Tech Lead, Application Development – Product & Inforce Systems

Description

The company is one of America's fastest-growing insurance companies, founded in 1848 and focused on helping families feel secure over time through its insurance and annuity products.

Beyond its policies, the company supports charitable grants, paid volunteer time, sustainable and healthy workplaces, and local nonprofit events. Its culture is collaborative and values-driven, with room to grow.

This role is a senior advisory position for the Life & Annuity product and inforce application environment. You will apply deep knowledge of insurance products, business processes, system logic, and application dependencies to solve hard problems and steer technology work across product, inforce, illustration, policy administration, and related platforms.

You will work with business, IT, architecture, quality engineering, infrastructure, security, and vendor teams, and act as a go-to resource and role model for junior colleagues on your assigned applications.

Responsibilities

• Act as a recognized subject-matter expert for assigned Life & Annuity product, inforce, illustration, policy administration, and related applications.
• Analyze complex business and technology needs on your own and turn them into requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, test scenarios, and implementation plans.
• Define methods, procedures, and approaches for new or non-routine work where little precedent exists.
• Assess the impact of product changes, inforce enhancements, platform upgrades, regulatory changes, integrations, production issues, and modernization work, weighing variables that depend on one another.
• Make independent calls on complex issues and trace root causes and dependencies across systems and disciplines.
• Set and manage goals of one year or less for analysis and delivery work, aligned with department and functional objectives.
• Own assigned analysis and delivery work from discovery through testing, implementation, release readiness, and post-production support, with completed work reviewed.
• Advise business and technology stakeholders, including senior partners, on application capabilities, system impacts, dependencies, risks, and implementation options.
• Help shape cross-disciplinary processes and policies, using your understanding of how Product & Inforce systems connect to adjacent areas.
• Build relationships across teams, departments, and functions, coordinating dependencies, risks, and delivery commitments with vendors and internal partners.
• Create and maintain process and system documentation, runbooks, decision records, and knowledge-transfer materials.
• Mentor junior colleagues on applications, business processes, and delivery practices.
• Find and recommend improvements to application processes, documentation, delivery methods, controls, and team efficiency, including sensible use of approved AI tools.
• Take on other duties as assigned.
• Lead application development and support, drive process re-engineering and technology implementation, and help the team adopt better ways of working.
• Work with architects and developers to set and maintain standards, processes, and technical roadmaps.
• Work with IT staff who maintain Inforce applications or the points where applications integrate.
• Weigh the feasibility and trade-offs of technologies, choose options that fit project and product constraints, and make sure solutions meet business needs at high quality.
• Estimate delivery cost and schedule for Inforce solutions, projects, and requests.
• Build and keep detailed working knowledge of key business applications.
• Identify chances to transform and rationalize applications as the company moves to a simpler, more modern platform.
• Design and manage application design, configuration, testing, and release processes.
• Communicate clearly at every level of the organization, with the right amount of detail.
• Drive solution delivery and service levels in a complex environment with limited direction.
• Apply strong conceptual and analytical skills, including designing and building complex algorithms.
• Manage IT suppliers cost-effectively and make sure IT resources are used well in application service delivery.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Actuarial Science, Mathematics, Business, Finance, or a related field plus 8 or more years of related experience; or an advanced degree plus 5 or more years of related experience; or 12 or more years of total equivalent relevant work experience.
• Extensive proven experience in Life & Annuity insurance, financial services technology, actuarial systems, illustration systems, product systems, policy administration, business systems analysis, product implementation, or related technology delivery.
• Deep working knowledge of Life & Annuity products and at least one related area, such as inforce processing, illustrations, policy administration, actuarial systems, product configuration, commissions, or distribution systems.
• Proven ability to solve complex, ambiguous, or undefined business and system problems across disciplines.
• Experience defining methods, procedures, or approaches for new or non-routine work.
• Experience setting and managing short-term goals or operational plans aligned with department or functional objectives.
• Experience advising senior stakeholders and serving as a role model or resource for junior colleagues.
• Strong analytical thinking, problem-solving, written and verbal communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Lawful authorization to work in the United States, with no current or future visa sponsorship.
• Strong leadership and organizational skills, and the ability to adapt quickly as priorities, assignments, and roles change.
• Ability to build and keep high-trust partnerships with business stakeholders and product owners who depend on your technical guidance.
• 10+ years of full system development lifecycle experience designing, maintaining, and enhancing software with COBOL, JCL, SQL, CICS, DB2, VSAM, ISPF/PDF, FILE-AID, MVS, and Endevor; experience in an IBM mainframe environment is preferred.
• 3+ years leading a product or project development team on the Vantage policy administration platform is preferred.
• Open-minded, with a proven record of working well in a team.
• Proven ability to lead in a highly matrixed, heavily outsourced organization through influence, partnership, and authority.
• Ability to manage change and work through complex, ambiguous situations.
• Agile solution delivery skills are highly desired.
• Bachelor's degree is preferred in Computer Science, or relevant work experience may be used instead.
• Preferred: experience with Agile technology delivery and software development lifecycle practices.
• Preferred: working knowledge of SQL, APIs, batch processing, COBOL, JCL, DB2, mainframe environments, integrations, or insurance policy administration technologies.
• Preferred: experience with any of Vantage, wmA, FAST, ALIP, CyberLife, LifePro, LifeSys, LifeCAD, Product Wizard, illustration systems, actuarial systems, or comparable Life & Annuity platforms.
• Preferred: experience supporting product launches, inforce initiatives, regulatory changes, platform upgrades, modernization efforts, or complex production issues in a Life & Annuity environment.
• Preferred: experience mentoring or giving technical guidance to junior analysts.
• Preferred: LOMA, FLMI, actuarial coursework, insurance product training, or a related industry certification.
• Expected: use approved AI tools where they help your work, stay open to new AI-enabled methods, review and validate AI-generated content, and follow company policies on confidentiality, data privacy, security, compliance, retention, and intellectual property.

Conditions

This is an onsite role. You are expected in the office four (4) days per week on core days, currently Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The schedule type and core days may change with advance notice and at manager discretion.

Base pay range: $106,875 - $156,750 USD. The range reflects the amount the company reasonably expects to pay, considering experience, job knowledge, education, training, certificates, business needs, and market factors. The final offer may fall outside this range.

The position is at-will, and the company may change base pay and other discretionary pay or benefits at any time.

The company accepts applications on an ongoing basis until the role is filled.

The company is a trade name for affiliated insurers based in Montpelier, VT and Addison, TX, and each company is responsible for its own finances and obligations. The Texas affiliate is not authorized to write insurance in New York. The broker-dealer and investment adviser affiliate is independent of the insurers. Fortune 1000 status reflects consolidated results of all companies.

Benefits

• Benefits start on day one and can be adjusted to fit your and your family's needs.
• Total compensation may include medical, financial, and other benefits, depending on the position, plus 401(k) eligibility and paid time off such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave.
• You may be eligible for discretionary annual incentive programs, subject to their rules.