AVP, Reinsurance Finance IT Lead

Vantage Group Holdings•New York, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

At Vantage, the AVP, Reinsurance Finance Lead owns the day-to-day administration and support of the SICS reinsurance platform, serves as the product owner/business analyst for reinsurance finance initiatives outside of SICS, and drives the use of AI to rapidly analyze requirements, prototype, and build lightweight solutions and proofs of concept for the Reinsurance Finance organization. As part of an agile product team, this role collaborates with the Program Manager, digital product managers (DPM), developers, and business stakeholders to accurately capture requirements and translate them into high quality solutions that solve real business problems within the organization. This position will report to the AVP, Program Manager.

Requirements

Direct, hands-on experience administering and supporting SICS (or a comparable reinsurance/insurance policy administration and finance platform), including transaction processing and complex deal structuring.
Strong understanding of reinsurance and/or insurance finance operations, including monthly/quarterly financial close, Assumed and Ceded accounting, and related processing cycles.
Experience partnering with third-party platform vendors (e.g., DXC) and internal IT Security, Audit, Infrastructure, and Data teams to resolve issues and deliver platform enhancements.
Practical, hands-on experience using AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, etc.) to analyze data, automate processes, and rapidly build solutions and proofs of concept, including: Prompt & context engineering for practical use cases – crafting clear prompts and reusable prompt templates to analyze data, summarize documents, and draft content or code, without requiring deep systems architecture. Rapid prototyping & proof of concept development – using AI coding and no-code tools to build lightweight scripts, automations, or mockups that demonstrate a solution's value ahead of a formal developer build. Requirements translation – using AI to help structure raw stakeholder input into clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and process documentation. Data & reporting acceleration – using AI to query, summarize, and visualize finance data to speed up analysis and decision-making. Judgment on complexity and handoff – recognizing when a request exceeds what AI or no-code tooling can responsibly deliver, and scoping it for handoff to engineering.
Working knowledge of SQL and relational databases sufficient to investigate issues and partner with DXC on script design and execution.
Demonstrated ability and desire to learn new AI tools, platforms, and finance systems as they evolve.
Demonstrated knowledge of reinsurance/insurance and the desire and ability to learn and understand new business processes.
Knowledge of API and system integration concepts (e.g., eMessaging, automated bank feeds) sufficient to define requirements and evaluate solution options.
Broad knowledge of product management and business analysis techniques, processes, methods, and best practices.
Experience with data quality, governance, and documentation practices, and familiarity with ticketing/ALM tools (e.g., Jira) for backlog and incident management.
Strong strategic decision making & long-term planning abilities to manage resources and develop efficient and effective solutions to diverse and complex business problems.
Strong understanding of Agile development methods and its application to company technology needs.
Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent professional experience required.
Ability to consult with business stakeholders and provide thoughtful, practical recommendations to meet their needs.
Ability to learn business processes and workflow to design business solutions tailored to their needs.
Ability to decompose Excel workbooks comprising of actuarial and financial algorithms in order to translate them into clear requirements and identify opportunities for AI-assisted or engineered solutions.
Expert collaboration skills, both within and outside of the direct team.
Strong leadership and influencing skills, with the ability to drive alignment across cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
Strong work ethic with an eye towards continuous improvement, innovation, and efficiency.
Demonstrated success in behaviors consistent with the Vantage values.
Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills.
Ability to process and adapt to change in a rapid growth company environment. Vantage associates are expected to be curious, thrifty, and resourceful to manage through the unknowns of growing a specialty (re)insurance business from the ground up.

Responsibilities

Lead day-to-day support, administration, and maintenance of the SICS reinsurance platform, serving as the primary liaison with IT Security, Audit, Infrastructure, Data teams, and the platform vendor (DXC).
Provide functional and operational guidance for transaction processing and complex deal structuring within SICS, leveraging deep expertise in SICS data architecture, system administration, APIs, and integration capabilities (e.g., eMessaging, automated bank feeds, downstream applications).
Support monthly and quarterly financial close activities, including managing booking period configurations (period extensions and re-opening historical periods) and supporting Finance during Assumed and Ceded processing cycles by investigating issues, answering operational questions, and implementing resolutions.
Partner with DXC to design, test, and execute database scripts, and conduct deep-dive analysis of transaction and processing failures to identify root causes and recommend corrective actions within SICS.
Manage incident resolution, service requests, and platform enhancements in collaboration with DXC, driving data quality, governance, and operational excellence across the SICS ecosystem.
Serve as the product owner/business analyst for reinsurance finance initiatives outside of SICS, partnering with Finance, Accounting, Claims, Reserving, and Underwriting Operations stakeholders to elicit and document business requirements.
Write clear, well-structured user stories and acceptance criteria, and groom and prioritize the backlog alongside the Program Manager, DPMs, and developers.
Provide input to the product roadmap with high-level estimates, and support UAT/testing to confirm delivered solutions meet business needs.
Drive the use of AI tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot) to rapidly analyze requirements and design and build lightweight, less-complex solutions, automations, and proofs of concept for reinsurance finance problems, scoping and validating them prior to handoff to engineering for full production builds where warranted.
Successfully manage multiple concurrent initiatives and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
As a young company we fully acknowledge the scope of each colleague’s job will change over time. Vantage expects all colleagues to be flexible and understand that responsibilities and accountabilities will morph and change.