Director Client Delivery Lead

WHO WE ARE

Zinnia is the leading technology platform for accelerating life and annuities growth. With innovative enterprise solutions and data insights, Zinnia simplifies the experience of buying, selling, and administering insurance products. All of which enables more people to protect their financial futures. Our success is driven by a commitment to three core values: be bold, team up, deliver value – and that we do.

We have over $180 billion in assets under administration, serve 100+ carrier clients, 2500 distributors and partners, and over 2 million policyholders.

The Director, Client Delivery Lead is accountable for execution on the client project work prioritized to meet key client targets and outcomes. You will have a keen understanding of the SDLC to deliver projects in both waterfall and agile methodologies, and an ability to quickly assess impact and risk mitigation approaches across client programs. Working with peers, Account Executives, and technology teams, you will help achieve your clients’ target outcomes within the overall Zinnia portfolio of programs.

You will lead a team of Program Leads/Project Leads supporting your clients’ initiatives and drive adherence to key standards and practices to increase predictability in our delivery outcomes.

• Support client discussions and planning activities to outline a high‑level full‑year portfolio roadmap driven by prioritized requests and client‑defined business value.
• Work with the Client Account Manager to prepare and facilitate strategic client planning sessions at least quarterly to prioritize work needed for clients to achieve key business outcomes for the upcoming year.
• Collaborate with peer Delivery Leads, Client Account execs, and internal Technical Lead resources to forecast resource demands and manage prioritization on a recurring and as‑needed basis.
• Monitor and manage Client portfolio status, including delivery progress, project spend, cross‑project dependencies, P&L, risks and issues.
• Work with Program and Project Manager client teams to drive consistent use of defined reporting and dashboards for project tracking and proactive identification of risks to timelines, scope, budget and quality.
• Act as the first point of escalation for project delivery, working to identify remediation steps with internal stakeholders and reporting back to the client with a mitigation plan.
• Support periodic (at least monthly) leadership Client discussions, including key Zinnia constituents, to assess key wins, areas of opportunity and resulting plan of action.
• Drive Client conversations on scope management with proactive data to reflect trends and options to meet targets based on priority of time, cost, and scope.
• Improve team performance by leading, mentoring, training, motivating, and building team cohesiveness; continually improve project/program controls, methods and tools.
• Drive contract review and approval process, working with internal legal teams and the Client Account Exec team prior to submission.
• Participate in monthly finance discussions to review P&L and provide proactive information on potential project risks and mitigation steps.

• Bachelor’s degree in business or a closely related field;
  Master’s degree preferred or equivalent work experience.
• 10+ years of Project Management Experience – CAPM, PMP or similar designation preferred.
• 15+ years of total technology experience.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a project using a variety of methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, etc.).
• 4–6 years in an Agile environment preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding and experience within the full software development project lifecycle in complex technical environments.
• Knowledge of project management tools and software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, SharePoint, Jira, etc.
• Experience with third‑party system support, with preference given to insurance/financial services platforms.
• Knowledge of IT systems, governance and compliance.
• Proven problem‑solving, decision‑making, analytical and organizational skills.
• Ability to tailor communications and influence critical decisions with a variety of stakeholders.
• Capabili…