Platform Manager - Automation and Integration

As one of the largest insurers in the UK, building an integrated insurance platform fit for the digital age is critical to our success. We are recruiting a Digital Integration Platform Manager to help lead a 130 strong team in delivering a better experience for our customers whether they access our services online or off.

Our strategy is:

1. True customer composite. Aviva is a composite offering its customers life, general and health insurance and asset management, and is the only composite of scale in the UK. Historically, the financial benefits of being a composite were clear: diversification benefits of risk and capital. The customer benefits were less evident. But as the world becomes more digital and less inter-mediated it will become easier to sell direct to customers and to package products. Being a true customer composite will enable Aviva to have a strong competitive advantage going forward.
2. Digital first. Digital is how Aviva will capitalise on being a true customer composite. It is how customers increasingly want to do business with Aviva. In the future, Aviva's focus will be to think digital first, and that means digital across all distribution channels; direct, IFA, broker, affinity and bancassurance for both consumers and business customers. Digital, and the advantages that come with automation, will be central to how Aviva operates.
3. Not everywhere. Aviva has reduced its footprint from 28 markets in 2011 to 17 today and improved its return on capital. Aviva will focus on a small number of markets where it has scale and profitability or a distinct competitive advantage. Aviva will actively reallocate capital to businesses where it can achieve the best returns.

As our Digital Integration Platform Manager, you will:

• 'Get' and be excited by our strategy.
• Be an agile evangelist, practitioner and visionary, preferably with experience of distributed agile.
• Be familiar with modern engineering practices, eg BDD, continuous integration and continuous delivery.
• Be familiar with Systems Thinking, and putting our customers first.
• Understand the importance of engineering quality and building long term solutions without losing sight of the need to ship quickly.
• Be instrumental in driving forward our delivery strategy, including helping us adopt Distributed Agile at scale.
• Be responsible for leading engagement with incoming projects and initiatives.
• Be responsible for overseeing the health of our delivery teams and the projects they manage.
• Be responsible for ensuring we have the right delivery capability to handle the work we're being asked to deliver.
• Be responsible for ensuring we're developing our people, helping them achieve their goals and ours.
• Be data driven.
• Be cool under pressure, and comfortable talking to very senior stakeholders.
• Be comfortable line managing 8-10 staff.
• Understand the need to maintain good governance and a tight well oiled team.
• Influence through building strong working relationships.

Experience:

• Proven ability to lead agile teams using modern engineering approaches.
• Be able to demonstrate capability to lead teams in a transition to agile.
• Previous ability to work and be effective in large organisations.
• Able to build a tightly managed, highly effective team
• Experience of maintaining oversight of multiple delivery teams/projects.
• To manage through data, not just instinct.
• Proven ability to drive innovative thinking and continuous improvement.
• Proven ability to develop capability models and plans.
• Proven ability to dispatch admin and hygiene quickly and efficiently.
• Agile Methods (SCRUM, Kanban)
• People management
• Resource management and scheduling
• Management of budgets
• Talent management
• Excellent written and visual communication skills.
• Senior stakeholder management
• Continuous improvement
• Project portfolio management
• Root cause analysis
• Strategic thinking
• Infectious, inspiring leadership
• Integration
• Public APIs
• Systems Thinking
• Supplier performance management