Implementation Program Lead, Group Benefits

$107,920 - $177,295/Yr

Guardian Life - New York, NY

Full-time - Mid Level

Remote - New York, NY

Insurance Carriers and Related Activities

About the position

The Implementation Program Lead for Group Benefits at Guardian will play a crucial role in overseeing the integration of various systems and business processes as part of a multi-year transformation initiative. This position is responsible for ensuring seamless collaboration across multiple value streams, managing timelines, dependencies, and user acceptance testing, while engaging with stakeholders to drive progress and achieve unified business outcomes. The role requires exceptional communication and analytical skills, as well as the ability to lead initiatives and report to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own program level transformation roadmap & synchronize delivery across multiple value chains/work streams
• Develop program level test strategy & facilitate business engagement and oversight for User Acceptance Testing
• Cross ART business dependency support and management
• Partner with Org Readiness Lead on implementation planning & org readiness
• Provide business SME support for solution design and impact assessments
• Act as liaison to Group Benefits Portfolio Management Team
• Proactively identify best practices and support business teams through capability development and maturity
• Drive portfolio executive briefing materials, including weekly, monthly, and quarterly business reviews, and portfolio review meetings
• Ability to work autonomously and organize your work so the business can achieve high quality, repeatable, consistent results
• Establish and maintain long standing, trusted relationships with stakeholders and business partners
• Balance business needs with technical constraints and offer creative solutions to negotiate tradeoffs as needed
• Lead business and IT executives in business case scope alignment and definition sessions, identify critical success factors, and drive mitigation of significant issues and risks
• Implement and coach others in industry leading practices in charter development, communications planning, stakeholder engagement, portfolio metrics tracking and management
• Effectively remove blockers and mitigate risks maximizing team productivity and ensuring delivery
• Communicate people, process, and technology innovations across business, technology, and various leadership teams
• Rally the cross functional teams throughout the enterprise and hold teams and individuals accountable for timelines and deliverables
• Leverage business knowledge and expertise to drive results
• Freely contributes unique thoughts and opinions based on individual experience and learnings while actively seeking the same exchange from others

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience with minimum of 5-10 years of Group Insurance experience
• 5+ years of business operations experience in Group Benefits from initial sale through ongoing administration, employee enrollment, claims processing, and plan renewals
• Ability to work in a highly ambiguous and fast-paced environment
• Self-starter, highly motivated, strategic thinker who can lead independent stakeholder conversations and provide thought leadership
• Ability to drive portfolio-aligned business results across Business and technology disciplines
• Strong, proven communications, collaboration, and consensus building skills, along with active listening skills
• Ability to adjust communication style and content to different levels and audiences
• Experience synthesizing conceptual strategies into defendable investment proposals and leading complex programs
• Comfortable with data analysis and presenting data
• Highly organized and energetic with an entrepreneurial mindset
• Strong business acumen and familiarity with broad range of business processes beyond those impacted projects
• Able to effectively interact with various levels of an organization both technical and non-technical to discuss comprehensive portfolio investments performance

Nice-to-haves

• Experience in leading cross-functional teams
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies
• Proven track record in change management
• Experience with stakeholder engagement and management

Benefits

• Choice of medical plans with prescription drugs, including coverage for fertility and transgender inclusive benefits
• Dental plan
• Vision plan
• Health care accounts - flexible spending, health reimbursement, and health savings accounts
• Company-paid Life and Disability insurance plus voluntary supplemental coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan with a company match, plus an annual age/service-based Company contribution and an annual profit-sharing contribution
• Flexible work arrangements (part in-person/part remote)
• Unlimited paid time off for most roles plus time off for volunteering, jury duty, voting, and bereavement
• Paid parental leave and paid family and medical leave policies
• Emotional well-being, mental health, and work/life resources powered by Spring Health
• Wellness programs, including fitness program and equipment reimbursement
• Adoption assistance
• Tuition reimbursement
• Student loan assistance
• Commuter benefits in select metropolitan areas