Implementation Project Management, PMO Lead - Third Party Administration, Life & Annuity Platforms

We are seeking an accomplished delivery executive to lead the TPA Implementation Project Management Office (PMO) for EXL's Life & Annuity Platforms business. 

This role will be responsible for governing a portfolio of strategic client implementations, policy administration platform conversions, and transformation programs while ensuring delivery excellence, financial performance, client satisfaction, and organizational scalability. 

The successful candidate will serve as a key member of the leadership team, partnering closely with Product, Technology, Operations, Sales, and Client stakeholders to drive successful business outcomes. 

The position operates in a matrixed environment and requires strong leadership, collaboration, and communication skills across multiple teams and stakeholders. 

The position will require up to 20% travel, primarily domestic with occasional international travel. 

EXL's Life and Annuity Platforms organization is an exciting and dynamic software solutions group focused on building EXL's LifePROTM Product and Agentic AI solutions. 

We emphasize innovation, operational excellence, world-class delivery, working in tandem with legacy and leading technologies and thinking as a competitive advantage in our markets.

PMO Leadership and Governance:

• Lead the TPA Implementation PMO function, including governance model, operating standards, delivery methodology, and best practices.
• Drive portfolio governance, project health reviews, risk management, and executive reporting

Delivery Excellence:

• Oversee large-scale Life & Annuity platform, TPA Operations, conversion, and strategic implementation programs.
• Ensure delivery against scope, schedule, quality, financials, and client commitments.
• Guide Program Managers, Project Managers, and Scrum Masters to drive accountability and execution discipline.

Financial and Commercial Management:

• Own portfolio budgeting, forecasting, resource planning, and utilization
• Govern SOWs, scope, change requests, and contractual delivery commitments.

Stakeholder and Client Engagement:

• Serve as the key liaison across clients, executive leadership, Product, Technology, Delivery, Operations, and cross-functional teams.
• Lead steering committees and governance forums with clear communication of status, risks, decisions, and outcomes.

PMO CoE & Continuous Improvement:

• Establish a PMO Center of Excellence to standardize tools, reporting, metrics, and delivery practices.
• Build a high-performing PMO team and drive continuous improvement through automation, AI-enabled practices, and operational discipline.

Issue, Risk & Escalation Management:

• Own a structured issue, risk, and dependency management process across the portfolio, ensuring early identification, clear ownership, and timely resolution before items escalate.
• Establish a single escalation framework and command structure for critical client and production issues, driving root-cause resolution and reducing repeat escalations.

Technical Skills

• Strong experience in PMO leadership, portfolio management, and large-scale implementation delivery.
• Deep understanding of Life Insurance, Annuity, Policy Administration Systems, TPA Operations, conversions, and implementation lifecycle.
• Knowledge of Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid, and scaled delivery models.
• Strong financial, commercial, resource, and delivery governance skills.
• Ability to assess project health, risks, dependencies, metrics, and corrective actions across multiple programs.
• Understanding of integrations, data conversion, migration, infrastructure, environments, release, and deployment management.
• Experience with executive dashboards, KPIs, reporting tools, and project health metrics.
• Working knowledge of JIRA, Azure DevOps, MS Project, Smartsheet, ServiceNow, Clarity, and Confluence.
• Experience in global, matrixed delivery environments with vendor, partner, and cross-functional accountability.
• Ability to apply AI tools, automation, and data-driven techniques to improve PMO effectiveness
• Deep, practical knowledge of how a TPA ecosystem operates end-to-end and how its multiple platforms and applications interconnect across the policy lifecycle.
• Proven ability to bring structure and a consolidated execution plan to complex programs spanning multiple distinct applications and technologies.
• Strong issue, risk, and escalation management discipline, including root-cause analysis and proactive prevention of recurring delivery problems.

Soft Skills (Desired)

• Executive leadership, stakeholder management, and influencing skills.
• Strong communication, presentation, facilitation, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams across business, technology, operations, clients, and partners.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Customer-focused mindset with strong relationship management skills.
• Ability to build, mentor, and develop high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to drive change, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.

Work Experience Requirements: 

• 15+ years in project/program management, including 5+ years in senior leadership.
• 10+ years leading large-scale software implementation, platform modernization, or business transformation programs.
• Strong experience in Life Insurance, Annuities, TPA, Policy Administration Systems, or Financial Services platforms.
• Hands-on experience managing implementations within a TPA operating model, including conversions, ongoing administration, and multi-application solution landscapes.
• Proven success managing multi-million-dollar portfolios and executive client relationships.
• Experience governing SOWs, contracts, change requests, and delivery financials.
• Proven ability to build and scale PMO organizations and governance frameworks.
• Experience operating in global delivery models and matrixed organizations.
  Education Requirements
• Bachelor’s degree in business, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Strong understanding of project management methodologies for software delivery (Agile, Waterfall, PRINCE2, PMBOK, etc.), financial management, resource planning
• PMP, PRINCE2, or PMO certification.