Senior Associate, Readiness Owner (Client Readiness)

New York Life•New York, NY

13h•$85,000 - $115,000•Remote

About The Position

The Readiness Owner is responsible for driving operational readiness and change management activities across initiatives impacting Client Implementation, Client Readiness, and related Group Benefit Solutions operations. This role partners closely with Experience Owners, Project Managers, Technology teams, and cross-functional business stakeholders to ensure new processes, systems, and capabilities are successfully implemented and adopted. Supporting portfolio priorities and PI planning cycles, the Readiness Owner translates strategic objectives into executable readiness plans, aligns operational workflows across onboarding, implementation, and servicing functions, and helps ensure successful business outcomes with minimal disruption to day-to-day operations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in business operations, project management, organizational change management, or a related field.
Experience supporting operational readiness, business transformation, project delivery, or change management initiatives within a complex business environment.
Strong understanding of implementation, onboarding, servicing, or operational workflows and the ability to evaluate impacts across interconnected business processes.
Demonstrated experience with process mapping, workflow analysis, documentation development, and identification of process improvements that support operational excellence.
Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and build alignment across cross-functional teams without direct authority.
Excellent analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience working within Agile delivery environments, including PI planning, portfolio management, or large-scale transformation programs.
Familiarity with Group Benefits, insurance operations, client implementation, or service delivery organizations.
Knowledge of organizational change management methodologies, readiness assessments, and adoption measurement practices.
Experience developing training materials, job aids, standard operating procedures, and operational enablement resources.

Responsibilities

Assess operational impacts of strategic initiatives and process changes, define readiness requirements, and develop comprehensive readiness plans aligned with project milestones, portfolio priorities, and implementation timelines.
Lead process engineering activities by mapping current and future-state workflows, identifying operational waste and process improvement opportunities, and developing documentation, SOPs, and supporting materials required to operationalize new capabilities.
Identify operational risks, gaps, dependencies, and reporting requirements, develop mitigation strategies, and proactively escalate issues that may impact implementation success or adoption.
Partner with Experience Owners, Project Managers, Technology teams, Client Implementation leadership, and business stakeholders to coordinate readiness activities, align expectations, and provide clear communication on readiness status, risks, and progress.
Support testing, readiness validation, go-live execution, and stabilization efforts by ensuring business workflows are accurately represented in testing, resolving readiness gaps, monitoring adoption, and facilitating successful transition to business-as-usual operations.