Head of Insurance Agency Operations

About You

You are a process-oriented operations leader who is adept at understanding the long term, strategic aims of a new business line, followed by defining, building, managing and scaling an operational organization to meet and exceed the businesses needs. You have deep knowledge of insurance agency operations paired with the strategic thinking needed to build out agency operations from the ground up. You thrive in fast-paced organizations and can provide clear direction while managing competing priorities.

You’re equally adept at working with internal partners across the organization, from senior stakeholders to peers, as you are in gracefully managing communications directly with clients or insurance carriers, whether by your own direct efforts or through a team you coach and manage. You’re excited to join a small team at a fast-paced fintech startup.You are extremely self-motivated, an excellent communicator, love identifying and solving problems, and are motivated by the prospect of driving change in the insurance industry. As the head of the operations team, you are excited to set the strategic direction for the operations team, wear multiple hats, and are always willing to roll up your sleeves and lend a helping hand. Knowing that collaboration is key, you work closely with like-minded individuals to solve problems and contribute to team objectives.

You are thoughtful about risk, learn quickly from your mistakes and are commercially minded and motivated to ensure operations are best of class.. Digging into the details is exciting, and you are constantly thinking outside the box to strategically set up and improve processes —both with the help of full automation and via more manual processes where appropriate. You will build and foster a “customer first” culture to ensure we are delivering best in class service to our end clients, RIAs, and carrier partners. You understand that startups move quickly, and you are excited by the task of continuing to scale insurance agency operations to keep pace with business growth, while always ensuring stability and compliance.

About the Role

Hundreds of billions of dollars in annuities are sold in the United States each year, yet adoption in the RIA space is almost zero. In 2024, we launched Flourish Annuities to address this challenge, leveraging a technology-driven insurance desk to bring annuities to the independent RIA space. We are looking for a Head of Insurance Agency Operations to build out new and refine existing capabilities of the Flourish Annuities business line.

You will report to the Head of the Flourish Insurance Agency, build and manage a small but growing team of Case Managers and Operations Associates, and will work closely across the Flourish organization in a highly dynamic and entrepreneurial role as we continue to enhance our offering.You will be responsible for determining and managing the design, implementation and oversight of all operational workflows and processes for the insurance agency to process all annuity transactions. You will partner with other key leaders in the Flourish organization to define the commercial and strategic future of the business line, then will need to plan for and manage operational processes that allow speed to market while ultimately preparing the business line to efficiently operate at increasing scale.

Principal Responsibilities

• Responsible for driving and managing all insurance agency operations, including but not limited to:
  • Strategically design, implement, manage and scale operational workflows and processes for all annuity transactions
  • Partner closely with Flourish’s technology organization to define, enhance and maintain Flourish Annuities’ proprietary Electronic Order Entry system
  • Strategically determine when/if to partner with third party vendors, lead assessment of vendors, and act as the primary operational point of contact for tools and services provided
  • Partner with insurance carrier partners to deeply understand each carrier’s specific operational requirements
  • Ensure our operational processes facilitate smooth transactions, ultimately delivering best-in-class processing times and NIGO rates
  • Support RIAs and end-clients as needed, including: answering product and operational questions, helping to drive application completion, and supporting on-going contract servicing
  • Focus on process improvement, refining processes over time to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the team
• Define all operational hiring and people needs for Flourish annuities, then hire, manage, mentor, and develop a small but growing team of Case Managers and Operations Associates
• In addition to setting the strategic direction for day to day operations, collaborate with Product, Engineering, Sales and Marketing on project-based workstreams to drive product development and enhancements
• Own management of our suitability program and oversee all manual suitability reviews for insurance applications on an as-needed basis
• Partner with legal & compliance to ensure the insurance agency and staff are consistently up to date with the overall insurance regulatory landscape in order to maintain the highest standards of regulatory compliance
• Ensure the insurance agency service model is supporting our key strategic initiatives
• Identify, track and report key Flourish Annuities metrics and performance indicators to leadership
• Stay on top of current industry trends and share insights and ideas with the broader team

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent working experience
• 7+ years of relevant work experience in operations in finance, fintech, insurance or insuretech
• Life Insurance and Annuity licenses or willingness to get licensed within 90 days of hire
• FINRA Series 7 license or willingness to get licensed within 180 days of hire
• Deep experience leading operations within the insurance industry (general agency, IMOs, OIDs, etc.)
• Understanding of various annuity products (i.e. MYGA, RILA, FIA, etc.)
• Experience working closely with technologists and business executives to define, develop and lead strategic roadmaps
• Proven track record in building operational flows, driving process improvement and streamlining procedures for a business line
• Experience communicating with clients, including high net worth individuals and financial advisors
• Must be able to work out of our Jersey City office at least three days per week, and outside the state of New York five days a week
• Due to the nature of this position, as part of the background check process, candidates must be able to pass a fingerprint background check to qualify as a fingerprinted person under FINRA. For roles requiring registration, additional regulatory screenings may apply, including a review of Form U5 disclosures and other relevant licensing information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Interest in working in a start-up environment and/or past experience working on truly new initiatives
• Reliable, eager, ambitious, self-starter, strong attention to detail
• Team player who is driven to solve problems and meet deliverables
• Previous management experience preferred
• Existing relationships with major insurance carriers and/or RIAs
• Experience communicating with executives
• FINRA Series 24

At Flourish, we focus on ensuring fair, equitable pay by providing competitive salaries, along with bonus and incentive opportunities and benefits for all employees.

Base Salary Range: $152,100 - $199,600 plus bonus

Disclosures:

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.