Director, Capital Strategy, Liquidity & Rating Agency Relations

Director, Capital Strategy, Liquidity & Rating Agency Relations

Addison, TX; Montpelier, VT

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.

Overview

We are seeking a highly analytical, strategically minded finance leader to drive enterprise capital strategy, liquidity planning, and credit stewardship. This role partners closely with senior leadership to shape financing decisions, proactively manage rating agency relationships, and safeguard the company's financial strength.

The Director will lead consolidated liquidity forecasting and capital structure analysis, ensuring alignment between growth objectives, funding strategy, and rating considerations. In addition, this role will champion innovation within Finance by advancing AI-enabled forecasting, analytics, and decision-support capabilities that enhance transparency, agility, and strategic insight.

This position also provides cross-functional oversight and continuity for the company's internal corporate insurance program, ensuring alignment between risk transfer strategies and capital management objectives.

The role requires deep capital markets expertise, rigorous financial modeling capability, executive-level communication skills, and the ability to translate complex financial dynamics into clear, decision-oriented recommendations.

Key Responsibilities

Capital Markets & Capital Structure Strategy

• Evaluate, structure, and execute capital markets transactions, including debt issuances, hybrid securities, alternative financing arrangements, and other capital initiatives.
• Partner with banks and financial institutions to assess market conditions, pricing dynamics, investor demand, and optimal transaction timing.
• Develop forward-looking capital structure strategies that balance growth, liquidity, leverage, and rating considerations.
• Analyze market trends and comparable transactions to inform strategic financing decisions.
• Clearly communicate capital strategy, credit considerations, and rating implications to senior leadership in a concise, decision-oriented manner.
• Coordinate transaction execution across internal stakeholders, external advisors, and banking partners.

Enterprise Liquidity Strategy & Forecasting

• Own development and oversight of consolidated enterprise liquidity projections, integrating operating cash flows, financing plans, capital deployment, and stress scenarios.
• Lead short- and long-term liquidity planning to ensure adequate financial flexibility under base and stressed conditions.
• Establish and monitor liquidity risk metrics, funding triggers, and early warning indicators.
• Develop contingency funding frameworks aligned with rating agency expectations and risk appetite.
• Partner with Treasury, FP&A, and business leaders to align liquidity forecasts with operating plans and strategic initiatives.
• Provide liquidity analysis and forward-looking funding insights for executive and Board-level materials.

Financial Modeling, Analytics & AI Enablement

• Own and enhance the enterprise capital and liquidity model, integrating capital structure alternatives, cash flow forecasting, covenant compliance, and rating agency metrics into a unified decision-support framework.
• Perform scenario analysis and stress testing to assess impacts on leverage, financial flexibility, and credit ratings.
• Champion adoption of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics tools to enhance forecasting precision, automate recurring analyses, and improve decision speed.
• Identify opportunities to streamline covenant tracking, market monitoring, scenario modeling, and credit metric reporting through AI-enabled solutions.
• Partner with Finance, Data, and Technology teams to build scalable analytics capabilities and strengthen data governance standards.
• Serve as a thought partner to the broader Finance organization on emerging AI applications in capital management and risk analysis.

Rating Agency Management & Credit Stewardship

• Serve as strategic lead in shaping and delivering the company's external credit narrative.
• Lead preparation and completion of annual rating agency surveys and recurring information requests.
• Develop comprehensive rating agency presentations, including business overview, financial performance, forward outlook, capital strategy, liquidity profile, and key credit metrics.
• Prepare for and coordinate annual and semi-annual rating agency meetings, including messaging alignment, materials preparation, and follow-up.
• Monitor rating agency methodologies, sector outlooks, and credit criteria; assess potential impacts on the company's ratings.
• Advise senior leadership on rating-sensitive decisions and external communication strategy.

Corporate Insurance Program Oversight

• Develop cross-functional knowledge of the company's corporate insurance program design and administration to ensure continuity and institutional depth.
• Participate in renewal processes, broker engagement, coverage analysis, and carrier discussions.
• Evaluate insurance structures, limits, deductibles, and pricing to ensure alignment with enterprise risk appetite and capital objectives.
• Integrate risk transfer considerations into broader liquidity and capital planning frameworks.

Core Competencies

• Capital Strategy & Market Execution Deep understanding of debt markets, financing structures, and transaction processes.
• Liquidity & Funding Leadership Ability to design, forecast, and manage enterprise liquidity with a forward-looking, risk-aware lens.
• Credit & Ratings Expertise Working knowledge of rating agency frameworks, methodologies, and credit drivers.
• Analytical Excellence Advanced financial modeling and ability to synthesize complex data into clear strategic insights.
• Executive Communication Ability to articulate complex financial concepts to senior leadership, Boards, financial institutions, and rating agencies.
• Strategic Judgment Balances growth, leverage, liquidity, and rating considerations in decision-making.
• Innovation & Digital Fluency Comfort leveraging AI and advanced analytics to modernize finance processes and improve decision support.
• Relationship Management Proven ability to build credibility with internal stakeholders and external financial partners.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Accounting, or related field (MBA or CFA preferred).
• 712+ years of experience in capital markets, corporate finance, treasury, or investment banking.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supporting capital markets transactions.
• Experience managing or engaging with rating agencies.
• Advanced financial modeling skills and strong presentation capabilities.
• Strong understanding of credit metrics, capital structures, covenant frameworks, liquidity planning, and financial risk management.
• Familiarity with corporate insurance programs or enterprise risk financing structures preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with executive presence.

Benefits

• Your benefits start day one and are flexible and customizable to your and your family's specific needs. Check out the BENEFITS of a Career at National Life!

Base Pay Range. The base pay range for this position is the range National Life reasonably and in good faith expects to pay for the position taking into account the wide variety of factors, including: prior experience and job-related knowledge; education, training and certificates; current business needs; and market factors. The final salary or hourly wages offered may be outside of this range based on other reasons and individual circumstances. Additional Compensation and Benefits. The total compensation package for this position may also include a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave), dependent on the position offered. The successful candidate may also be eligible to participate in National Life's discretionary annual incentive programs, subject to the rules governing such programs. If hired, the employee will be in an "at-will position" and National Life reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors. National Life is accepting applications for this role on an ongoing basis and the role remains open until filled.

Salary Pay Range

$120,000 - $176,000 USD