Job Description

The Head of HR & Communications Technology is a core member of the Corporate Technology leadership team reporting directly to the Head of Corporate Technology. The candidate is responsible for creating and aligning a technology vision and objectives with business strategy for all areas related to human resources technology, employee experience and digital communications, and a variety of strategic programs which continue to foster and drive a digital transformation. 

The candidate will be responsible for all programs and initiatives related to HR & Digital Communications and will be required to have a keen sense of leadership, knowledge, and delivery.

The candidate will build and foster strong relationships with business and technology partners and will be responsible for leading and developing a team that will be focused on delivering exceptional solutions and solving business challenges within the Corporate Technology space. The role will be focused on modernizing, optimizing, and transforming the Human Resources and Digital Tech capability landscape to provide more efficient tools and overall customer experience. The candidate is also required to collaborate with other Corporate Technology and information technology (ETX) leaders to ensure technology strategy alignment, value propositions, and strategic imperatives for growth that can help reduce marketing costs, increase speed-to-market, establish, and elevate brand standards, and simplify digital delivery. 

The candidate is responsible for overseeing the technology roadmaps and other capability initiatives as prioritized in collaboration with business leaders from Human Resources and Communications.  The candidate will also focus on improving communications and overall engagement with business partners on a day-to-day basis and building long-term relationships between business partners and technology stakeholders that foster trust and transparency. The candidate is accountable for delivering projects on time, within budget, and with expected functionality per business partners' requirements. The role will regularly interact with business executives and technology leaders to ensure optimal collaboration, communication, and delivery. It is expected that the candidate will collaborate and support the delivery of projects by other delivery leaders within Corporate Technology to ensure adequate leadership backup and succession planning.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy & Execution: Accountable for the strategy, delivery, quality, and continuous improvement of all technology support for Human Resources and other corporate business partners. This role provides leadership, vision, and prioritization for optimizing the applications supporting these organizations. Ensures application optimization and transformation to enable corporate partners continued business growth and expansion. In direct partnership with senior business leaders, leads the development of technology strategies and execution. Leads the development of technology roadmaps that align with business current and future needs. Generates new ideas and creative solutions to complex business problems and ensures alignment with future state systems and applications within MassMutual.

Collaboration: Builds strong relationships and partners within the Corporate Technology organization at all levels. Aligns technology strategy with business-based decisions and fosters consensus at all levels of the organization to ensure the achievement of business objectives. Leads the development of plans and manages the activities of Human Resources Technology within the Corporate technology function, as well as strategy and standards to enable delivery and high availability of optimized business applications.

Leadership: Serves as a senior member of the Corporate Technology leadership team. Advises Corporate Technology senior management on issues affecting the operations and/or strategic direction of the Human Resources Technology team. Collaborates with other technology and business team members to resolve and monitor a broad and diverse range of financial, operational, and strategic issues. Fully accountable for planning, prioritization, and delivery for all teams they lead. Create and foster an environment that is inclusive, data-driven, proactive, agile, economical, collaborative, and accountable.  Coach, mentor and provide career guidance for all team members, and build domain expertise within the team. Accountable for selection and engagement of team members – attract, retain, and develop diverse talent.

Strategic Alignment: Develop application strategies, plans, and budgets that are aligned with the Human Resources and Corporate Technology business objectives, and ETX broader digital transformation efforts. Maintain sourcing strategy that is cost-effective, efficient and ensures the appropriate utilization of internal, contracted, and outsourced IT resources. Provide thought leadership and strategic counsel and insights to senior leaders (business partners) regarding how to leverage technology. Collaborate with Enterprise Architecture and Data teams to create roadmaps that enable business growth and the future state of the business.

Service optimization: Ensures all aspects of performance – cost, schedule, budget, and service quality. Ensure implementation of an information security and privacy plan, disaster recovery plan, and a business continuity plan when implementing new technology for Corporate Technology solutions. Establish KPIs and service level agreements with partners, and work with others to ensure compliance and continuous improvement of service levels.

Service Delivery & Management: Collaborating with our Corporate business partners and technology teams to develop and maintain sustainable technology platform(s) that allows for a cost-effective, compliant, and seamless customer experience. Acts as key member and contributor to the Corporate Technology leadership team and provides improvement opportunities and collaborates with the leadership team to drive down costs and provide excellent technical solutions and business capabilities.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Bachelor's Degree with 15+ years of technology within the Insurance and/or financial sector with at least 8+ years of IT leadership, business unit, or other leadership experience.
Expert level experience at leading a service-oriented IT organization.
Proven experience at successfully driving change via an entrepreneurial mindset and by serving as a trusted leader and subject matter expert for business partners.
Previous experience as a high strategic, visionary level leader with the ability to be pragmatic and sort through the details when needed.
Excellent track record at driving innovation, new technologies and proof of concepts to address business challenges.
Experience with developing successful technology strategies based on technology roadmaps, data, and business strategies.
Excellent relationship skills with an ability to work effectively in a team environment and a demonstrated track record of leading and successfully driving change and performance within an IT organizational structure and across an organization.
Proven track record of outstanding ethics, integrity, and judgment.
Ability to collaborate and succeed in a fast-paced environment while maintaining focus for on-time delivery, customer satisfaction, and team morale.
Excellent analytical data-driven decision making, strategic conceptual thinking, strategic planning, and execution skills.
Prior experience in leading technology teams that support complex Workday and Intranet or user experience implementations.
Expertise in budget & resource planning/monitoring to ensure budget optimization.
Possess an ability to lead and motivate through influence with excellent interpersonal skills.
Value and demonstrate emotional intelligence in collaboration and interactions with team members, internal partners, and third-party service providers.
Experience in software engineering/development and architecture design, implementing enterprise applications to meet business strategy and business process requirements.
Expertise in implementing technology to foster performance management, talent management, and human capital management.
A successful track record of in managing large scale product management and project implementation.
Outstanding analytical problem-solving skills required, a high degree of intellectual curiosity, and the ability to engage with others in addressing complex business issues
Strong understanding of the business and the ability to motivate teams whether a direct report or other functional area.
Self-motivated, entrepreneurial mindset and excellent listening, written and verbal communication skills articulating in a professional manner.
An open and accessible leadership style that leads by example and encourages free exchange of ideas and full discussion of differing points of view.
Ability to successfully balance operational management and strategic leadership, doing what it takes to get the job done.
Comfortable working with a high degree of autonomy and responsibility.
Strong entrepreneurial skills and business acumen to identify and evaluate opportunities and drive innovation
Ability to develop people and teams while placing a value on developing and maintaining positive relationships with team, peers, and customers.
Understanding of the impact of IT on long term business results and ensuring alignment with ongoing digital transformation strategy.

Strong knowledge of agile, dev/ops model, and large/complex program management oversight.
Must be authorized to work in US without sponsorship now and the future.
Exceptional written and verbal communications skills as well as the ability to explain complex technology topics to non-technical audiences.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Advanced Degree Preferred
Experience with cloud migration and implementation strategies that drive change and efficiency
Strong familiarity of AWS service catalogue and core functions as it relates to program management and application migrations.
Experience in all facets of IT, including Application Teams, Information Security, Business Process Management, Program and Portfolio Management, IT Partner and Supplier Management, IT Architecture Management, Digital Platforms, \IT Infrastructure and Operations, Intranet Development, and reporting tools such as Tableau and MicroStrategy.

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