Our Company
Explore how you can contribute at AmeriLife.
For over 50 years, AmeriLife has been a leader in the development, marketing and distribution of annuity, life and health insurance solutions for those planning for and living in retirement.
Associates get satisfaction from knowing they provide agents, marketers and carrier partners the support needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry.
Job Summary
Job Description
Summary:
We are seeking a trusted advisor, an experienced and highly skilled Sr Director - Business Solutions Partner to join our dynamic Enterprise Architecture team. This role liaises with business stakeholders and combines a deep understanding of business relationships and strong communication with a solid focus on product management. The role acts as a bridge between business units and the IT, EA, strategy, or service delivery teams, fostering strong relationships to drive value, innovation and strategic priorities. This position requires exceptional interpersonal skills, IMO/FMO business acumen, a data-driven and growth-mindset to improve business operations performance, assist with driving revenue growth, and foster strong relationships with key stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities:
Business Relationship Management:
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with internal teams, external partners, and carriers to ensure effective communication and collaboration.
- Serve as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and architecture and delivery teams to communicate business needs and ensure alignment on product goals.
- Cultivate a customer-centric mindset, ensuring that feedback from stakeholders is integrated into product strategies and designs.
Demand Management and Strategic Partnership:
- Actively participate in business planning processes, bringing a value-focused approach to align with organizational goals.
- Facilitate strategic discussions to uncover opportunities, clarify business needs, and prioritize initiatives.
- Bring strategic planning and prioritization capabilities to drive organization alignment and balance resource constraints.
Product Management and Solution Advocacy:
- Partner with Solution Architecture and Delivery teams to ensure successful planning-to-execution of products, solutions and services
- Develop and implement product roadmaps, ensuring timely delivery of product updates, enhancements, and new features that align with business goals.
- Monitor product performance by tracking key metrics related to production, quality, and revenue.
- Leverage data analytics and reporting capabilities to measure product success and identify areas for improvement.
Value Realization, Reporting & Analysis:
- Develop business value realization framework – KPIs/OKRs.
- Ensure business priorities and initiatives deliver expected outcomes by aligning KPIs/OKRs with business value.
- Continuously measure and communicate business value generated from projects/services.
Change Enablement, Cross-functional Collaboration and Communication:
- Serve a change agent to promote new ideas, processes, solutions.
- Act a facilitator to address conflicts between various stakeholders and use conflict resolution techniques to resolve disagreements, align on shared goals and maintain candor and trust.
- Promote a culture of open and honest communication and constructive feedback to prevent and address potential conflicts early.
- Lead and/or participate in strategic meetings with leadership to discuss product performance, market trends, and future plans.
Recommendations & Strategy:
- Stay informed about industry trends, market shifts and emerging technologies that could impact the business.
- Provide guidance and actionable recommendations for continuous improvement and innovation based on market insights.
- Develop business cases for future product designs, ensuring alignment with business objectives and Affiliates and Agents needs.
- Lead the development of Capability-driven-planning and business architecture function.
Qualifications/ Minimum Job Requirements:
Education:
- Degree in business and product management, Information Technology or Organization Psychology or Strategic Business Communication (MBA Preferred)
- BRM Institute Certification
Experience:
- 15 years’ experience in the Insurance product distribution industry, or Big 4 or boutique consulting company or business strategy and planning preferred
- 10-12 years of extensive business-liaison experience in product management, or business relationship management roles or Account manager role, preferably in an insurance products distribution industry.
- Proven track record of managing solutions from concept to launch.
- Strong experience in analyzing data, market trends, and making strategic recommendations to improve product/solution offerings.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Ability to lead successful planning of cross-functional BUs business initiatives, ability to identify synergies and coordinate complex projects
- Inherently talented at handling multiple, changing priorities and competing deadlines
- Demonstrated experience running initiatives with heavy analytical component
- Demonstrated experience in conflict resolution and stakeholder mediation
- Ability to build trusted relationships with stakeholders in various functions and levels including senior executives
- Driven by intellectual curiosity and independent thinking, demonstrated ability to ramp up quickly in new areas
- Exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal
- Conflict management and Resolution
- Team-player, Servant Leadership mindset and willingness to collaborate
- Empowered individual who can act independently when necessary
- Entrepreneurial approach to owning responsibilities with strong accountability to delivering outcomes
- High proficiency with MS Excel and PowerPoint is expected
- Strong Experience with Salesforce (similar digital) platform, Jira, Aha! Roadmapping
- Strong Experience with business value realization using OKRs/KPIs
- Ability to work across cross-functional teams and coordinating complex projects
- Analytic, curious thinker with demonstrated excellence in critical thinking and problem-solving tasks
Travel: 20-30%
Why Join Us?
- Innovative Culture: We are committed to continuous learning and innovation, providing opportunities for growth and development.
- Collaborative Environment: Work alongside talented professionals who are passionate about making an impact.
- Competitive Compensation: We offer a competitive salary, benefits package, and performance-based incentives.
If you are a strategic thinker with a passion for both business relationship management and technology product oversight, we encourage you to apply and join our Enterprise Architecture team in driving success! This role offers a unique opportunity to make a lasting impact. In this role, you will drive success by:
- Ensuring alignment between business goals and technology strategies to maximize business outcomes and help streamline operations
- Collaborating with business leaders to identify new opportunities, refine technical operations
- Being an advocate for change, championing innovative solutions and approaches, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement across the BUs
- By combining your expertise in relationship management, strategic thinking and technology as a catalyst
