AVP Technology Business Operations & Strategy

Job Description

The AVP, Technology Business Operations & Strategy, is a pivotal executive role within the Workforce Benefits division at Pacific Life. This position is responsible for guiding the division’s technology ecosystem with the rigor expected of a Fortune‑class organization and the agility of a growth‑focused team. Success in this role demands a well‑rounded blend of expertise in quality assurance, operational excellence, business management, and strategic vendor partnerships.

This leader will champion initiatives that foster reliability, cohesion, and continuous improvement across interconnected platforms and teams, ensuring the division remains a high‑performing engine for sustainable growth.

As an executive leader, this role holds accountability for divisional technology investments, workforce planning, and vendor strategy. It includes managing key contracts, multi‑year technology roadmaps, and ensuring seamless alignment with both the finance organization and broader enterprise technology partners. Candidates who excel in this role will demonstrate strong business acumen, strategic foresight, and the ability to collaborate across all levels of the business.

They will drive innovation, maintain operational discipline, and build effective partnerships that strengthen the division’s position within Pacific Life and support its continued growth.

Strong business‑management acumen is critical for managing divisional technology budgets and associated resources, including internal and vendor‑provided resources. Success also depends on building and sustaining effective vendor partnerships—overseeing contracts and performance as a key component of the role. An analytical mindset and a focus on metrics are essential to monitor productivity, inform decisions, and sustain high performance throughout the division.

As the business continues to scale, this leader holds accountability for scaling capabilities and the operating model—ensuring the Workforce Benefits technology ecosystem operates as a cohesive, reliable, and governable system. This role is accountable for delivery excellence, technology roadmaps, strategic technology initiatives, technology business management, vendor assurance, quality programs, and cross‑ecosystem alignment.

This leader integrates disparate operating models across the complex technology ecosystem, vendors, leadership teams, and enterprise partnerships to assure high quality while reducing friction, risk, and rework. The role also has responsibility for negotiating, executing, and managing multiple contracts, statements of work, purchase orders, invoices, and overall budget management.

Reporting to the division’s CIO, the role requires exceptional political savvy, enterprise partnership, and the ability to lead horizontally while balancing day‑to‑day operations.

This role requires being on‑site in Newport Beach, CA or Charlotte, NC.

• Accountable for executive relationships, contractual agreements, as well as delivery & quality assurance with strategic vendors.
• Own execution assurance across internal and external platforms, teams, and vendors.
• Establish and own end‑to‑end quality and delivery governance.
• Manage divisional technology budgets, vendor resources, and internal headcount commitments across the technology team.
• Drive metrics, transparency, and continuous improvement across the ecosystem.
• Reduce systemic risk, defects, rework, and escalations.

• Leader of leaders who ensure quality assurance, financial discipline, efficiency measures, and delivery across the entire product operating model.
• Talent Management – build strong talent within their own team and serve as the executive leader for the CIO to maintain talent management discipline across the organization.
• Coach and mentor across the product teams to improve performance and quality.

• Own delivery operating model and execution excellence across all product and platform teams.
• Own the end‑to‑end quality program, including automation, test strategy, and release readiness.
• Ensure predictable delivery outcomes through disciplined…