Technology Delivery Manager, Online Portals

UFG Insurance•Cedar Rapids, IA

29d

About The Position

UFG is currently hiring for a Technology Delivery Manager - Online Portals who will oversee the entirety of UFG's Small Business online quoting technical and Digital applications to ensure they meet the needs of our Agent partners and Insureds. This role will lead and manage the Agent & Insured Technology team members (Product Owner, Business Analysts, & Software Engineers) in supporting and enabling UFG's development of the ProQuote platform and other Digital applications. This role is responsible for establishing the overall service, performance, response, and uptime service level agreements for these applications and team response to technical issues.

Requirements

Approximately 5 years of experience in the following:
Leading employees in an IT environment with exposure to software engineering, quality engineering, business analysis, or technical product planning.
Utilization and awareness of trends in P&C Insurance online quoting capabilities.
Collaboration with stakeholders to identify & prioritize application enhancements.
Identifying, communicating, and promoting user experience enhancements for an online portal experience for an insurance carrier.
Associate's degree is required.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee the entire value stream of UFG's Small Business online quoting technical and Digital applications to guarantee the development of quality Customer-Centric products/solutions that align with the strategic objectives of UFG and the needs of our Agent partners as well as our Insureds.
Lead and manage the Agent & Insured Technology team members (Product Owner, Business Analysts, & Software Engineers) supporting and enabling UFG's development of the ProQuote platform and Digital applications.
Work in tandem with the technical delivery teams, the Agent & Insured Technology Delivery Director, and the broader IT leadership to pinpoint and develop potential growth opportunities within the team's current skill sets to enhance technical knowledge and capabilities. Assess and suggest opportunities for cross-training and upskilling.
Establish clear expectations for execution and outcomes, ensuring team accountability for: Delivering high-quality code, as indicated by Help Desk ticket volume and the effort required to resolve these tickets, in addition to application availability metrics. Continuous enhancement of the delivery team's ability to deploy deliverables, as measured by IT Delivery reporting. Commitment to adhering to application development best practices, as evidenced by code review feedback, root cause analysis of production issues, and the capacity to undertake product application upgrades.
Collaborate consistently with key stakeholders - UFG Small Business Unit and their independent Agent customers, Billing, Premium Audit, Marketing, Field UW, & UW Support - to identify and forecast potential new features/capabilities which will support and/or enable small business unit strategic objectives. Partner with application Product Owner to develop/maintain a technical product roadmap to reflect forecast timeline of new features.
Promote and support the technical advancement of system functionality to support routine, frequently occurring business unit needs. Partner with UFG stakeholders and technical teams to identify potential experiments with emerging technologies to enable new capabilities or outcomes.
Drive and promote a high level of customer experience and satisfaction of UFG's small business online quoting application, ProQuote, as well as our broader digital applications on the ufgAgent and ufgPolicyHolder web sites. Establish service, performance, response, and uptime service level agreements for these applications and team response to technical issues. Lead teams in a culture of service and support to keep UFG operating at the highest technical level possible. Set, drive, and reward high expectations for application quality and system performance for external/internal users.
Dedicate time to interacting with stakeholders, whether internal or external, to fully comprehend how the digital applications are used and to pinpoint opportunities and capabilities that are essential for sustained success going forward.
Collaborate with other Business Technology leaders on leading, supporting, and driving accountability for technical best practices across the SDLC for all teams.
Collaborate with software and consulting vendor partners to uncover new opportunities that deliver value to UFG. Cultivate a profound understanding of vendor partners to foster a strong partnership and ensure accountability, thereby enabling the introduction of new application products or process capabilities for UFG.
Control application support expenses to ensure they remain within the allocated budget, while continuing to provide high-quality improvements to key stakeholders as per the projected schedule.
Ensure proper application maintenance and upgrades are completed as needed to promote high application availability for our stakeholders.
Partner with IT leadership and architects to identify potential long term technical product considerations, such as system replacements or new automations to drive system efficiency.
Collaborate with Business Technology team members and stakeholders to review team deliverables. Monitor performance and quality to ensure deliverables meet business needs, are delivered on time and under budget. Manage any vendor/contractor relationships to contain costs and ensure invoiced amounts are accurate.
Identifying current and future talent needs is crucial, focusing on employees, skills, knowledge, performance, and fit with organizational culture.
Developing and executing staffing leadership tasks, such as recruiting and hiring new IT team members for UFG to build a high performing technology delivery team.
Create and conduct annual performance reviews for IT team members, which encompasses salary administration for the team.