Senior Associate, Project Manager; Strategic Business Initiatives

Position: Senior Associate, Project Manager (Strategic Business Initiatives)
Location Designation:
Hybrid - 3 days per week Group Benefit Solutions delivers comprehensive insurance and absence management solutions for mid-sized and large companies. Our work fosters a healthier, happier, and more secure workforce, contributing to New York Life’s legacy of being there when we’re needed most. Here, you'll design, implement, and support these solutions directly impacting employees’ lives. At our core, we provide financial security and peace of mind to people through our absence, accident, disability, voluntary benefits, and life insurance solutions.  

to learn more about Group Benefits solutions.

Alternate locations:
New York, NY (New York);
Chattanooga, TN (Tennessee);
Des Moines, IA (Iowa)  

Role Overview :

Group Benefit Solutions (GBS) is seeking a highly skilled Project Manager to lead and manage strategic initiatives within our PMO. In this role, the Project Manager will work closely with executive and business stakeholders across all areas of operations (e.g.: distribution, claims, product, marketing, etc.) to support the planning and execution of projects and programs within our portfolio. The PM will play a key role in fostering a collaborative team environment while driving accountability.

Our team provides project management support for both new implementations (end-to-end) as well as change management activities within a hybrid waterfall/agile model; experience with both methodologies is preferred.

What You’ll Do:

· Partner with business owners/IT/support teams to define scope of new initiatives or determine impact of changes (upgrades/enhancements).
· Adhere to project delivery governance model, own development, and maintenance of project documents (charters, minutes, plans, status reports) on shareable platform.
· Analyze project progress to identify risks/issues, develop mitigation plans, and appropriately escalate concern and potential solutions to stakeholders.
· Schedule and facilitate status meetings, drive accountability for deliverables.
· Where applicable, drive methodology definition and adoption of Agile delivery approaches.
· Oversee task execution and dependencies keeping the big picture in mind during meetings and discussions, particularly if there are scope and/or resource adjustments.
· Develop communication materials to present project objectives and drive the decision-making process among various stakeholders/sponsors/executives within the company.
· Manage the details of a project to ensure that all action items are accomplished timely and accurately within NYL standards while looking for opportunities to continuously improve project management processes and test new approaches.
· Lead by example with high energy, transparency, and influencing skills.

What You’ll Bring :
To be successful in this role, candidates must exhibit strong relationship building/management skills, influencing and negotiation skills, strong written and verbal communications, presentation skills, and a passion for project management. Candidates must also possess proficiency in Microsoft Office 365 tools (Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams, Project, Vision, SharePoint, PowerPoint, and One Drive).
· Bachelor’s degree (in a business-related field)
· 5+ years of relevant experience managing mid-to-large scale projects (3-6+ months in duration)
· Group insurance and/or financial services industry experience preferred
· Change management experience strongly preferred
· Strong executive presence and experience with presenting to an audience of cross-functional stakeholders within the company
· Demonstrated ability to prioritize workload, confirm / communicate decisions, work on multiple simultaneous assignments, and meet deadlines
· Innovative thinker who is self-driven to complete projects…