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Director, Product Initiative Lead, Life & Annuity Solutions (Annuity Products)

Addison, TX; Montpelier, VT

Come join one of America’s fastest-growing insurance companies. Since 1848, National Life Group has aimed to keep our promises, providing families with stability in good times and in bad. Throughout that history, we have provided peace of mind to those families as they plan their futures.

Our mission extends beyond the insurance and annuities policies that we offer. We strive to make the world a better place through our grants from our charitable foundation, paid volunteer time for our employees, environmentally sustainable and healthy workplaces, and events that promote the work of nonprofits in our own backyard.

We foster a collaborative environment with opportunities for growth and encourage our associates to live our values: Do good. Be good. Make good.

Please note that we do not offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Role Summary

 

This position sits in L&A Delivery Solutions and reports to the VP and Actuary, Product Portfolio Lead (PPL). This position is responsible for the end-to-end execution of the product development process once a product project moves out of initial viability and into deeper feasibility and execution. There may be several product initiatives in the Product Initiative Lead’s portfolio. This role will mainly focus on Annuity products, both bringing new products to market and enhancing existing capabilities as needed.

This position will work closely with the broader L&A Solutions product development team, Operations, Distribution/Field Leaders, IT, and others serving as a key connector between strategic vision and cross-functional delivery teams.

This position currently offers an onsite work schedule, with the expectation that you are in the office four (4) days per week during onsite core days.  Our current onsite core days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  The work schedule type and core days are subject to change with advance notification and manager discretion.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

 

  • Collaborate with a diverse set of stakeholders in L&A Solutions, operations, IT, project management office, legal, marketing, finance, and distribution. The Product Initiative Lead (PIL) pulls in the right representatives to drive decision-making and resolve questions and issues as they arise.
  • Accountable for the end-to-end execution of assigned product initiatives by ensuring clarity of scope, stakeholder alignment, and timely progression through all product development stages.
  • The PIL is accountable for ensuring that the deliverable packages for each step in the product development process are prepared for the Decision Gates in a timely fashion and with the quality, completeness, and stakeholder alignment necessary to make the decision. This includes driving the creation and maintenance of the Document of Assumptions (similar to a Business Case) in partnership with L&A Product Development leads and other members of the Product committees.
  • Presents content of deliverable packages to the committees to move product initiatives through the various stages of product development.
  • Lead the planning and execution of workshops that bring together stakeholders to accelerate the design and definition of products in development. This includes defining workshop objectives, required inputs, key decisions, and expected outputs.
  • Prioritize post-launch features and enhancements for initiatives and communicate rationale to key stakeholders.
  • Continuously assess and share feedback on what is working well and what can be improved across the product development process; provide insights to the Product Portfolio Lead and Project Management team to support continuous improvement efforts.

 

Minimum Qualifications

 

  • Bachelor's Degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience
  • Minimum 10 years of relevant experience with Annuity Products development
  • Strong understanding of Annuity product design, development, and implementation
  • Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence stakeholders, and drive decisions in a matrixed environment.
  • Has clear communication skills to be able to explain complex product topics to nontechnical audiences, ability to communicate to senior leaders and individuals at various levels in the organization. Ability to work with multiple stakeholders to understand and describe annuity products and features.
  • Self-motivated and results focused.
  • Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple initiatives and workstreams against tight deadlines.
  • Able to solve unique and complex problems that have an impact on the business. Strategic thinker with a customer focused and business mindset and the ability to balance short-term execution with long-term goals.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office suite
  • All other duties as assigned.

 

Preferred Qualifications

 

  • Experience with Annuity operations, product pricing, or product systems requirements and development.
  • Experience working within a structured product development lifecycle or stage-gate process
  • Experience with collaborative tools like Confluence, Jira, and/or Teams is a plus.

 

Benefits

 

Base Pay Range.  The base pay range for this position is the range National Life reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position taking into account the wide variety of factors, including: prior experience and job-related knowledge; education, training and certificates; current business needs; and market factors.  The final salary or hourly wages offered may be outside of this range based on other reasons and individual circumstances.

Additional Compensation and Benefits. The total compensation package for this position may also include a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave), dependent on the position offered. The successful candidate may also be eligible to participate in National Life’s discretionary annual incentive programs, subject to the rules governing such programs. If hired, the employee will be in an "at-will position" and National Life reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

National Life is accepting applications for this role on an ongoing basis and the role remains open until filled.

Salary Pay Range

$112,500 - $165,000 USD

National Life Group® is a trade name of National Life Insurance Company, Montpelier, VT – founded in 1848, Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, Addison, TX – chartered in 1955, and their affiliates. Each company of National Life Group is solely responsible for its own financial condition and contractual obligations. Life Insurance Company of the Southwest is not an authorized insurer in New York and does not conduct insurance business in New York. Equity Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC, is a Broker/Dealer and Registered Investment Adviser affiliate of National Life Insurance Company. All other entities are independent of the companies of National Life Group.

Fortune 1000 status is based on the consolidated financial results of all National Life Group companies.

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National Life Group

1 National Life Dr

Montpelier, VT 05604

 

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