IT Director - Core Insurance Platforms

We are looking for a technology leader who wants to do meaningful transformation work at the heart of the insurance business. This role will lead Frankenmuth Insurance’s core insurance technology organization, with responsibility for the platforms and teams that support Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Billing, and Financial Systems. The opportunity is bigger than day-to-day application leadership – this leader will help modernize foundational platforms, evolve delivery practices, build stronger product-oriented teams, and directly influence how technology enables the company’s future growth.

If you are a strategic technology leader who thrives at the intersection of business partnership, platform modernization, and team leadership, this is an opportunity to make a visible and lasting impact.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:  

Lead Core Insurance Platform Strategy, Delivery and Operations

• Provides strategic and operational leadership for application development, delivery, support, and modernization across Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, Billing, Financial Systems (PeopleSoft), and Document Management platforms.
• Provides leadership oversight for major platform transformation efforts, including modernization planning, execution readiness, and adoption.
• Stays abreast of industry trends to establish technology strategies and product roadmaps that align platform investments with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and enterprise architecture direction.
• Champions modern software engineering practices, including Agile delivery, DevOps, automation, quality engineering, cloud-native design, and continuous improvement.
• Ensures operational excellence through effective production support, incident management, disaster recovery, availability management, and technology lifecycle planning.
• Oversees application security, data protection, compliance, governance, and risk management across supported platforms.
• Manages technology vendors, service providers, department financial performance, resource forecasting, and optimization of technology investments.
• Identifies opportunities to leverage automation, artificial intelligence, cloud capabilities, and emerging technologies where they create meaningful business value and operational efficiency.

Lead and Develop High-Performing Teams

• Establishes a clear vision and strategic direction for the department aligned with enterprise goals.
• Builds, develops, and retains high-performing leaders, managers, and technical professionals through coaching, performance management, and succession planning.
• Creates a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, innovation, and adaptability through periods of change.
• Oversees workforce planning, organizational design, budgeting, recruiting, and resource management to support current and future business needs.

Technology and Business Partnership Leadership

• Serves as the primary technology partner for assigned business areas, helping shape strategy, influence investment decisions, and ensure technology capabilities support enterprise goals.
• Participates in enterprise planning, governance, portfolio management, and business case development for major technology investments.
• Collaborates with Architecture, Security, Infrastructure, Data, and Digital teams to deliver integrated technology solutions.
• Leads and sponsors complex, cross-functional initiatives with organization-wide impact.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or related field required. Master's degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in application development, software engineering, or technology delivery roles.  Deep technical acumen is required.
• 5+ years leading managers, technical leaders, or large-scale technology organizations.
• Experience leading enterprise platform implementations, modernization initiatives, or core insurance platform transformations; Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, Guidewire Cloud Platform, SmartComms, Onbase, or comparable experience strongly preferred.
• Experience leading Agile, DevOps, cloud modernization, digital transformation, vendor management, and multi-million-dollar technology investments.

• Strategic Thinking
• Executive Presence
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement
• Insurance Business Acumen
• Organizational Change Leadership
• Talent Development
• Product and Platform Leadership
• Technology Modernization
• Customer Focus
• Decision Making Under Ambiguity