Associate Vice President – Personal Insurance Technology

Definity is the parent company to some of Canada’s most long-standing and innovative insurance brands, including Economical Insurance, Sonnet Insurance, Family Insurance Solutions, and Petline Insurance. Our ambition is to be one of Canada’s leading and most innovative property and casualty insurers. We can’t do that without our people, so we embrace and encourage a culture that’s collaborative, ambitious, rewarding, and empowering.

We offer a flexible, hybrid work experience where employees work from the office and virtually depending on the type of work they are doing and who they are working with. Bring your true self and be a part of our journey. It’s better here.

As Associate Vice President – Personal Insurance Technology, you will be part of the Technology Solutions leadership team and be accountable for developing, evolving, and executing on the technology strategy for our Personal Insurance business. You will lead multiple concurrent delivery initiatives, and own the development, ongoing maintenance and support of policy, billing, and rating systems. The role will report to the Vice President – Personal Insurance Technology.

Accountabilities include:

Strategy & Delivery Execution 

• Acting as the accountable technology delivery executive for multiple initiatives across projects and persistent teams
• Negotiating scope/budget/schedule with senior business and technology stakeholders inclusive of product owners, channel partners and various technology partners (architecture, infrastructure, security, shared services – PMO, Quality Engineering etc.)  
• Promoting disciplined agile delivery to enable successful outcomes that meet business needs and technology standards.
• Ensuring solutions are aligned to the technology target state including decommissioning plans for legacy assets
• Identifying and engaging vendor partners for outsourced efforts; managing the vendor relationships throughout the project lifecycle

Talent Management

• Establishing a leadership structure and adequate delivery capacity to meet growing demands
• Partnering with HR and Recruitment to identify & recruit top talent
• Ongoing talent management to ensure team members have meaningful development plans and rewarding careers

Support & Operations

• Ensuring operational processes and support structures are in place for the Personal Insurance technology systems
• Establishing a model for ongoing maintenance, support and enhancements for the platforms
• Driving continuous improvement to ensure optimal availability and resiliency of the platforms

Qualifications

• University degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or related discipline
• Previous executive level experience in the insurance technology domain leading large teams in a matrixed environment
• Experience leading complex technology delivery of Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, Rating including major upgrades and Cloud migration
• Deep technology skills including architecture, systems design and systems integration inclusive of APIs and microservices on Public Cloud (AWS and Google preferred)
• Proven ability to evaluate technology options and drive technology selection / decisions, including build vs buy scenarios
• Demonstrated success in developing and executing an IT strategy that delivers both near term results, while simultaneously building for the future
• Proven ability to successfully lead transformational change that impacts technology, people and process
• Skillful communicator and influencer to build relationships advance decision making and effect change over time
• Strong coach and developer of people with a demonstrated track record in talent management
• Demonstrates a high level of quantitative skills and analytical rigor in formulating accountabilities, metrics and objectives 
• Highly motivated individual, with demonstrated outstanding people management, leadership and coaching skills 
• Must be able to work with a pool of experts and ensure high levels of service even when the effort crosses organizational boundaries.
• Thrives in a fast paced environment, managing multiple deadlines and priorities
• Excellent customer service orientation and a professional approach; including ability to interact with all levels within the organization
• Solid understanding of application development approaches, methodologies and governance models
• Proven negotiation and influencing abilities, with contract/vendor management experience an asset
• Strong communicator, with excellent oral, written and presentation skills

Salary range: $104,700 - $214,200