Director of IT Application Development

Property and Casualty Insurance Industry experience needed, no sponsorship is availablePosition is bonus eligiblePrestigious Financial Institution is currently seeking a Director of IT Application Development. Candidate will lead teams of Business Analysts, Developers, Project Managers, Architects, and Quality Analysts to drive the development of business value through Information technology.The Director is a leader-of-leaders role and is responsible for the overall planning, management and execution of technology projects supporting the firms hosted Policy Administration platform. He/she will bring operational leadership over the design, development, support and maintenance of systems while working closely with senior leaders and our suppliers. This leader will guide the maturation of the organizations planning and execution capabilities through a detailed planning and execution framework. Additionally, this leader will communicate the planning and status of initiatives to a broad group of leadership leveraging artifacts including road-maps and Agile measurements.

• Plan and Manage Delivery with emphasis on quality
• Perform long and short-term planning and resource allocation to meet project milestones. Resources include internal staff, contract staff, Offshore, and suppliers.
• Lead the production support team to properly identify severity and urgency of incidents in a way that minimizes business interruptions and maximizes company’s ability to serve our policy holders.
• Review scope/requirement documents for system changes/issues/enhancements and provide guidance to team when needed.
• Ensure the organization achieves, and maintains exceptional levels of software quality.
• Mature the architecture for future technical growth as well as focus on automation capabilities for improved speed to market
• Develop and manage a yearly personnel and IT Budget including periodic forecasting and communications.
• Participate in budget process and create and maintain budget for department and team.
• Develop excellent understanding of business stakeholder’s needs and specific requirements around Claims, Underwriting, Billing, Finance and other support organizations such as Agency Management, Product and Risk Management.
• Maintain regular interactions with business stakeholders to ensure a unified technology roadmap that considers new product implementations as well as production support, System Maintenance, and Technology Initiatives

• Serve as the main contact for managing core system vendor relationship in regards to system functionality and data.
• Develop and manage talent

• Oversee critical projects and provide leadership oversight to Direct Reports and team members to ensure successful execution.
• Coaching, mentoring and leadership of subordinate leaders through establishing performance goals and reviews.
• Develop and manage a yearly personnel and IT Budget including periodic forecasting and communications.
• Participate in budget process and create and maintain budget for department and team.

• Focus on Continuous Improvement
• Assist and oversee on-going project implementation progress to ensure efforts of people from appropriate departments are fully coordinated and engaged with project plans and time-frames.
• Develop mitigation strategies, needs analysis and potential alternate solutions to remove obstacles and balance tight deadlines with risk.
• Lead a team in developing and modifying existing processes and new methodologies in support of all department functions.
• Understand the concept of agile methodologies and Product Management. lead the team on how to adapt and embrace these concepts going forward.

• The passion, enthusiasm, high integrity, and energy that is genuine and engages your team.
• A transparent, authentic, and effective communication style with the ability to set clear expectations, context, and direction.
• An adaptable leadership approach to stop action and pivot as needed or vice versa
• A leadership presence that earns respect, inspires action, motivates individuals and teams, and instills a sense of urgency.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills.
• Working experience in Insurance policy administration platforms desirable.
• At least 10 years of experience in IT related management positions, with a demonstrated record of career advancement as indicated by increasing levels of responsibility.
• Experience using technology to help operating areas in an insurance company create profit; a strong systems analyst background.
• At least 5 years of experience in a project/program management position.
• Experience in hosting services and servers; local and wide-area networks, and Web-based computing platforms.
• Experience with Agile Software Delivery - Experience in Product Management desirable.
• Experience automated testing tools highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience motivating and leading staff towards accomplished goals and metrics, i.e. incident resolution.
• Demonstrated experience completing projects successfully and on time.
• Strong problem solving and attention to detail.
• Superior communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Advanced knowledge of Office Productivity toolsets.