Vice President, Head of Policy Administration System Transformation

New York Life•New York, NY

39d•$275,000 - $300,000•Hybrid

About The Position

When you join New York Life, you’re joining a company that values career development, collaboration, innovation, and inclusiveness. We want employees to feel proud about being part of a company that is committed to doing the right thing. You’ll have the opportunity to grow your career while developing personally and professionally through various resources and programs. New York Life is a relationship-based company and appreciates how both virtual and in-person interactions support our culture. Looking for a highly motivated leader with well-rounded experience to join New York Life, Foundational Business Operations and Shared Services team. The Head of Policy Administration System Transformation will lead the initiative to modernize the policy administration system (PAS) that we use for life insurance and perhaps other insurance solutions. This individual will have ongoing ownership for developing the strategy for this initiative, including determining the continued solution path, strategic vendor partnership management , roadmap to implement products, operational and organizational changes needed to support a new administration system, and service strategy related to having a new administration system. The executive will also partner closely with the strategic product teams. As the initiative leader, the highly talented individual will lead a cross-functional team that includes Program Management, Technology, Product, Service, among others. This individual will work in close collaboration with the Program Management team to oversee the execution of the platform modernization initiative which supports the life insurance value chain, from product and business configuration, through new business processing, policy issuance and transaction processing. The candidate will interact directly with senior leadership at The Company and should have exceptional communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal. The ideal candidate will apply a high energy level and common sense business approach to work and communicate with key stakeholders across all business functions and be a passionate self-starter able to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities. The individual should be familiar with shared services principles and able to take on additional responsibilities as required.

Requirements

15 + years of experience in life insurance and/or supporting a high-performance, cross-functional program
5 + years experience leading large Policy Administration System installations and/or transformations
Strong strategic, analytical, creative thinking and problem-solving skills
Experience working in a highly collaborative environment, proactively innovating solutions that support the goals and desired outcomes that provide business value
Excellent written and oral communications skills, the ability to work within all levels of the organization, and the ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure while providing a positive image
Analytical/ Strategic thinker with an understanding of life insurance products, and the capacity to think through the operational and customer experience aspects related to owning these products for decades
Ability to analyze data to inform recommendations, such as what to do with inforce policies that are in legacy administration systems
Ability to think outside the box - to find innovative and creative solutions to complex business problems
Strong financial acumen to develop and maintain Cost Benefit Analysis and manage a substantial large program budget
Knowledge of QA testing, change management, and test case generation
Strong understanding of data and data relationships
Practical common sense approach to business
Bachelor’s degree

Responsibilities

Lead the modernization transformation for the policy administration systems for Life Insurance products. The focus in the initial years will be to get all newly issued individual life insurance policies into a more modern administration system. In future years, you will also be proposing strategies for what, if any, changes are needed for administering the inforce block of life insurance policies.
Recommend the solution path and vendors for the modernization of the policy administration system.
Develop a roadmap and prioritization for the order in which products are added to the platform
Define the minimum viable experience needed with ongoing l product introductions and develop a roadmap to enable the full experience
Working with the Service organization, develop strategies for continuous product introduction into the administration ecosystem
Working with the change management team that reports into the Program Management Office, determine strategic changes needed to process and organizational alignment to support the new administration system
Working with Finance, develop and maintain Cost Benefit Analysis for the program.
Present recommendations and decisions to the most senior executives.
Active member of the Foundational Business Operations and Shared Services Leadership Team (FBOSS)
Manage the program and budget through a stage gated process, where you will make the business case to the Capital Investment Committee and Executive Management Committee to move the program forward or pivot appropriately
Work closely with the Product Owner and Technology resources to ensure that configuration and testing are accurate.
Socialize recommendations and decisions on changes that are being made to avoid creating company specific administration system changes that would not differentiate our products.
Interact and lead a cross functional team that includes Program Management, Technology, Product, Service, and others.
Initial focus is on life insurance products and hybrid product solutions that are built on life product chasses. Secondarily, consider if other solutions can be administered in the same administration system.