Director, PPMO-Underwriting & New Business

Job Description:

Providing for loved ones, planning rewarding retirements, saving enough for whatever lies ahead – our policyholders count on us to be there when it matters most. It’s a big ask, but it’s one that we have the power to deliver when we work together. We collaborate and innovate – pushing one another to transform not just Pacific Life, but the entire industry for the better. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. Pacific Life is more than a job, it’s a career with purpose. It’s a career where you have the support, balance, and resources to make a positive impact on the future – including your own.

Pacific Life is seeking a PPMO Director to support our Underwriting New Business for Life Transformation and business-as-usual functions.  The outcomes are focused on deploying modern technology workflow that is data driven and AI enabled to provide a single, end-to-end digitally enabled customer experience for our Consumer Markets Division (CMD). This is your opportunity to lead a team of direct reports focused on scalability-critical efforts at a top-tier life insurance and annuities company. You’ll collaborate with senior leaders in both business and technology to drive value delivery by executing with discipline.

This role will be located 4 days a week onsite in our Newport Beach, CA office. Relocation assistance may be provided.

How you’ll help move us forward:

Strategic Partnership & Leadership

· Operate within a “two-in-a-box” model, building trusted partnerships with both business and technology leaders.

· Provide strategy to execution path, ensuring alignment across all functions and business areas to drive seamless execution.

Dual Leadership Skillset: Technical & Business Delivery

· Leverage dual expertise in technical delivery and business program leadership.

· Demonstrate deep domain knowledge in financial services and cross-functional, matrix management.

Stakeholder Management & Influence

· Be a trusted and respected partner, aligning vision, priorities, and execution across diverse stakeholders.

· Lead and motivate cross-functional teams at all levels, without direct people management responsibilities.

· Key stakeholders include CMD Sr Leadership Team and Pacific Life Management Committee.

Accountability, Governance & Results Orientation

· Champion strong accountability across workstreams and stakeholders by ensuring commitments are met and outcomes are delivered with discipline and rigor.

· Implement structured governance to track progress, resolve issues, and escalate effectively.

Decision-Making & Problem-Solving Agility

· Synthesize complex inputs to enable fast, informed decisions—even in ambiguous situations and by addressing decision bottlenecks.

· Deliver transparent, data-driven insights to challenge assumptions and foster a culture of honesty and continuous improvement.

Program Planning & Execution Excellence

· Own and drive best-in-class planning practices throughout the delivery lifecycle, including establishing and maintaining clear roadmaps, milestones, supportability, and value delivery.

· Leverage hybrid ways of working (agile, product, project) for integrated planning, incremental delivery and continuous prioritization for allocation of resources and sequencing.

· Proactively identify risks and develop mitigation strategies to maintain program momentum.

Financial Stewardship & Value Realization

· Oversee financial aspects including cost-benefit analysis, capacity management, forecasting, and program KPI tracking.

· Drive financial stewardship, value realization, and continuous planning at every step.

Change Leadership & Innovation

· Lead change across people, processes, technology, and operating models.

· Foster a forward-thinking mindset, rapidly breaking stalemates and accelerating decision-making.

The experience you bring:

· Proven success leading large-scale transformation programs in life insurance, annuities, or financial services.

· Proven experience in the Life Insurance, Underwriting and New Business processing

· Technology fluency in AI-first design, data-driven decisioning, agentic business processing 

· Mastery of program management, business transformation, and technology delivery.

· Exceptional ability to navigate complexity, ambiguity, and cross-functional dynamics.

· Outstanding communication, stakeholder management, and execution focus.

· >20 years of experience. Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.

You can be who you are.

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