Lead, Major Incident & Problem Management

MetLif; Cary (NC); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

401(k) with company match

Parental leave

Paid time off

Tuition assistance

Job summary

MetLife is seeking a Lead, Major Incident & Problem Management based in Cary, NC, hybrid, to coordinate enterprise incidents, drive root cause analysis, and strengthen service resilience across technology services.

You will shape incident response practices, partner across IT domains, and influence executive communications while ensuring timely restoration and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in a related field with significant IT operations exposure.
• 8+ years in IT operations, service management, major incident or related tech ops roles.
• ITIL certification and track record of process improvements and governance.
• Strong ITIL-based incident/problem practices; experience with ServiceNow for workflow and reporting.
• Evidence of leadership, cross-functional coordination, and ability to influence in high-pressure environments.
• Excellent communication, executive presence, and collaboration skills to translate ops issues into business impact.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate enterprise major incident and problem management processes across technology teams.
• Lead end-to-end response for high-severity incidents, including triage, escalation, and restoration.
• Devise and improve incident management processes, governance, communications, and recovery activities.
• Facilitate war rooms and incident command with clear ownership and executive updates.
• Partner across infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, service management, vendors, and business teams to improve resolution and reduce repeats.
• Ensure alignment of incident activities with SLAs, regulatory requirements, and enterprise standards.
• Drive root cause analysis, post-incident reviews, and corrective actions for systemic issues.
• Develop dashboards and metrics to show incident performance and trends for leadership.
• Maintain major incident playbooks and tabletop exercises for preparedness.

Skills

Bachelor's degree

8+ years experience

ITIL certification

ServiceNow

Influential leadership

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

ServiceNow

Power BI

Job description

When you join MetLife’s Global Technology team, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking group dedicated to shaping the future of digital solutions for customers worldwide. You’ll develop, maintain and support technology applications and delivery, leveraging AI, automation, and contemporary ways of working to enhance experiences and drive business outcomes. Your work will simplify complex processes, improve tech resiliency, and ensure high-performing, seamless solutions that power life’s most important moments. In this dynamic environment, you’ll collaborate with talented peers across teams and functions, expanding your skills in impactful ways. Ready to push boundaries and set new industry standards? Join us and help drive the future of technology forward.

The Opportunity

The Lead, Major Incident & Problem Management is responsible for coordinating and driving MetLife's major incident and problem management processes, ensuring rapid service restoration, strong operational governance, and continuous improvement across critical technology services. Based in Cary, North Carolina, this role coordinates high-impact incidents, facilitates root cause analysis efforts, reduces repeat disruptions, and strengthens service resilience across the enterprise. Guided by our purpose, Always with you, building a more confident future, and our New Frontier strategy focused on stronger growth, attractive returns, and all-weather performance, this is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in protecting the stability of critical business services. The position offers the opportunity to shape incident response practices, influence operational excellence initiatives, and partner across infrastructure, application, cybersecurity, service management, and business teams to improve resiliency and customer outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate enterprise major incident and problem management processes, promoting accountability, urgency, and continuous improvement across technology teams.
• Lead and coordinate end-to-end response activities for high-severity incidents, including triage, mobilization of technical teams, escalation management, and service restoration activities.
• Support the development and continuous improvement of incident management processes, governance standards, communications, and recovery activities.
• Facilitate war rooms and incident command activities, ensuring clear ownership of actions, executive communications, and disciplined execution through restoration and recovery.
• Partner across infrastructure, applications, cybersecurity, service management, vendors, and business teams to improve issue resolution, reduce repeat incidents, and strengthen operational resilience.
• Ensure incident classification, prioritization, documentation, and workflow execution align with enterprise standards, SLAs, and regulatory requirements.
• Drive root cause analysis, post-incident reviews, and corrective action tracking to address systemic issues and improve service stability, monitoring, automation, and recovery readiness.
• Develop reporting, dashboards, and metrics that provide visibility into incident performance, recurring issue trends, and opportunities for operational improvement.
• Maintain major incident playbooks, readiness reviews, and tabletop exercises to ensure teams are prepared to respond effectively in mission-critical environments.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, with significant experience supporting and coordinating major incident, problem, or IT service management activities in a complex enterprise environment.
• 8+ years of experience in IT operations, service management, major incident management, problem management, service restoration, or related technology operations role.
• ITIL certification and experience implementing process improvements, governance controls, or automation to enhance service stability and response effectiveness.
• Strong knowledge of ITIL-based incident and problem management practices, with experience using service management platforms such as ServiceNow to drive workflow discipline, governance, and reporting.
• Demonstrated leadership experience influencing cross-functional teams, coordinating stakeholder activities, and driving outcomes in high-pressure operational environments.
• Excellent communication, executive presence, and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders, lead crisis communications, and translate operational issues into clear business impact.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leveraging AI-powered tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Claude, or similar technologies to improve operational effectiveness, automate routine tasks, enhance communications, accelerate root cause analysis, and support data-driven decision‑making.
• Experience developing and utilizing Power BI dashboards and reporting solutions to monitor incident and problem management performance, identify SLA risks and breaches, track operational trends, support executive reporting, and drive continuous service improvement.
• Experience working in a global, highly matrixed organization with the ability to coordinate across time zones, vendors, and multiple technology domains.
• Background in financial services, insurance, or other highly regulated industries with a strong appreciation for risk, resilience, and control requirements.

Location Expectation: This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office.

The expected salary range for this position is $100,000 - $155,000. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

Benefits We Offer

Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no‑cost short‑and long‑term disability. We also provide company‑paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more! For more information regarding MetLife’s U.S. benefits, please click here .

About MetLife

Recognizedon Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies",Fortune World’s 25 Best Workplaces, as well as the Fortune 100 Best Companiesto Work For®, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of theworld’s leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities,employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutionalcustomers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positionsin the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

As part of our New Frontier strategy, MetLife is building an AI-enabled, people‑centered future. We’re looking for people who bring curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we use AI to enhance how we serve customers, support communities, and evolve the way work gets done. At MetLife, AI is a responsible partner that supports human judgment, creativity, and continuous improvement while helping us build trust, inclusion, and long‑term value.

Our purposeis simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world atlarge create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our corevalues - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, andThink Ahead - we’re inspired to transform the next century in financialservices. At MetLife, it’s #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!

MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions are made without regards to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status (although applicants and employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States), uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law (“protected characteristics”). If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [e-mail]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process. MetLife maintains a drug‑free workplace.

This posting is for a current vacancy and is anticipated to remain open for at least 90 days from the listed posting date.