Sr. Director, Digital, Design & Delivery

The Senior Director of Digital Delivery & Design is a strategic and operational leader responsible for advancing GBU Life's digital ecosystem through modern delivery practices, scalable application development, and best-in-class user experience design. This role owns the delivery of technology initiatives, platform modernization, digital capabilities, product launches, regulatory change, and operational improvements with strong execution discipline.

This leader will drive transformation through Agile and product-based delivery models, enabling faster time-to-market, improved quality, and enhanced member, agent and employee experiences. The role partners closely with IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, architecture, and business leaders to ensure solutions are secure, resilient, and aligned with enterprise standards.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Digital Strategy, Product Delivery & Road mapping:

• Define and execute a multiyear digital delivery and experience design roadmap aligned with GBU Life's strategic priorities.
• Establish and mature a productbased operating model, including product ownership, backlogs, and valuedriven prioritization.
• Lead intake governance processes to evaluate, prioritize, and sequence digital initiatives across departments.
• Ensure alignment between business needs, regulatory considerations, and technology capabilities.

End-to-End Technology Delivery Execution:

• Oversee full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC): planning, requirements, design, development, testing, release, and support.
• Implement and scale Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and automated testing strategies.
• Establish delivery standards, KPIs, and governance frameworks to ensure consistency and accountability.
• Improve delivery predictability, transparency, execution discipline, and crossfunctional coordination across enterprise initiatives.
• Manage portfoliolevel planning, dependencies, risks, and resource allocation across multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Ensure strong quality assurance practices, including regression, performance, and user acceptance testing.

User Experience (UX/UI) & Digital Design Leadership:

• Own the vision and execution of usercentered design across all digital channels (member portals, agent tools, internal systems).
• Lead UX research, journey mapping, usability testing, and accessibility compliance efforts.
• Establish and maintain a design system and UI standards for consistency across platforms.
• Use analytics, feedback loops, and behavioral insights to continuously improve digital engagement and satisfaction.
• Partner with Marketing and PMO to ensure cohesive digital experiences.

Team Leadership:

Lead and scale teams across:

• Application development (frontend, backend)
• Digital product management
• UX/UI design and research
• Quality assurance and testing
• Define organizational structure, roles, and career progression pathways (aligned with career lattices where applicable).
• Coach and mentor leaders and highpotential team members.
• Drive a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Lead workforce planning, vendor strategy, and resource optimization.

Stakeholder & Business Partnership:

Serve as a key liaison between IT and business functions including:

• Member Services
• PMO
• Service Operations
• Sales & Distribution
• Translate complex business needs into scalable, technologydriven solutions.
• Manage expectations, communicate tradeoffs, and ensure transparency in delivery progress and outcomes.
• Manage SaaS vendors, system integrators, consulting partners, offshore teams, and managed service providers, including timelines, quality, release readiness, issue resolution and contractual commitments.
• Ensure business readiness within operations, training, change management, and production support teams to deliver successful implementations and smooth golive execution.

Technology, Architecture & Innovation Alignment:

• Partner with enterprise architecture to ensure solutions align with longterm technology strategy.
• Evaluate and implement modern tools, platforms, and frameworks (cloudnative, lowcode/nocode, APIfirst architecture).
• Ensure integration across core systems (policy administration, CRM, digital portals).
• Stay current on emerging trends in digital experience, and automation.
• Drive innovative initiatives, including pilot programs and proofofconcepts.

Risk, Compliance & Operational Excellence:

• Ensure all digital solutions comply with regulatory requirements specific to the insurance and financial services industry.
• Partner with cybersecurity and risk teams to enforce secure development practices and data protection standards.
• Establish operational support models, including incident management, SLAs, and continuous monitoring.
• Drive audit readiness and documentation standards for systems and processes.

Properly Adheres to Company Risk Management Principles:

• Adhering and supporting GBU's Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
• Understanding and complying with applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures; completing all required training; executing and monitoring controls effectively (as applicable); appropriately identifying, assessing, escalating and remediating risks, potential issues and control failures (as applicable); and reporting compliance or regulatory concerns to management.
• Understanding and conducting oneself in accordance with the Employee Handbook and preserving GBU's brand and reputation.
• Performs other related duties as assigned by management.

Do you have experience in Stakeholder management?, Do you have a Bachelor's degree?, * Bachelor's degree in Design, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. Advanced degree preferred.

• Minimum of 1012 years of experience in design, digital strategy, and technology delivery, with at least 57 years in a leadership role.
• Proven experience in leading teams to develop solutions that enhance the experiences of customers, such as field agents and members.
• Life & Annuity domain experience and understanding of the Life & Annuity technology ecosystem required.
• Deep understanding of Software development methodologies (Agile, DevOps, SDLC), Digital platforms, portals, and application ecosystems, UX/UI design principles and tools.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with a track record of successful collaboration with diverse teams and stakeholders.

Pulled from the full job description

• AD&D insurance
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance
• Life insurance, * Medical, Dental Vision
• Company paid HRA
• 401(k) + match
• Pension Plan
• LongTerm & ShortTerm Disability
• Life Insurance & AD&D
• PTO and VTO (Volunteer Time Off)

GBU Financial Life is a member-owned, not-for-profit fraternal benefit society founded in Pittsburgh in 1892. Formed to provide financial security and benefits to its members. As Pennsylvania's largest fraternal, and the nation's sixth, GBU serves more than 60,000 members across the country with a 49-state sales and marketing footprint which will continue to grow until we are a nationwide provider. GBU partners with a network of 2,000 agents to market and distribute a variety of life insurance and retirement products, including term life, permanent life, and fixed annuities. GBU stays true to its fraternal roots, commitment, and mission by serving as an active supporter and contributor to well-known charities such as American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, and military-focused initiatives, among others. Giving back to the community and integrating the membership into service-oriented activities is an important part of GBU's fabric and culture.