AVP, Benefitfocus Technology

ALA Voya Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company; Charleston (SC); On-site; USD 260,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

Voya Financial, Inc. is seeking a technology executive to reshape how people experience benefits administration.

This leader will set the direction for platforms supporting enrollment, eligibility, and client experiences, modernizing with AI and expanding digital self-service while protecting critical business cycles. The role leads a globally distributed technology organization across the United States and India, turning a complex portfolio into a connected, scalable platform.

Qualifications

• Over 10 years of progressive technology leadership experience.
• Experience leading a software/SaaS/digital platform organization where software and digital experiences are central to the customer proposition.
• Proven track record of digital transformation and platform modernization, including separating tightly coupled applications and improving delivery speed.
• Executive presence to explain technology choices in plain language to senior leaders and clients.
• Experience leading leaders and globally distributed technology teams, with clear outcomes and accountability.
• Demonstrated experience applying AI, generative AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation within products or platforms.

Responsibilities

• Set technology strategy and modernization direction.
• Define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap aligned to business priorities and client needs.
• Lead engineering delivery and platform operations across a distributed organization.
• Oversee integration ecosystems including data inputs, enrollment, and payroll processing at scale.
• Drive service reliability, risk management, and reduction of technical debt.
• Lead through influence and build relationships with senior executives and partners.

Skills

Technology leadership

Digital transformation

Platform modernization

API-first integration

Executive communication

Leading distributed teams

AI within products

Build, buy, partner decisions

Job description

Together we fight for everyone’s opportunity for a better financial future. We will do this together — with customers, partners and colleagues. We will fight for others, not against: We will stand up for and champion everyone’s access to opportunities. The status quo is not good enough … we believe every individual and every community deserves access to financial opportunities. We are determined to support both individuals and communities in reaching a better financial future. We know that reaching this future depends on our actions today. Like our Purpose Statement, Voya believes in being bold and committed to action. We are committed to a work environment where the differences that we are born with — and those we acquire throughout our lives — are understood, valued and intentionally pursued. We believe that our employees own our culture and have a responsibility to foster an environment where we all feel comfortable bringing our whole selves to work. Purposefully bringing our differences together to positively influence our culture, serve our clients and enrich our communities is essential to our vision.

Are you ready to join a company with a strong purpose and a winning culture? Start your Voyage – About the Role Voya is seeking a technology executive to reshape how people experience benefits administration.

About the Role

This leader will set the direction for the platforms that support enrollment, eligibility, carrier connectivity, and the client, broker, and member experience. The mandate is practical and ambitious: simplify complex journeys, expand digital self‑service, and use AI where it matters most. The opportunity is to connect benefits administration to the broader health and wealth story at Voya, empowering employees to take control of themselves and their families. The challenge is to modernize the platform without disrupting clients or critical business cycles. This is a manager‑of‑managers role leading a globally distributed technology organization across the United States and India. The work sits at the intersection of software, service, data, and customer experience. The successful candidate will know how to turn a complex application portfolio into a more connected, scalable, and intuitive platform, while building confidence with executives, clients, and delivery teams.

What You Will Do

• Set technology strategy and modernization direction


• Define and execute a multi‑year technology vision and roadmap aligned to business priorities, client needs, and investment capacity.


• Assess the existing portfolio, establish modernization priorities, and guide teams through legacy‑platform transformation without destabilizing the client base.


• Advance cleaner separation between digital experiences and back‑end record‑keeping systems while improving API enablement, interoperability, and speed to market.


• Make and defend build, buy, and partner recommendations, and translate technology tradeoffs into clear executive decisions.


• Guide a portfolio spanning multiple major platform areas and a broad application landscape with a mix of legacy, modern, and retiring systems.


• Advance AI and automation


• Champion practical AI opportunities across customer experiences, operations, service, and engineering productivity.


• Partner with Digital, Data & AI, Product, Legal, Risk, and other stakeholders to evaluate customer‑facing AI experiences and associated contractual or governance considerations.


• Use AI and automation to improve implementation, data quality, exception handling, testing, code modernization, and legacy‑system comprehension.


• Explain AI opportunities, limitations, and investment priorities credibly to business leaders, clients, and delivery teams.


• Lead engineering delivery and platform operations


• Provide strategic direction for annual enrollment readiness, capacity planning, performance, cutover, and peak execution.


• Oversee the integration ecosystem, including HCM and payroll inputs, enrollment and eligibility processing, carrier connectivity, and file transmission at scale.


• Drive service reliability, incident and problem management, technical debt reduction, and an appropriate control posture for a regulated environment.


• Hold leaders accountable for delivery outcomes while empowering teams to manage day‑to‑day execution.


• Lead through influence


• Build trusted relationships with senior executives, Employee Benefits leaders, Product, Digital, Data & AI, infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity, clients, and distribution partners.


• Communicate technology strategy and difficult decisions with clarity, including in high‑stakes client or partner situations.


• Operate effectively in a matrixed organization where outcomes depend on collaboration and influence as much as direct authority.


• Lead, assess, and develop a distributed team across U.S. locations, Voya India, and contractor partners; strengthen leadership capability, talent strategy, and succession.

What You Will Bring

Required leadership capabilities

• 10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience for AVP consideration; 12+ years, including experience leading leaders, for VP consideration.


• Experience leading a significant software, SaaS, digital platform, fintech, HR technology, insurance technology, or technology‑enabled services organization where software and digital experiences are central to the customer proposition.


• A track record of digital transformation and platform modernization that goes beyond moving systems to the cloud: breaking apart tightly coupled applications, introducing API‑first and event‑driven integration patterns, reducing technical debt, retiring redundant systems, and improving delivery speed without destabilizing clients or operations.


• Executive presence and communication maturity to explain technology choices in plain language, challenge assumptions constructively, and build alignment with senior leaders, business partners, clients, and delivery organizations.


• Experience leading leaders and globally distributed technology teams, setting clear outcomes and accountability while allowing engineering, product, architecture, and operations leaders to own execution.


• Sound product and investment judgment: the ability to decide what to build, buy, partner on, simplify, or retire, and to connect those choices to customer adoption, service quality, engineering productivity, risk, and growth.


• Demonstrated experience applying AI, generative AI, machine learning, and intelligent automation within products or platforms, such as guided self‑service, personalization, document and data intelligence, exception handling, software development, testing, or legacy‑code comprehension. We are looking for practical