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Director, Strategic Business Architecture

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

The Business Architect is a leadership role supporting Life & Annuity Operations. This role provides oversight for transformational and continuous improvement projects and initiatives within the domain to ensure they deliver strategic value to the organization.  

This role works across IT, PMO and the business unit to align initiatives with business goals, allocate resources, mitigate risks, and ensure that all projects contribute to the organization’s financial and operational success. The role requires a combination of strategic thinking, financial management, risk assessment, and strong leadership to deliver effective and efficient outcomes.

This position reports to the VP – Business Architecture & Transformation.

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

Strategic Alignment:

  • Work closely with senior leadership of Life & Annuity Operations to understand business priorities and translate those into actionable initiatives that will deliver strategic value.
  • Evaluate and prioritize initiatives based on factors such as business impact, risk, regulatory requirements, resources etc.
  • Balance competing demands across initiatives to ensure team is focused on the right things at the right time to achieve business goals.
  • Actively communicate with IT, PMO, supplier partners and other stakeholders to ensure common understanding of the business goals and the success criteria for each initiative.

Architecting Business Framework:

  • Oversee the development of the project charter to include defining the purpose statement, guiding principles, success metrics and business capabilities
  • Partner with Principal Business Architect to lead business stakeholders through facilitated workshops to design the target operating model and the organizational structure needed to deliver on the service strategy
  • May consult on the mapping of business capabilities, design of business processes and gathering of business requirements required to achieve the target operating model

Execution Oversight:

  • Cultivate relationships with external vendors and internal partners to design, develop and implement business solutions
  • Cross validate that the technical solution design aligns to business objectives and expected business outcomes
  • Align the technology roadmap to the business roadmap, contribute to capacity analysis, budget and forecasting activities
  • Serve as a point of escalation for the project team when managing the triple constraints of scope, schedule and budget
  • Proactively identify and mitigate risk across the Domain escalating to steering committee as required
  • Support change management efforts to ensure successful business adoption and realization of expected benefits
  • Establish key performance indicators to measure success of business initiatives, regularly report progress and adjust as needed
  • Act as the primary point of contact for stakeholders across the organization, ensuring effective communication about business goals, progress, and risks
  • Engage with senior executives, business unit leaders, project managers etc. to maintain alignment and resolve any issues that may arise
  • Provide insights to executive leadership on project risks and dependencies
  • Collaborate with PMO to report on costs and any related change requests  
  • Implement best practices and processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness in managing the portfolio of initiatives within the Domain
  • Provide ongoing stewardship of business processes and technical solutions

 Talent Management:

  •  Collaborate with IT and PMO to manage resource allocation across the Domain ensuring that the right resources are assigned to the right projects at the right time
  • Build and lead a high-performing team of professionals providing coaching and development opportunities

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, computer science, information systems or other related fields
  • Minimum ten (10) years of experience in product management and/or technology integration with a proven track record of delivering medium to large scale transformations in complex, cross-functional organizations
  • Enterprise view of the business with an understanding of strategy, operating models, business processes, business capabilities and enabling technology
  • Thought leader comfortable challenging status quo while turning strategy into reality
  • Deep analytical skills with the ability to assimilate disconnected documentation and visualizations and articulate their relevance to problem solving
  • Lead through influence across all levels of the organization in ambiguous, complex and evolving situation
  • Build trusted relationships with stakeholders, supplier partners and internal partners
  • Manage employee performance and develop team members
  • Strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills
  • Recognize and mitigate dependencies and risks
  • Manage multiple projects simultaneously

Preferred Qualifications

  • Master’s degree in business, finance, computer science, information systems or other related fields
  • Life & annuity industry knowledge
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
  • Professional SCRUM Product Owner (PSPO) certification
  • Six Sigma certification

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

$136,875 - $200,750 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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1 National Life Dr

Montpelier, VT 05604

 

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