VP, Chief Technology Officer

Come join one of America’s fastest-growing insurance companies. Since 1848, National Life Group has aimed to keep our promises, providing families with stability in good times and in bad. Throughout that history, we have provided peace of mind to those families as they plan their futures. Our mission extends beyond the insurance and annuities policies that we offer. We strive to make the world a better place through our grants from our charitable foundation, paid volunteer time for our employees, environmentally sustainable and healthy workplaces, and events that promote the work of nonprofits in our own backyard. We foster a collaborative environment with opportunities for growth and encourage our associates to live our values: Do good. Be good. Make good. Please note that we do not offer visa sponsorship for this position. This role requires a minimum of 10 years of Life and Annuity information technology experience. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES National Life Group is in the midst of significant growth and enterprise transformation, requiring technology to evolve to the next gen of maturity to enable greater scale, better customer experiences, and foster top-line growth. The role of the Chief Technology Officer is to lead the modernization of the company’s core insurance platforms and technology ecosystem so the organization can grow efficiently, innovate faster, and compete effectively in a rapidly changing life insurance and annuity market. The CTO will play a lead role in transforming and managing core technology platforms while driving innovation through technology and thought leadership. The CTO will be responsible for assessing the talent to ensure they are fit for purpose and provide the skills, capabilities, behaviors, and processes required to deliver a modern, agile, and integrated environment.  The CTO will lead transformations across cloud computing, contemporary software architectures, continuous delivery and DevOps, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, the CTO will be a key partner in promoting new ways of working, including advanced concepts in Agile, Lean Product Development, Lean Operations, and Design Thinking.  Collectively, the CTO is expected to lead these transformations to facilitate National Life’s transformation as it competes in the AI era. Through disciplined execution, strong partnerships, and clear executive communication, this leader will ensure that technology investments are aligned with business priorities, deliver meaningful returns on investment, and support sustained growth. Ultimately, the CTO will help position National Life’s technology capabilities as a strategic advantage.  Success in this role will often require careful coordination of activities with the larger (approx. 850 people) IT organization. Candidates must demonstrate the ability to organize complex work streams and collaborate effectively with colleagues and business leaders to influence transformation in a highly outsourced, multi-vendor environment, including onshore and offshore teams. Top candidates will have demonstrated success and feel comfortable working in this heavily outsourced, globally distributed environment. This is a senior and critical role within the technology leadership team and will report directly to the Chief Information Officer and will have consideration for the CIO role in succession planning. Other specific responsibilities include: Responsible for all aspects of establishing quality technology platforms and services. Influence business outcomes collaboratively to define the “art of the possible” for the future state of National Life Develop and instill a core innovation and incubation strategy that fosters emerging technology solutions that capture economic value across the National Life organization. Develop a fit-for-purpose operating model, based on the right sourcing decisions, location, talent and capability strategy as well as a high-performing team. Responsible for ensuring the operating model is optimized in terms of cost and quality of service, and that internal resources and supplier partner relationships meet the agreed model and service framework. Create a culture of continuous improvement that proactively manages the resolution of complex problems, identifies their underlying causes and improves processes accordingly. The courage to challenge the status quo, fail forward, learn, and influence change through self-awareness, clear communication, humility, and vulnerability YEAR ONE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS  The key objectives of the role are to: Operate in a fast-paced environment while building trust with IT and the business Partner closely with the CIO and be able to run workloads independently Clearly understand and adopt the National Life culture and ways of working Establish credibility through relationships with business leaders and the IT organization as a whole Continue to bring process and rigor to the architecture and development organization Infuse AI into IT practices consistently to make it a fabric of IT development operations Build relationships with key stakeholders across the business; work diligently to understand business needs and tie those needs back into the IT organization, creating transparency as well as a customer-centric IT environment. Bring process and rigor to the IT organization, with particular emphasis on shoring up the architecture and software development lifecycle methodology. Assess the IT leadership team and develop or fortify as needed. Being able to present and story tell the IT Vision, Technical direction, and various transformation “pitches” to a wide variety of audiences spanning from Board, executive team, business leaders, business operations and IT teammates Bringing thought leadership by being asked to participate in various thought leadership areas, strategies, meetings, committees as more than just