Director, Operational Excellence & Governance

Overview

We need an ambitious, curious leader to become the Director, Operations Excellence & Governance in the Claims, New Business & Underwriting Operations Team to help drive the biggest change in the company's history.

Responsibilities

The Role

The Director, OperationsExcellence&Governance provides strategic leadership for the shared governance, quality, training, operational support, and continuous improvement functions supporting New Business, Underwriting, and Claims Operations. This leaderis responsible forstrengthening operational maturity through governance, analytics, quality oversight, process excellence, automation enablement, and best-practice sharing while preserving the independence of production decision-making, audit activities, and regulatory oversight. The role requires exceptional ethical judgment, executive presence, and the ability toinfluence acrossorganizational boundaries without direct production authority.

This role is intended to lead managers and formal functional teams with ownership of the shared Operations Excellence operating model. The Director is accountable for the strategic leadership, operational effectiveness, and continuous improvement of the Operations Excellence organization, including quality, training support, operational analytics, operational support, correspondence management (Document Control Center - DCC), citizen development/automation support, vendor support, and governance functions.

While the role has ownership of the Operations Excellence organization, it is not accountable for production outcomes or business decisions within New Business, Underwriting, or Claims Operations. Instead, it provides governance, enablement, oversight, reporting, quality, and operational consistency while preservingappropriate separationof duties between production, audit, procedure governance, and training activities.

The Director has formal leadership responsibility for managers and functional teams within Operations Excellence, including responsibility for staffing, performance management, organizational development, budgets, vendor oversight, strategic planning, and operational priorities within the pillar. The role alsoestablishesgovernance frameworks, operational standards, reporting methodologies, and continuous improvement initiatives, while partnering with Claims, New Business, Underwriting, Compliance, Legal, Risk Management, Technology, and Internal Audit to strengthen enterprise operations.

Although this position exercises governance leadership, it does not have authority to direct claims adjudication decisions, underwriting decisions, or production performanceobjectives, preserving the independence and regulatory expectationsestablishedwithin the organizational model.

The Next Phase

Our mission is to provide those services for as many people as we can. To achievethatwe need to evolve. We needto boldlyembrace innovation and technology. Your leadership will help us deliver on our mission together and achieve our transformation. At AAA Life, empathy and progress go hand in hand, creating a culture where bright ideas flourish and meaningful impact grow. If you are drawn to an environment that values purpose as much as potential, we invite you to join us. Because here, being there for peopleisntjust apromise,it is our driving force.

Position Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for Operations Excellence, including quality, audit, training, DCC/correspondence management, operational support, citizen development, operational analytics, vendor support, and governance functions.
• Establish andmaintaingovernance frameworks that strengthen operational consistency while preserving separation of duties between production, audit, procedure governance, and training.
• Ensure audit activitiesremainindependent from procedure ownership, development, and approval.
• Lead enterprise quality assurance and operational audit programs thatidentifytrends, control gaps, and improvement opportunities.
• Develop governance standards, reporting, and documentation supporting regulatory compliance, market conduct expectations, and operational risk management.
• Drive ethical decision-making and foster a culture of integrity, objectivity, accountability, and regulatory compliance.
• Partnerwith Claims, New Business, Underwriting, Compliance, Legal, Risk, Internal Audit, and Technology whilemaintainingappropriate functionalindependence.
• Oversee enterprise training strategy and learning consistency while ensuring business-area ownership of technical content.
• Lead operational analytics and KPI reporting toidentifytrends,monitorcontrol effectiveness, and support executive decision-making.
• Champion operational excellence, Lean process improvement, automation, citizen development, andbest-practicesharing without assuming production decision authority.
• Oversee vendor governance and operational support functions.
• Build and develop high-performing leaders and teams focused on continuous improvement and governance excellence.

  Core Competencies 6 How You Will Contribute

  • Ethical Decision Making
  • Governance & Internal Controls
  • Regulatory Compliance
  • Operational Risk Management
  • Quality Assurance & Audit Leadership
  • Training & Organizational Capability
  • Operational Analytics & Business Intelligence
  • Process Governance
  • Automation & Citizen Development
  • Executive Influence
  • Cross-functional Collaboration
  • Change Leadership
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Talent Development

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Insurance, Finance, Risk Management, or related field.

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in life insurance operations, underwriting, claims, quality, audit, or operational governance.

• Minimum 7 years leading managers and cross-functional operational teams.

• Demonstrated experience designing governance frameworks, quality programs, or operational controls in a regulated environment.

• Experience partnering with Compliance, Legal, Risk Management, and Internal Audit.

• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise operational improvement initiatives and executive reporting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree (MBA or related discipline).

• FLMI, ACS, AIRC, ALHC, Lean Six Sigma, or comparable professional designation.

• Experience leading quality assurance, operational audit, or governance organizations.

• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, SQL, or other business intelligence platforms.

• Experience supporting automation, workflow modernization, citizen development, or AI-enabled operational improvements.

• Knowledge of life insurance claims, underwriting, and new business operations.

Governance Principles

• Maintain independent functional accountability across Claims, New Business/Underwriting, and Operations Excellence.

• Preserve independent claims adjudication and underwriting decision authority.

• Maintain separation of production metrics from governance, quality, and audit functions.

• Ensure formal escalation of regulatory, legal, fraud, market conduct, and reputational risks.

• Preserve separation between audit activities and procedure governance.

• Facilitatebest-practicesharing without production decision-making authority.

• Monitor governance indicators including quality results, audit findings, complaints, litigation support, and operational risks.

HowYoullWork

• Work Solution: Hybrid

• Relocation Eligibility: Available

What We Bring to the Table

• Hybrid work environmentthat promotes work-life balance

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coveragestarting from your first day

• Employer 401k match and employer contributionto a pension plan

• Generous PTO and paid parentalleave to support your family needs

• Various associate resource groups and community involvementinitiatives

Essential Job Functions

While performing the duties of this job, the employee isfrequentlyrequired to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear.Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

This job requires the ability to perform duties contained in the job description for this position, including, but not limited to, the above requirements.Reasonable accommodation will be provided for otherwise qualified applicants as needed to enable them to fulfill these requirements.