Senior Director, IT - Business

Position: Senior Director, IT - Business Applications
Our Company

Explore how you can contribute at Ameri Life.

For over 50 years, Ameri Life has been a leader in the development, marketing and distribution of annuity, life and health insurance solutions for those planning for and living in retirement.

Associates get satisfaction from knowing they provide agents, marketers and carrier partners the support needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving industry.

Job Summary
Ameri Life is seeking an experienced and strategic Senior Director, IT - Business Applications to lead the technology ecosystem that powers the agent and distribution lifecycle across the enterprise. This role provides executive-level leadership across CRM, Agent Contracting, Commissions, Workflow Automation, and Portals-all of which are essential to how Ameri Life recruits, contracts, onboards, supports, and compensates agents across its Health, Wealth, and Career channels.

Job Description

The Senior Director will manage multiple Director- and Senior Manager-level platform owners and will be accountable for shaping the long-term digital platform strategy, driving operational excellence, and ensuring strong vendor-led delivery across a diverse ecosystem that includes Salesforce, Kizen, Varicent, OneHQ, Agent Sync, workflow systems, and portal platforms.

This leader will partner closely with Health & Wealth Distribution, Contracting, Licensing, Finance, Commissions, Operations, Data Engineering, and Compliance teams to ensure Ameri Life's agent-facing systems are scalable, integrated, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.

This highly visible role will lead enterprise transformation initiatives, cross-platform modernization, and digital experience improvements while building a high-performing team and maintaining effective vendor partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Platform Ownership & Strategy

• Own the end-to-end platform strategy for all agent and distribution systems, including CRM, contracting, commissions, workflow, and portals.
• Support a multi-year roadmap that ensures systems scale with Ameri Life's growth and acquisition strategy.
• Drive alignment between business objectives and platform capabilities, ensuring technology investments deliver meaningful business value.
• Champion modernization initiatives and help evolve Ameri Life's digital agent experience.

Leadership & Organizational Management

• Directly manage and mentor a team of Directors and Senior Managers responsible for major enterprise platforms.
• Establish strong governance, performance expectations, operating models, and delivery standards across the organization.
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Develop long-term talent strategies and organizational structures to support platform growth.

Cross-Platform Integration & Architecture

• Ensure seamless integration and data flow across CRM, contracting, workflow, commissions, and portal systems.
• Partner with Architecture, Security, and Data Engineering teams to enforce platform standards, cybersecurity requirements, and data governance.
• Oversee design decisions that ensure interoperability, reliability, and scalability across the ecosystem.

Vendor & Partner Management

• Oversee multiple SaaS product vendors and Service Integrators responsible for implementation, configuration, and support of agent platforms.
• Manage vendor contracts, SOWs, renewals, and performance scorecards.
• Hold vendors accountable for delivery quality, SLAs, transparency, and value realization.
• Drive a consistent vendor governance framework across all platforms.

Operational Excellence & Production Oversight

• Ensure reliable production operations for all agent and distribution systems.
• Oversee SLAs, KPIs, monitoring, alerting, incident management, and escalations across platforms.
• Drive root-cause analysis and systemic improvement initiatives to resolve recurring issues.
• Ensure platforms meet compliance, audit, and regulatory standards.

Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management

• Serve as a senior IT partner to leadership in Sales, Distribution, Finance, Operations, Contracting, Licensing, and Commissions.
• Translate business needs into platform capabilities and delivery plans.
• Provide clear communication to executive stakeholders regarding roadmap progress, risks, dependencies, and financial impacts.
• Influence business process decisions by aligning with platform architectures and enterprise strategy.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 15+ years of progressive IT leadership experience.
• 7+ years in roles leading large-scale enterprise platforms or portfolios.
• Experience managing Director-level leaders and large vendor ecosystems.
• Deep understanding of CRM, contracting, commissions, workflow, and portal technologies (Preferred: Salesforce, Kizen, Varicent, Agent Sync/OneHQ, etc.).
• Proven success managing complex, integrated SaaS environments with vendor-led delivery.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise integration patterns, APIs, data governance, and security.
• Excellent executive communication, leadership…