Senior Delivery Lead

Senior Delivery Lead

Hartford, CT

The Senior Delivery Lead is a senior strategic leader responsible for shaping and driving the end-to-end delivery of complex P&C Claims solutions aligned with AXA XL Global Claims Strategy. Operating at a global level, this role significantly influences Claims strategy, manages multiple teams through subordinate managers, and contributes directly to divisional strategic initiatives and operational plans.

This leader will foster innovation, ensure delivery excellence, and act as a key technical and strategic influencer, ensuring business and technical capabilities support business growth, customer engagement, and enterprise transformation.

The role holder will oversee all products supporting that customer group within Digital Factory to ensure service levels are received and system changes are delivered to expectation. Accountable for the design, delivery, and support of solutions using Digital Factory best practices.

What You'll Be Doing

What will your essential responsibilities include?

Strategic Leadership & Influence

• Act as a senior strategic partner to executive leadership, translating business needs into the Claims tech strategy.
• Develop and influence the domain strategy, establishing a comprehensive roadmap that supports organizational growth, innovation, and transformation.
• Lead and manage multiple teams through subordinate managers, fostering a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Drive the development of policies, standards, and best practices across AXA XL Claims initiatives, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide objectives and compliance.

Business & Operational Impact

• Contribute to the strategic operating plans by ensuring Claims initiatives support key business outcomes and revenue targets.
• Oversee the end-to-end delivery of Claims solutions, managing resources, budgets, and timelines to ensure strategic objectives are met.
• Act as a key technical and strategic leader, influencing cross-functional teams and stakeholders to prioritize initiatives that maximize business value.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders to integrate Claims capabilities into broader digital transformation and operational initiatives.

Delivery & Governance

• Establish, develop and maintain close collaboration and partnership IDA, CTO, Transformation & Change Delivery, Global Technology Functions and key strategic partners/vendors.
• Ownership of the technical and low level design and adherence to the policies and best practices.
• Establish and oversee governance frameworks, ensuring delivery excellence across multiple teams, vendors, and technology partners.
• Drive and deliver business transformation, tech modernization and AI at scale.
• Drive delivery innovation by implementing scalable Agile frameworks, including SAFe, and fostering communities of practice.
• Ensure compliance with security, audit, and regulatory standards, managing vulnerabilities and implementing risk mitigation strategies.
• Lead vendor management activities, including contract negotiations, performance oversight, and aligning vendor roadmaps with business objectives.

Change Management & Stakeholder Collaboration

• Lead change management initiatives to facilitate smooth adoption of new Claims capabilities.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior stakeholders, ensuring alignment on priorities, delivery status, and strategic outcomes.
• Facilitate cross-domain and cross-team alignment, governance, and decision-making to ensure cohesive delivery.
• Establish, develop and maintain close collaboration and partnership with Business stakeholders, Technology Transformation Functions and key strategic partners/vendors.
• Develop change management strategies and approaches and assist business partners with readiness and change implementation

Applications, Infrastructure & Operations, Security and Compliance:

• Establish the scope of services, service levels, and key processes required to deliver application services within the application portfolio/domain/segment
• Accountable for managing the stability and performance of the products responsible for.
• Holds accountability for resolution of user incidents/issues within the agreed response and resolution SLA's.
• Manages the BAU/Breakfix team that will help resolution of any critical problems, bugs/defects that are raised through user backlog
• May participate as a member of a Major Incident Team
• Support resolution of escalated risks and issues within assigned portfolio/domain/segment.
• Provides audit support for both internal and external assessments; Articulates policies and standards as appropriate and provides all required evidence on a timely basis. Owns the completion of any action plans.
• Holds accountability for the IT & Security controls on the platform and resolution of any vulnerabilities. Will be owning any waivers and resolution of these waivers.
• Protect and maintain AXA XL's Intellectual Property

People & Teams Management

• Manage and develop a high-performing, diverse team of managers, architects, and delivery professionals.
• Foster a culture of mutual influence, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Promote communities of practice, technical excellence, and talent development aligned with organizational goals.

Vendor Management:

• In collaboration with Procurement, responsible for robust vendor management to ensure cost efficient IT support with removal of underperformance when appropriate.
• Manage relationships with external IT service providers to ensure quality and cost effective delivery of IT services within assignment portfolio/ segment.
• Monitor IT service providers / supplier and address performance concerns
• Accountable for transaction agreements review ensuring scope aligns to business ambition and cost/timelines aligns to the proposals from SI partners.
• In collaboration with Procurement, manages RFI/RFPs, contract negotiations and delivery of contract terms.
• Manages the relationship with vendors and helps align technical application/platform roadmap ambition with business roadmap.

Budget & Resource Management

• Optimise delivery cost by establishing core practices and delivery functions in strategic / competitive locations.
• Develop, manage and report the budget allocation within the application/domain portfolio optimizing resource allocations and utilization
• Produce high-level estimates for the initiatives within the portfolio/domain/segment.

You will report to the Head of Digital Factory Delivery.

What You Will Bring

We're looking for someone who has these abilities and skills:

Required Skills and Abilities:

• Proven experience leading large-scale, strategic initiatives within global organizations, particularly in P&C Claims
• Significant leadership experience managing multiple teams through subordinate managers, influencing senior management strategies.
• Expertise in Agile, SAFe, and scaled delivery frameworks.
• Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience in the insurance or financial services sector is highly desirable.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement, and change management skills.

• Create an environment of mutual influence and support the squad commitments

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.

• Ensure appropriate SoWs / SLAs exist for all development vendor engagements

• Certifications such as Scrum Master, RTE, or SAFe are preferred.

Inclusion

AXA XL is committed to equal employment opportunity and will consider applicants regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity and origins, marital status, religion, disability, or any other protected characteristic. At AXA XL, we know that an inclusive culture enables business growth and is critical to our success. That's why we have made a strategic commitment to attract, develop, advance and retain the most inclusive workforce possible, and create a culture where everyone can bring their full selves to work and reach their highest potential. It's about helping one another and our business to move forward and succeed.

• Five Business Resource Groups focused on gender, LGBTQ+, ethnicity and origins, disability and inclusion with 20 Chapters around the globe.
• Robust support for Flexible Working Arrangements
• Enhanced family-friendly leave benefits
• Named to the Diversity Best Practices Index
• Signatory to the UK Women in Finance Charter

Learn more at axaxl.com/about-us/inclusion-and