AVP, Application Development

BITCO Corporation, headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, is seeking an AVP, Application Development to join our team. With 11 branch offices in 10 states, BITCO provides quality insurance services to special industries including Construction, Forest Products, and Oil & Gas.

 

Position Summary:

The AVP, Application Development will lead the development team vision and technical strategies/standards across all business enterprise class applications, practical implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Workforce (RPA), and new product/innovation. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker with deep technical expertise who will champion the implementation of a microservices model, robust integration layer, enabling multiple core systems to deliver seamless, modern experiences for our employees, agents, and policyholders. This role is central to the Company's strategy, bridging the gap between current business application portfolio and emerging tech and practical, scalable business applications. This role will be responsible for leading technical roadmaps, mentoring development talent, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality, current, and modern software solutions providing a competitive edge.  This role acts in complete partnership and coordinates closely with Enterprise Architecture (EA), Business Solutions (BS), Digital Solutions (DS), and Data Services (DSS) leaders. 

 

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute the long-term strategy for migrating applications from legacy systems to a modern, composable, and cloud-native architecture.
• In partnership with Enterprise Architecture and Business Solutions, help define the technical vision and application development roadmap, with a strong focus on evaluating/incorporating new architectures and emerging technologies and processes. Architect and oversee the implementation of a robust, API-first enterprise integration layer to unify data and functionality across disparate core systems.
• Champion best practices for managing technical debt, ensuring new development enhances system agility and long-term maintainability.
• Establish and enforce high standards for in-house and partner sourced software engineering, including code quality, security (DevSecOps), CI/CD, release automation, and performance.
• In coordination with IT leadership, develop and implement the department's strategic vision, long-term goals, and objectives to enable company's business while supplying expertise and guidance to development managers.
• Lead the strategy for implementing and maturing our Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities, identifying opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce operational costs.
• Collaborate closely with the established AI Committee to align enterprise strategy, governance, and priorities.
• Drive the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by identifying high-value use cases and leading initiatives from proof-of-concept to production.
• Lead a development team by establishing and fostering a culture of accountable delivery, high performance, experimentation, and continuous learning across multiple disciplines, ensuring the quality, quantity, and timeliness of work to meet project and business goals and milestones.
• Work closely with Sr. Manager and Supervisors in developing, monitoring, and maintaining departmental metrics, guidelines, and workflows; lead, mentor, and grow our Development and Quality Assurance (QA) teams, fostering a culture of innovation, teamwork/collaboration, and accountability.
• Provides clear verbal and written communication to department and IT management regarding team assignments and ongoing projects.
• In partnership with EA, manage the design, development, and implementation of complex enterprise applications utilizing microservices-based architecture, ensuring services are independently deployable, reusable, and highly resilient.
• In partnership with EA and Business Solutions, function as primary technology partner for initiatives focused on improving digital experience for both insurance agents and policyholders.
• Develop and review budgets and ensure they comply with stated goals, guidelines, and objectives in partnership with Data Services Solutions, establish and manage the standards for API design (REST, GraphQL), development, and documentation, promoting consistency and reusability across the organization.