Project Manager - Product and Underwriting Initiatives

Overview

At Banner Life Insurance Company, we lead with heart and ambition. Every day, we transform purpose into progress, guided by our unwavering commitment to be better for our customers, clients, and communities, not just today but long-term as well. Our people are the driving force behind everything we achieve. Their passion, purpose, and pursuit of innovation empower us to deliver cutting-edge solutions that support those we serve, ensuring we are here for you, here for good and striving for better.

We’re a forward-thinking company energized by our work and how we show up for one another. Our culture is built on meaningful impact and genuine enjoyment, because we believe great work and great experiences should go hand in hand.

By offering career development opportunities, comprehensive benefits, and programs that support your wellbeing, we help you thrive personally and professionally. We are here for you, here for good and here for better.

The Project Manager – Life Insurance Product & Underwriting Initiatives is responsible for leading large-scale product and underwriting initiatives, managing cross functional project teams and coordinating with stakeholders across the business.

This role partners closely with the Head of Product Management to execute product strategy across the full product lifecycle, including new product launches, enhancements, pricing changes, and in-force updates. The Project Manager also leads and supports life insurance underwriting initiatives that enable underwriting innovation, product outcomes, ensuring underwriting rules, evidence requirements, and workflows are aligned with product design, risk appetite, and distribution needs.

The role is highly execution-focused, operating within an agile or hybrid delivery environment to drive disciplined, on-time delivery across underwriting, actuarial, operations, IT, compliance, and distribution.

Product Implementation

• Own and manage end-to-end execution of life insurance product initiatives, including term, final expense, and permanent products.
• Maintain overall accountability for execution of product and pricing initiatives, ensuring delivery aligns with approved scope, timelines, and success criteria.
• Manage project execution and risk for all phases of the project from concept development, kick-off, scope and requirements gathering, final design, implementation, testing, training, and launch.
• Ensure product initiatives align with product & distribution strategy, operational capabilities, and regulatory requirements.

Underwriting Project Management

• Lead and support underwriting initiatives that drive underwriting innovation and product changes, including underwriting rules, evidence requirements, and workflow enhancements.
• Ensure underwriting changes are appropriately sequenced and integrated into broader product delivery plans.
• Coordinate underwriting impacts across actuarial, operations, IT, compliance, and distribution.

Project Execution & Delivery Management

• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, milestones, dependencies, resource needs, and delivery artifacts.
• Drive execution against scope, schedule, and quality expectations while proactively managing risks and issues.
• Use Agile and delivery metrics to drive execution, identify bottlenecks, and improve outcomes.
• Ensure delivery discipline, accountability, and clear ownership across all work streams, ensuring teams remain aligned, informed, and on track.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Coordinate across Product, Underwriting, Actuarial, Operations, IT, Legal/Compliance and Distribution teams.
• Facilitate project ceremonies including project kickoffs, working sessions, status updates, readiness reviews, and go-live approvals.

Risk, Change, and Dependency Management

• Identify and manage delivery risks related to product, underwriting rules, pricing impacts, regulatory constraints, and operational readiness.
• Manage scope and requirement changes through disciplined change control processes.

Stakeholder Communication & Reporting

• Provide clear, concise delivery reporting to SLT members, product leadership, and key stakeholders.
• Translate complex life insurance and delivery concepts into actionable insights

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, or related field
• MBA preferred

Experience / Knowledge

• 5+ years of experience in project management or product implementation within life insurance
• Proven experience delivering projects in an agile or hybrid delivery environment
• Proficient understanding of life insurance product lifecycle and underwriting concepts
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to lead large-scale project team
• High energy, positive can-do attitude and collaborative nature
• Critical thinking skills and attention to detail.

Certifications

• PMP certification strongly preferred
• Agile certification (CSM, SAFe, PMI-ACP, or similar) strongly preferred
• Life Office Management Association (LOMA) designation preferred

Skills / Attributes

• Proven ability to manage complex,…