Corporate Vice President - Release Train Engineer

New York Life•New York, NY

56d•Hybrid

About The Position

As part of Technology, you'll have the opportunity to contribute to groundbreaking initiatives that shape New York Life's digital landscape. Leverage cutting-edge technologies like Generative AI to increase productivity, streamline processes, and create seamless experiences for clients, agents, and employees. Your expertise fuels innovation, agility, and growth - driving the company's success. Role Overview: The Insurance Solutions Release Train Engineer (RTE) is responsible for orchestrating Agile Release Train (ART) delivery in alignment with New York Life's agile operating model. As an agile coach, facilitator, and program leader, the RTE enables efficient coordination across multiple scrum teams, ensuring prioritized, aligned, and timely execution of high-value work. This role supports business areas including Life, Long-Term Care (LTC), Disability Insurance (DI), and Business Solutions, with a focus on delivering a multi-year strategic roadmap that maximizes ROI on technology investments. Leading a team of Scrum Masters, the RTE partners closely with business and technology leadership to drive strategic prioritization, optimize delivery outcomes, and ensure organizational agility. Success in this role requires outstanding communication skills, strong analytical and leadership abilities, and deep knowledge of Agile/SAFe frameworks within the financial services or insurance industry.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Computer Science, Systems Analysis, or a related field or equivalent experience.
SAFe Scrum Master and/or Release Train Engineer, PMP certifications preferred.
10+ years of experience in Agile roles such as Release Train Engineer, Scrum Master, or Agile Project Manager.
Demonstrated leadership in delivering large-scale, complex programs within Insurance or Financial Services industries.
Strong hands-on experience with agile tools like Jira, Confluence, Monday.dev and Ativo.
Proven ability to lead geographically distributed teams and facilitate large-scale planning events.
Expertise in identifying and resolving technical risks through close collaboration with engineering teams.
Experience managing multi-million dollar budgets and vendor relationships.
Exceptional facilitation, interpersonal, coaching, and communication skills.
Ability to influence and collaborate across a complex, cross-functional organization.
Strong consulting mindset and a passion for agile transformation and continuous value delivery.
Demonstrated interest in or experience with applying AI-based tools (e.g., GenAI assistants, automated reporting, backlog intelligence) to improve program delivery, decision-making, and agile facilitation.

Responsibilities

Serve as Agile coach and chief facilitator for the Agile Release Train (ART) and Value Stream.
Plan, organize, and facilitate key ART ceremonies such as Program Increment (PI) Planning, Scrum of Scrums, and Inspect & Adapt.
Drive transparency into delivery through real-time tracking and reporting of ART progress, velocity, and maturity.
Proactively identify and resolve cross-team dependencies, train-level blockers, and delivery risks, escalating as necessary.
Maintain continuous alignment of program scope, deliverables, and milestones with stakeholder expectations.
Lead ART retrospectives to drive ongoing process improvements and foster a culture of agility and learning.
Partner with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, and QA to ensure the timely and quality delivery of features and epics.
Track and manage work using tools such as Jira, Confluence, and others to provide accurate visibility and metrics.
Support product backlog grooming and ensure program-level feature readiness and prioritization.
Plan and lead product demonstrations and confirm story clarity and acceptance criteria.
Contribute to the standardization and evolution of agile practices across Product Solutions and the broader enterprise.
Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for agile delivery, program planning, and stakeholder engagement strategies.
Foster a culture of innovation by identifying opportunities to leverage AI, GenAI, and Agentic AI tools for improving delivery velocity, stakeholder transparency, and team productivity.