Head of Balance Sheet Risk (BOSTON)

Head of Balance Sheet Risk

Full-Time

Boston, MA or Springfield, MA

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity for an exceptional, highly motivated, collaborative risk leader to join MassMutual’s Capital and Investment Risk Management team (within Enterprise Risk Management) and influence the management of risks associated with investment decisions and the use of capital. You will provide centralized, second-line accountability for market, liquidity, and capital risks, partnering closely with Investment Management and Finance to evaluate trade-offs and influence balance sheet decisions, consistent with MassMutual’s risk appetite and enterprise ALM objectives.

As a member of the Capital & Investment Risk leadership team, you will help shape the team’s operating effectiveness by aligning on priorities, coordinating work across peers, and evolving processes. You will also support the Head of Capital & Investment Risk with thought leadership and strategic input.

The Team

The Capital & Investment Risk team works closely with the Investment Management and Finance divisions to deliver insights and influence decisions regarding MassMutual’s investment risk-taking and use of capital, in support of MassMutual’s long-term financial strength and strategic objectives.

The team brings together a diverse group of experts across capital markets, risk management, actuarial, and quantitative disciplines that work together to deliver analysis and recommendations related to the management of credit, market, liquidity and capital risk, consistent with the enterprise risk appetite framework for which the team is also responsible. The team continues to be successful in driving improvements in tools, technology and processes, for more consistent risk analysis and reporting, and enabling greater opportunities for scale and efficiency within ERM and with stakeholders in Investment Management and Finance.

The Impact

You will ensure MassMutual’s market, liquidity, and capital risks are effectively managed, through robust risk management controls and frameworks aligned to our life insurance and annuity liabilities, evolving business strategy and operating environment. You will serve as ERM’s focal point for integrating market, liquidity, capital, and asset allocation risk perspectives into a single, decision relevant enterprise ALM view. You will achieve this by working with stakeholders in Investment Management and Finance organizations to ensure that balance‑sheet trade‑offs across capital, liquidity, earnings, and risk are explicitly assessed, governed, and escalated through consistent frameworks.

Working closely with the Head of Credit Risk, you will also ensure that analytical and risk management processes and deliverables within the Capital & Investment Risk team are connected and scaled for maximum impact and efficiency.

This role will initially focus on unifying existing market, liquidity, and capital risk capabilities within ERM, with further operating model evolution expected as enterprise ALM governance, data, and modeling capabilities mature.

Success in this role is driven by strong collaboration across Capital & Investment Risk Management, ERM, Investment Management and Finance including the ability to lead teams, enable clear communication, and align stakeholders in a matrixed environment.

Notable responsibilities include:

• Second-line risk oversight: Accountable for second-line oversight of market, liquidity, and capital risk frameworks and execution, partnering with Investment Management and Finance to ensure risks are well mitigated with frameworks, processes and controls current and fit-for-purpose. Deliver independent review and challenge of first-line activities, ensuring alignment to approved risk appetite, enterprise ALM objectives, and governance expectations.
• Asset allocation: Provide enterprise and product-level risk perspectives on asset allocation trade-offs, incorporating inputs from Credit Risk Management on sector, issuer, and portfolio credit risks, helping ensure allocation limits are appropriate to the liabilities and provide a risk/return balance within aggregate risk appetite. Review investment guidelines and limits for reasonableness and recommend alternatives as needed.
• Liquidity: Oversee Treasury-led liquidity risk management to maintain a robust, enterprise approach that reflects product cash-flow dynamics, stress behavior under adverse market conditions, and interactions with capital and funding strategies.
• Risk appetite: Own and evolve MassMutual’s multi-lens risk appetite framework, including financial risk methodologies and metrics, analysis and reporting (integrating inputs from Credit Risk Management and other stakeholders), escalation of concerns; partner with first-line stakeholders to assess risk/return trade-offs under stress and tail scenarios and recommend actions (e.g., macroeconomic tail hedges) as needed
• Economic capital: Oversee the use of economic capital and value metrics within the risk appetite and ALM frameworks, including economic capital methodologies, analysis and review of results, Partner closely with Finance and Investment Management to expand and further embed these metrics in decision-making.
• Stress and scenario testing: In partnership with the Head of Credit Risk, ensure the Capital & Investment Risk team maintains a robust approach to the development, maintenance and application of stress scenarios to provide insights into potential tail exposures impacting MassMutual’s financial strength, and to support holistic evaluation of risk/reward tradeoffs of risk management alternatives.
• Modeling process evolution: Collaborate with the Chief Actuary, Treasurer, Investment Management, and other stakeholders to define the future state vision and roadmap for capital and liquidity stress modeling across risk appetite, economic capital, and enterprise stress and scenario analysis; partner with Credit Risk Management, which owns credit risk modeling methodologies and tools; in the near term, oversee current production processes while evolving roles, governance, and ways of working.
• Strategic planning: Support Head of Capital & Investment Risk in providing independent risk assessment and challenge of significant capital transactions, strategic investments, and M&A activities, with emphasis on impacts to capital adequacy, liquidity resilience, balance‑sheet risk appetite, and rating agency considerations.
• Leadership: Lead a team of 13 capital markets, risk, and actuarial professionals; scope out and lead complex projects, often in a matrixed setting across multiple functions applying change management, influencing, and communication skills
• Executive presence: Present risk analysis, insights, and recommendations to the Investment Oversight Committee, Enterprise Risk Committee and other senior forums.
• Talent and culture: Attract, develop and retain top talent; build skills and career paths aligned to the evolving operating model; foster collaboration across risk disciplines; and manage key-person risk through delegation, coaching, and succession planning.

Success in this role is driven by the ability to:

• Inspire and motivate ERM colleagues to deliver on the function’s key priorities
• Quickly establish credibility with a wide range of stakeholders
• Proactively collaborate with other teams in ERM as well as in the business lines
• Lead as a player/coach: deliver results personally and coach others to succeed.
• Inform and influence others appropriately, clearly and on a timely basis
• Adapt and thrive in complex, uncertain and changing situations
• Listen actively, and challenge yourself and others to think about all angles of the issue
• Rapidly build knowledge in unfamiliar topics and apply it to the work.
• Demonstrate curiosity across a broad range of business issues.

The Minimum Qualifications

• 15+ years of relevant work experience working in investment risk management (insurance company focus)
• A Bachelors degree in Financial Engineering, Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Physics, Engineering, Finance or similar quantitative discipline
• Demonstrated experience operating as a second‑line risk leader influencing senior decision‑makers in a matrixed environment
• Extensive experience in quantitative market, credit and asset allocation modeling
• Experience performing detailed analysis of risks associated with different asset classes including private credit and structured assets
• Experience in applying economic value and capital frameworks to drive strategic decisions within an insurance company
• Previous experience working on liability driven investing projects within an insurance company
• Knowledge and experience working with derivatives and hedging risk management
• Understanding and experience of the life insurance industry
• Well established record of project management
• Success working in collaborative team environment with matrix management
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills
• Ability to work independently and take initiative

The Ideal Qualifications

• Deep investment risk expertise within the insurance industry, including a clear understanding of market and liquidity risk frameworks, taxonomy and related risk management techniques and tools
• Experience in executing or overseeing asset allocation and ALM processes
• Capital markets experie]]>