Job Description:
The Associate Vice President (AVP), Enterprise Agile Leadership, owns Penn Mutual’s enterprise agile operating model end-to-end—spanning portfolio governance, delivery execution, risk and compliance integration, and performance analytics. This role ensures strategic priorities are translated into predictable, measurable, and audit ready delivery outcomes across all portfolios.
Working closely with executive leadership, product management, technology, and cross functional teams, the AVP provides strategic direction, coaching, and leadership to drive the adoption, scaling, and sustainability of agile principles and modern ways of working. This is not a coaching only role; it is a structural leadership role responsible for governing enterprise cadences, institutionalizing DualTrack Agile, embedding compliance and business architecture standards into delivery, and publishing performance insights that keep senior leadership aligned and teams accountable.
Key Responsibilities
Own and evolve the enterprise agile operating model, ensuring predictable, high quality delivery aligned to strategic business and product priorities.
Lead the Enterprise Agile Center of Excellence, providing strategic direction to agile coaches, delivery leaders, and transformation teams.
Drive adoption and scaling of agile and DualTrack Agile practices across business and technology teams.
Improve enterprise delivery predictability, accelerate time to market, and ensure alignment between product strategy, technology execution, and business outcomes.
Establish and maintain enterprise delivery standards, guardrails, templates, and architectural decision practices (e.g., ADRs, design reviews).
Govern portfolio intake, prioritization, and capacity planning; maintain the Three Horizons Roadmap for executive visibility.
Facilitate the Quarterly Portfolio Review (QPR) and ongoing executive cadences to align OKRs, funding, capacity, and cross portfolio dependencies.
Chair Scrum of Scrums, manage cross team dependencies, and drive timely blocker resolution.
Identify and remove systemic impediments to agility, improving flow, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.
Maintain audit ready delivery evidence and embed compliance, risk, and regulatory requirements into agile delivery processes.
Publish delivery insights, prerelease and post release updates, and biweekly performance summaries for senior stakeholders.
Build and maintain enterprise dashboards surfacing DORA metrics, adoption indicators, and product NPS; translate insights into executive level narratives.
Assess delivery maturity, run team evaluations, and drive continuous improvement through retrospectives, learning forums, and capability building programs.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred in business, technology, or related field.
12+ years of experience in enterprise agile transformation or delivery leadership, including 5+ years at the director or VP level.
Proven success designing and operating enterprise delivery operating models, including OKR governance, QPR cadences, portfolio intake, capacity planning, and financial governance.
Deep knowledge of agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, DualTrack Agile) with experience scaling agile in complex, matrixed organizations of 500+ people.
Handson experience with DORA metrics, NPS, and delivery dashboards, with the ability to translate data into executive insights.
Experience embedding compliance into agile delivery, including privacy, model risk, accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA), financial controls, and policy as code.
Insurance, financial services, or similarly regulated industry experience strongly preferred; familiarity with state insurance regulation and AI/model risk guidance is a differentiator.
Exceptional leadership, communication, and executive stakeholder influence skills, with a proven track record driving cultural change in matrixed environments.
SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), ICPENT, PMIACP, or equivalent enterprise agile certification required.
Base Salary Range - $190,000-$225,000
For over 175 years, Penn Mutual has empowered individuals, families and businesses on the journey to achieve their financial goals. Through our partnership with Financial Professionals across the U.S., we help instill the confidence and reliability that comes from a stronger financial future. Penn Mutual and its affiliates offer a comprehensive suite of competitive products and services to meet the unique needs of Financial Professionals and their clients, including life insurance, annuities, wealth management and institutional asset management. To learn more, including current financial strength ratings, visit www.pennmutual.com.
Penn Mutual is committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). We provide employment and advancement opportunities to all qualified applicants and associates, according to applicable laws. This is reflected in our practices for hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruitment, compensation, selection or training, and all other terms and conditions of employment. All employment-related decisions and practices are free from unlawful discrimination. This includes: race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship age, gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, domestic partnership or civil union status, marital status, genetic information, disability, religious observance or practice, liability, veteran status or any other classification protected under applicable law.
