FPRS Transformation and Program Management Leader

Reporting to the Head of Financial Protection & Retirement Solutions, this position will play a central role in large-scale transformation initiatives within the Financial Protection and Retirement Solutions (FPRS) organization. This leader will be the responsible business owner for our individual insurance administration platforms for life, annuity and disability, which are critical cross-cutting infrastructure to enable and support our commercial growth aspirations towards our Journey to ’30 strategy. Critically, this role includes execution of the product roadmaps, process redesign and engineering, change management, and cross-functional program oversight. Over this horizon, you will drive business execution for both ongoing enhancements of current platforms as well as near-term implementation of Guardian’s Accenture Life Insurance Platform (ALIP) for our annuity and life businesses. Beyond ALIP, you will also be responsible for the launch, and delivery of subsequent transformational initiatives supporting the FPRS strategy. You will work across all key stakeholders in Digital & Technology (D&T), Distribution, Operations, Claims, Product, Pricing, and Underwriting teams to deliver solutions to both internal and external customers.

We are seeking a strategic and execution-focused Transformation Leader to drive the end-to-end modernization of our platforms and execute critical priorities including the oversight of FPRS broader change portfolio. This role will lead cross-functional teams, manage complex integrations and change management, and ensure delivery of business outcomes across life, disability and annuity product lines. The ideal candidate will bring deep program leadership experience, strong technical acumen, and a passion for enabling change.

You Will:

Business Ownership of Admin Platforms

• Serve as the accountable business owner for individual insurance administration platforms (life, annuity, disability). This includes developing roadmaps with input from across the FPRS team and managing the budget and execution for the platforms to support commercial growth aspirations.
• Oversee ongoing enhancements and near-term implementation of Guardian’s Accenture Life Insurance Platform (ALIP) for annuity and life businesses. Partner with D&T to assess the strategy for disability admin systems in the longer term.
• Ensure platforms are aligned with commercial growth aspirations and support the Journey to ’30.
• Drive execution of product roadmaps, process redesign/reengineering, to streamline operations, reduce bottlenecks and improve execution efficiency.
• Monitor platform performance and adoption, operational improvements, proactively identifying and resolving issues to maximize business value.

Strategic Transformation Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational thought leadership for transformation programs, influencing stakeholders, matrix teams, and vendors.
• Align with business leaders on Customer Experience: ensuring new platforms, all transformations, and the portfolio remain aligned to the lens of our customer centric pillar.
• Ensuring all transformation programs incorporate and integrate with AI solutions.
• Ensure the portfolio, process and transformations incorporate the critical dependency on data availability, accuracy, etc.
• Drive program success through the alignment of talent, business roles, and governance structures.
• Lead the Business Transformation Operating Model (BTOM) for FRPS working with D&T to realize benefits, maximum execution and provide role clarity for business functions.
• Define and communicate transformation vision, roadmap, and success metrics.
• Lead portfolio governance to prioritize and oversee execution of key initiatives within FPRS.
• Partner with FPRS Business Leaders to define and support the strategic roadmap and key initiatives.

Program & Change Management

• Partner with vendor partners and internal teams to ensure seamless integration and delivery.
• Monitor execution of transformation programs to maximize adoption and minimize disruption.
• Identify risks and barriers to adoption, developing proactive mitigation strategies.
• Maintain and manage RAID logs (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) and escalate critical concerns.
• Provide expert guidance on all phases of project delivery, including impact analysis, scoping, risk assessment, and delivery.
• Oversee portfolio planning, annual prioritization, benefit realization and health tracking to ensure alignment with strategic objectives and value delivery.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

• Proactively manage stakeholder expectations, build relationships and solve problems collaboratively.
• Facilitate alignment between business and technology teams through structured working sessions.
• Engage field partners to gather feedback and drive adoption of new processes.
• Define and direct formal communication strategies and portfolio execution reporting.
• Create and deliver executive-level presentations to communicate objectives and status.

Team Leadership & Organizational Readiness

• Address role clarity and staffing gaps, ensuring the right resourcing mix and leading a high-performing team.
• Aligned with the Product Leaders, coach and develop BTOM product managers to enhance strategic, analytical and leadership skills across the portfolio.
• Champion organizational readiness and reinforce transformation behaviors.

You Are:

• A thought leader and organizational change agent who will deliver value-added solutions to advance the business strategy.
• Proven team player with a strong collaborative orientation; demonstrated ability to build strong relationships and partners across business groups.
• Demonstrated success leading complex initiatives across a wide range of stakeholders.
• Exceptional communicator across multiple levels of an organization; works effectively in an environment to drive outcomes through others.

You Have:

Transformation & Program Leadership

• 10+ years of work experience with large, complex, transformational programs or enterprise system delivery and process reengineering initiatives
• Experience working in or leading a Product Management delivery/execution model.
• Proven success leading large-scale platform migrations or insurance technology implementations.
• Strong project/program management and execution skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of software delivery methodologies (Agile, Kanban, etc.)
• Ability to quickly grasp new concepts/requirements and related product/functional knowledge.
• Analytical, decision making and problem-solving skills.

Insurance & Technical Expertise

• Strong understanding of life and annuity products, insurance operations, and regulatory environments
• Experience with ALIP or similar platforms preferred.

Change Management & Stakeholder Engagement

• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and change enablement skills.
• Good negotiation, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to thrive, operate and influence in an environment of change. Collaboration & Leadership
• Strong teamwork skills with the ability to work and partner across a matrix organization.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to build effective relationships, influence others and work effectively in a matrixed organization.
• Possess proven and effective leadership qualities and skills, with the ability to express and defend ideas and concepts.

Strategic & Innovative Mindset

• Creativity and thought leadership, comfortable with developing transformational programs and structure, versus maintaining status quo.

Salary Range

$275,000 - $325,000

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Inspire Well-Being

As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits . Benefits apply to full-time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits._

Equal Employment Opportunity

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Accommodations

Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact applicant_accommodation@glic.com .

Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday

About Guardian

Every day, Guardian helps our 29 million customers realize their dreams through a range of insurance and financial products and services. Our Purpose, to inspire well-being, guides our dedication to the colleagues, consumers, and communities we serve. We know that people count, and we go above and beyond to prepare them for the life they want to live, focusing on their overall well-being — mind, body, and wallet. As one of the largest mutual insurance companies, we put our customers first. Behind every bright future is a GuardianTM. Learn more about Guardian at guardianlife.com .

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