The following statements represent what Boston Mutual stands “FOR” – it is what makes us different and better in the market we serve.

• We are FOR being a progressive life insurance company offering financial peace of mind to working Americans and their families.
• We are FOR providing practical and affordable products designed for those we serve.
• We are FOR making it easy to secure a level of financial protection with a portfolio of products – beginning with life insurance.
• We are FOR providing a personalized customer experience to our policyholders and producers.

• We are FOR acting in the best interests of our policyholders, producers, employees and the communities in which we live and serve – representing the goodness of mutuality in all we do.

We do our best to:

• Demonstrate a desire to assist
• Listen for understanding and respond empathetically
• Explain things in a manner that is easy to understand
• Be knowledgeable students of our business
• Take full ownership to resolve questions and issues
• Be professional, polite and courteous
• Leave our customers and associates “better than where we found them”

The Director Innovation Lab report directly to the VP - CIO.

The Director of Innovation Labs will provide leadership, oversight and guidance to the Innovation Management process advancing innovation opportunities that align with the Organizational vision through the development of deep customer, business and market understanding. This role will ensuring incremental as well as game-changing ideas are identified, evaluated and advanced appropriately while fostering and cultivating an engaging culture of innovation within the organization. Your efforts will help fuel our organizational efficiency, impact our business results and elevate our teammate engagement.

This role will provide leadership to a team of Innovation Consultants and oversee the strategic direction and operations of the Innovation Lab by leveraging an innovation framework which engages with both internal stakeholders and external collaborators. The Innovation Lab will promote free thinking, an entrepreneurial spirit, experimentation and sustainable value creation across all functions and levels of the organization.

The Director, Innovation Lab is expected to:

• Enable and nurture a corporate culture of Innovation, by:
  • Enabling corporate-wide idea generation
  • Aggregating, socializing and prioritizing ideas and opportunities
  • Active experimentation and championing solutions to business needs
  • Developing internal skillsets to enable Innovation Catalysts
• Be a catalyst for change and improvement in process, service abilities and products across BML teams, by:
  • Identifying and enabling process improvement opportunities
  • Maintaining and enhancing industry awareness for the identification of product improvement or business opportunities
  • Assess emerging and disruptive technology and InsurTech eco systems
  • Championing enhanced service and delivery models
• Identify both incremental and game-changing opportunities to assist leadership in advancing corporate goals and objectives, by:
  • Conducting marketplace and customer research to uncover insights that minimize risk, to maximize advantage and amplify the voice of the customer
  • Developing and sharing insights on business opportunities with the Senior team
  • Remaining visible in the public arena to both increase customer and industry perception of BML capabilities and attract talent to the organization
• Develop and evolve an Innovation Lab framework that:

• Ensures feedback and input mechanisms exist for obtaining, prioritizing and executing most valuable idea sets
• Discovers and validates solution assumptions to ensure outcomes deliver the desired customer experience and satisfies objectives
• Leverages human centered design, product management and jobs-to-be-done design principles for solutions development

• Provide team/people leadership that:
  • Creates and executes on a shared vision in alignment with the department and organizational goals, objectives and corporate vision
  • Establishes a positive, participative and collaborative team environment that inspires creative, high-performing, continuous learning and engaged team members
  • Is responsible for attracting, selecting, and on-boarding a diverse and qualified team and determining the appropriate team resource requirements to meet the organization’s objectives and strategic direction
  • Develop team members through coaching, training and development opportunities, and on-going performance feedback including timely follow-up on performance challenges and issues
  • Complete and/or recommend appropriate salary administration for team members in accordance with organizational procedures and practices
  • Review and approve operational expenditures within delegated authorities
• Enhance professional and technical knowledge by attending and participating/presenting in Innovation related industry events and education sessions, while leveraging opportunities to improve public perception and awareness of Boston Mutual Life’s innovation and business profile
• Collaborate with BML Executives in problem and opportunity identification and leveraging subject matter experts for Innovation Lab projects and experimentation

• Ensure communications occur within Boston Mutual regarding innovation opportunities, activities, and outcomes
• Be an effective communicator, with strong oral and visual presentation skills that convey clear appropriate messaging to the target audience.

Qualifications

Education:

• 4 Year / Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in functional leadership, cross-functional leadership, direct innovation or strategy development related roles
• 5 years of participating in business solution or innovation development projects
• Demonstrated experience leveraging Customer research and insights to develop business and product strategy
• Experience developing and leveraging Customer persona, customer journey mapping and other innovation and product design techniques to develop strategy and value assessment
• Self-driven, highly organized and very effective time management skills
• Be previously successful at building teams, processes and value-add deliverables
• Insurance or financial services industry experience in a delivery, service or innovation consulting role is a plus

Knowledge Requirements & Capabilities:

• Demonstrated experience at building teams, effectively select, coach develop and lead team members to achieve organizational and team goals.
• Demonstrated experience in launching programs, developing standards and creating processes or frameworks
• Demonstrated effective problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to identify customer needs, business opportunities and solution development proposals
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively build and extend relationships
• Experience developing presentations and other communication materials for use with senior level executives or all staff
• Ability to prioritize competing priorities and multi-task a variety of requests simultaneously in a fast-paced project management environment
• Strong verbal, written, and active listening skills
• Strong Microsoft Office skills
• Self-motivated with a proven track record in managing strategy and delivery
• Ability to work well under deadlines in a changing environment and perform multiple tasks effectively and concurrently
• Ability to manage relationships with both internal and external customers
• Knowledge in consulting basics and business analysis

Hybrid Work Model

At our Omaha location, employees will be working either Mondays & Tuesdays on site or Wednesdays & Thursdays on site due to limited space at this time.

At our Canton location, employees will be on site Monday - Thursday starting 5/1/23.

Boston Mutual is an equal opportunity employer. Boston Mutual is an equal opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, military service, veteran status, family status, pregnancy, or any other characteristic protected by federal or state laws. Boston Mutual is a drug-free workplace, and any offer extended will be contingent upon appropriate results of a drug test.