Location: Cary, NC - Hybrid work arrangement. (In office 3 days per week. Remote 2 days per week.)
Role Value Proposition:
Department:
MetLife's Digital Automation (DA) team within Global Enterprise Platforms organization is focused on enabling digital transformation to achieve best-in-class customer experience. In DA, we utilize a wide array of leading digital automation platforms to build and deploy impactful automation solutions globally. Digital Automation team is responsible for exploration, evaluation, onboarding, implementation, governance, platform management, and support of various digital automation technologies including robotics process automation, business process management, intelligent and cognitive automation, conversational AI, electronic signature etc., in support of all lines of business across 40+ markets around the world.
The Role:
We are seeking a seasoned Product & Portfolio owner for Robotics Process Automation within Digital Automation team.
The Product & Portfolio Owner - Robotic Process Automation will drive the product roadmap and delivery of MetLife's RPA product workstream. Oversee and lead a team of engineers and experts to implement innovative and cutting-edge Automation solutions such as RPA, Trust Portal, Power Automate etc. to digitize and streamline business processes to deliver business value and optimize customer experiences.
As the leader, you will help shape emerging technologies in Automation and AI. You will be responsible for end-to-end portfolio management and product delivery across the full product lifecycle using RPA and other automation tools. You will have an opportunity to impact every part of the system, foster and cultivate your curiosity and fill a critical role enabling the team to focus on delivering amazing technology and customer solutions.
Key Relationships:

• Reports to: AVP, Digital Automation

• Direct reports/team: 1-2/20+
• Key Stakeholders: Business stakeholders, Supporting function stakeholders across global regions, e.g., Legal, Finance, IT, Ops, Audit, etc.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead product teams through the entire product development lifecycle including ideation, creation, adoption, and support, as well all aspects of leadership, including, planning, budgeting, forecasting, innovation, engineering, delivery, and people management
• Partner with the product managers to create long term product strategy, help establish a shared vision by building consensus on priorities leading to product execution with the product owners, and define goals, functionality, and requirements.
• Collaborate with other product and service teams within digital automation to develop broader automation strategy, as well as collaborate in delivering solutions that require multiple automation products.
• Partner with operations leaders, country leads, and IT leaders across MetLife to develop global perspective, address challenges and deliver solutions to enhance customer journey.
• Monitor and drive the progressions of pipeline, and inflight initiatives.
• Work closely with the product design and engineering teams to design, architect, implement and ship new capabilities to delight users.
• Hold product teams accountable to follow Agile Development Methodology (ADM) - Develop user stories, user story maps, test scripts, conduct sprint reviews, retrospectives and leverage process flows that support product delivery.
• Build strong partnerships and relationships with stakeholders in business, UX, PMO, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure and Security, and other disciplines to ensure alignment and common success.
• Lead end-to-end management and product delivery across the full product lifecycle including research, ideation, prototype, test, build, adopt, and measure in partnership with users, stakeholders, architecture, and technology.
• Establish a strategy and process to ensure product teams adhere to architecture, design, and integration of business software across multiple product platforms while ensuring solutions are built with performance, scalability, security and resiliency in mind.
• Support business/functional Automation owner to build out communication to ensure proper engagement such as key milestones, in scope processes, current and future state, timelines, technology dependencies, roles/responsibilities between business/functional owners, IT, Vendor and Digital Automation team
• Lead RPA Center of Excellence (CoE) and partner with product owners to continually develop standards, best practices, reference implementations; provide training, consulting, and governance to partners across the world and support them in delivering and operationalizing Automation solutions with increased efficiency; support federated development model and enable partner teams to develop and support high quality automation solutions.
• Demonstrate governance by ensuring that: (a) workstreams and initiatives are tracked and actively managed, (b) KPI's are agreed, measured and tracked, (c) deliverables are properly prioritized and sequenced, (d) risks are addressed and status measured, and (e) deliveries are successful.
• Apply critical thinking to identify new ideas on how we can be more responsive to user needs.
• Increase adoption of agile best practices to deliver value to business quicker; lead multiple agile teams to deliver timely, cost effective, and high-quality automation solutions
• Mentor and develop talent across different functions of the team while supporting GTO workforce strategy; create an environment of trust, collaboration, and excitement within the team, across peer teams and business partners, and inspire everyone towards the common goal of creating solutions that drives better customer experience
• Drive innovation to create impactful solutions for our customers, as well as find opportunities to re-engineer existing solutions for greater efficiency and performance
• Provide timely and best in class product support by constantly listening to the needs of our customers, partners and continuously improving our applications and processes

Essential Business Experience and Technical Skills:
Top Required Skills:

• Demonstrated track record of successfully delivering complex projects in an agile setting with demanding deadlines
• 10+ years of experience in Product, Portfolio Management and driving Automation projects within large scale organizations

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in information technology or related field or equivalent work experience
• Technical depth - while not expected to write code, candidate must be comfortable talking with our engineers about solutions, learning from existing examples, exploring APIs, triaging bugs, and speaking on any technical aspects of the tools in your product portfolio
• Experience with process Improvement and partnering with business units to identify automation opportunities
• Experience in building and leading cross functional product engineering teams
• Ability to inspire and lead teams, and define vision and strategy and organizational change
• Experience applying DevSecOps practices and tools, including automated build, test, deploy pipelines
• Proven ability to execute via successful internal partnerships with other organizations - with the ability to influence people at all levels across a broad variety of job functions
• Team player with the ability to adapt to changing priorities and goals
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple task assignment
• Structured thinker with emphasis on user-driven product design and data-driven product refinement
• Effective communicator with excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to crisply articulate complex technical concepts to senior audiences with poise and confidence
• Innovation mindset and savvy business and market acumen
• Sharp analytical and problem-solving skills

Preferred:

• Experience leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) including experience working with solutions that integrate with other automation and workflow solutions such as Data Digitization, BizFlow, K2, and Conversational AI
• Deep understanding of RPA and familiarity around BizFlow, K2 and Cognitive Automation solutions a plus
• Experience with cloud technologies from providers such as Microsoft Azure, and experience deploying apps in various cloud deployment models such as, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
• Up-to-date understanding of Automation market trends and keen interest in following emerging technologies
• Experience working in financial services and insurance is preferred
• Strong knowledge of Robotics process automation (RPA), Document Automation, chatbots, AI, Machine Learning and other automation centric technologies.
• Experience with Blue Prism, Indico, Vidado, Kore.ai is a plus
• Project Management certification and Agile experience

Business Category:
Global Technology & Operations
Number of Openings:
1
At MetLife, we're leading the global transformation of an industry we've long defined. United in purpose, diverse in perspective, we're dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our customers.
MetLife:
MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
We are one of the largest institutional investors in the U.S. with $642.4 billion of total assets under management as of March 31, 2021. We are ranked #46 on the Fortune 500 list for 2021. In 2020, we were named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the fifth year in a row. DJSI is a global index to track the leading sustainability-driven companies. We are proud to have been named to Fortune magazine's 2021 list of the "World's Most Admired Companies."
MetLife is committed to building a purpose-driven and inclusive culture that energizes our people. Our employees work every day to help build a more confident future for people around the world.
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