Head of Application Development

About the role.

We are looking for a Head of Application Development to lead application development strategy and manage our software development, enterprise architecture, and quality assurance teams - supporting the service, growth, and future technology of PURE. This position will collaborate with our executive team and governance committees to set technology strategy and scope/prioritize/size major initiatives. The Head of Application Development will report to our Chief Information Officer (CIO) and have a presence in either our White Plains, NY headquarters or our Basking Ridge, NJ offices.

What a successful Head of Application Development will accomplish.

• Ensure our software development, enterprise architecture, and quality assurance teams have the tools, knowledge, design patterns, and leadership skills they need to build and enhance our platforms
• Build trust in the organization by making sure application development teams meet their commitments; consistently deliver software over time with high quality
• Reduce system defects by implementing sound software development and quality assurance practices within an Agile/Scrum/DevOps framework
• Define, create a plan to address, and reduce system performance issues and technical debt through sound architecture practices

What you'll do.

• Work hand-in-hand with our CIO, business units, and the rest of the technology leadership team to define our technology roadmap
  
  • Understand digital advancements in all aspects of personal lines property and casualty insurance
  • Work with stakeholders to determine how our current platforms and new technologies can help them achieve their business goals
• Manage an application development team that is highly engaged with clearly defined responsibilities, expectations, and career opportunities
  
  • Oversee the growth and maturity of our enterprise architects, system architects, application developers, and quality assurance teams
  • Coaching and developing the application development team on how to become great technologists who can lead with confidence, clarity, accountability, and precision
  • Ensure the application development team is working towards advancing agile/scrum maturity and team education and course correct as needed
  • Define and monitor application development capacity, quality of work product, and development throughput based on the technology used and the experience of the person
• Drive core and non-core system direction; collaborate with partners, insurtechs, and other departments
  
  • Ensure that IT systems and application architectures can facilitate current and future company-wide goals and can scale with growth
  • Stay abreast of emerging technologies that can help PURE achieve its strategic goals
  • Participate in vendor evaluations and oversee proof of concepts as appropriate
  • Determine common design patterns and oversee architecture review and drive innovative solution designs
• Ensure overall quality and scalability of all systems
  
  • Act as the technical solution expert, propose solutions to roadblocks, outline dependencies/constraints and escalate problems as appropriate
  • Lead the charge to quickly triage and diagnose system performance and uptime and support the business during critical downtimes and releases
  • A commitment to continuous operational improvement

What we're looking for:

• 10+ years of experience in the insurance space with a focus on software development operations and application architecture; experience within personal lines property and casualty (P&C) insurance is highly preferred
• Experience designing, configuring, and coding multiple off-the-shelf P&C insurance software suites (e.g., Guidewire, OneShield, Duck Creek, Salesforce), including policy, claims, billing, reinsurance, general ledgers, CRMs, portals, mobile applications, etc.
• Deep technical expertise with a demonstrated ability to develop and lead highly engaged teams
• Excellent problem-solving skills; you will need to enjoy exploring new solutions and challenging the status-quo
• A good understanding of emerging insurtech technology space
• Experience in cloud-based environments and services is a strong plus (e.g., AWS, Azure)
• Experience with process orchestration, API management, and enterprise service bus tools is a strong plus (e.g., Mulesoft, Postman)
• Strong experience working through execution on projects with scrum teams in agile/scrum environments with a DevOps mentality
• Ability to be both strategic and tactical in day to day interactions
• Strong consensus building skills and ability to convey technical concepts in a clear, understandable way
• Ability to establish credibility, influence, and effective working relationships with peers and stakeholders at all levels across the organization
• Ability to thrive in a culture of ownership, delivery, and innovation
• Highest level of integrity and honesty
• Prior Consulting / IT Product Management experience preferred, Bachelor's degree required