into disciplined execution and measurable business outcomes. You will oversee a complex portfolio spanning strategic transformation, business-critical initiatives, AI-enabled programs, and ongoing investments that support the strength and evolution of Pacific Life’s life insurance and annuity businesses. This is an opportunity to lead at the center of one of Pacific Life’s most established and consequential businesses. The PPMO is where the division’s strategic priorities become actionable programs, where investments are prioritized and resourced, and where diverse teams come together to deliver meaningful outcomes for customers and distribution partners. As a member of the Strategic Management & Services leadership team, you will serve as a trusted advisor to senior business and technology leaders, bring transparency to complex decisions, and help shape how Pacific Life operates in an increasingly connected enterprise environment. You will lead an established organization of approximately 35 portfolio, program, project, and agile professionals, including five to six direct reports, while building the capabilities required to support the division’s future growth and transformation.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree required
- 12+ years of leadership experience in portfolio management, PPMO or PMO leadership, strategic planning, program delivery, or large-scale business transformation.
- Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional portfolios and transformation initiatives with significant organizational, financial, or customer impact.
- Deep expertise in portfolio planning, prioritization, investment governance, capacity and resource management, risk management, and benefits realization.
- Experience overseeing a portfolio that includes both strategic transformation initiatives and essential business operations.
- Proven ability to translate business strategy into executable priorities, delivery roadmaps, governance structures, and measurable outcomes.
- Strong financial and business acumen, including experience evaluating investments, managing portfolio tradeoffs, and maintaining accountability for the effective use of resources.
- Executive-level communication and influence skills, with the ability to bring clarity to complex issues, challenge constructively, and advise senior leaders across business and technology organizations.
- Demonstrated experience building, leading, and developing high-performing teams through transformation, growth, and organizational change.
- Ability to operate effectively in an evolving environment where success requires sound judgment, curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to build new solutions rather than rely solely on established playbooks.
Nice To Haves
- Leadership experience within financial services, insurance, wealth management, or another highly regulated industry.
- Experience leading transformation across life insurance, annuity, customer operations, underwriting, sales, or distribution functions.
- Experience leveraging AI, automation, data, and modern delivery practices to improve decision-making, execution, and business outcomes.
- Success modernizing or scaling a portfolio and program management organization while improving transparency, consistency, and delivery performance.
- Experience working across business, technology, finance, risk, and people functions within a complex, matrixed organization.
- A reputation as an enterprise-minded connector who builds trust, strengthens partnerships, and brings the right stakeholders together to move critical priorities forward.
Responsibilities
- Lead the Consumer Markets Division’s portfolio management and PPMO function, ensuring strategic investments, transformation initiatives, and business-critical programs align with divisional priorities and measurable business outcomes.
- Establish and continuously strengthen portfolio planning, prioritization, capacity management, resource allocation, investment governance, and benefits realization practices.
- Oversee delivery of the division’s most complex, high-impact programs, including multiyear transformation initiatives supporting underwriting and new business, operations, sales, and distribution capabilities.
- Provide senior leaders with clear portfolio insights, risk transparency, decision support, and executive-level reporting that improve alignment, accountability, and predictability.
- Partner across the Consumer Markets Division, Pacific Life Technology, People Experience, Finance, Risk, and other enterprise functions to resolve barriers, align priorities, and accelerate business outcomes.
- Balance strategic transformation with the business-critical work required to support existing customers, distribution partners, products, and operations.
- Lead governance processes that support executive decision-making, investment oversight, portfolio health, and effective deployment of financial and organizational resources.
- Simplify and strengthen project and program delivery standards, methodologies, reporting practices, and execution disciplines while preserving the agility needed to respond to changing business priorities.
- Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing team of portfolio, program, project, and agile professionals, building leadership depth and future-ready capabilities across the PPMO organization.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and results while helping teams navigate ambiguity and an evolving enterprise operating model.
- Represent the Consumer Markets Division in enterprise portfolio planning, governance, and prioritization activities, helping build stronger connections and more integrated ways of working across Pacific Life.
Benefits
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Wellbeing Reimbursement Account
- Paid Time Off
- Holiday Schedules
- Financial Planning Time Off
- Paid Parental Leave
- Adoption Assistance Program
- Competitive 401k savings plan with company match and an additional contribution regardless of participation
- Relocation assistance
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
