Project Manager - Product and Underwriting Initiatives

At Banner Life Insurance Company, we lead with heart and ambition. Every day, we transform purpose into progress, guided by our unwavering commitment to be better for our customers, clients, and communities, not just today but long-term as well. Our people are the driving force behind everything we achieve. Their passion, purpose, and pursuit of innovation empower us to deliver cutting-edge solutions that support those we serve, ensuring we are here for you, here for good and striving for better.

We're a forward-thinking company energized by our work and how we show up for one another. Our culture is built on meaningful impact and genuine enjoyment, because we believe great work and great experiences should go hand in hand.

By offering career development opportunities, comprehensive benefits, and programs that support your wellbeing, we help you thrive personally and professionally. We are here for you, here for good and here for better.

The Project Manager - Life Insurance Product & Underwriting Initiatives is responsible for leading large-scale product and underwriting initiatives, managing cross functional project teams and coordinating with stakeholders across the business.

This role partners closely with the Head of Product Management to execute product strategy across the full product lifecycle, including new product launches, enhancements, pricing changes, and in-force updates. The Project Manager also leads and supports life insurance underwriting initiatives that enable underwriting innovation, product outcomes, ensuring underwriting rules, evidence requirements, and workflows are aligned with product design, risk appetite, and distribution needs.

The role is highly execution-focused, operating within an agile or hybrid delivery environment to drive disciplined, on-time delivery across underwriting, actuarial, operations, IT, compliance, and distribution.

Product Implementation

Own and manage end-to-end execution of life insurance product initiatives, including term, final expense, and permanent products.
• Maintain overall accountability for execution of product and pricing initiatives, ensuring delivery aligns with approved scope, timelines, and success criteria.
• Manage project execution and risk for all phases of the project from concept development, kick-off, scope and requirements gathering, final design, implementation, testing, training, and launch.
• Ensure product initiatives align with product & distribution strategy, operational capabilities, and regulatory requirements.

Underwriting Project Management

• Lead and support underwriting initiatives that drive underwriting innovation and product changes, including underwriting rules, evidence requirements, and workflow enhancements.
• Ensure underwriting changes are appropriately sequenced and integrated into broader product delivery plans.
• Coordinate underwriting impacts across actuarial, operations, IT, compliance, and distribution.

Project Execution & Delivery Management

• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, milestones, dependencies, resource needs, and delivery artifacts.
• Drive execution against scope, schedule, and quality expectations while proactively managing risks and issues.
• Use Agile and delivery metrics to drive execution, identify bottlenecks, and improve outcomes.
• Ensure delivery discipline, accountability, and clear ownership across all workstreams, ensuring teams remain aligned, informed, and on track.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Coordinate across Product, Underwriting, Actuarial, Operations, IT, Legal/Compliance and Distribution teams.
• Facilitate project ceremonies including project kickoffs, working sessions, status updates, readiness reviews, and go-live approvals.

Risk, Change, and Dependency Management

• Identify and manage delivery risks related to product, underwriting rules, pricing impacts, regulatory constraints, and operational readiness.
• Manage scope and requirement changes through disciplined change control processes.

Stakeholder Communication & Reporting

• Provide clear, concise delivery reporting to SLT members, product leadership, and key stakeholders.
• Translate complex life insurance and delivery concepts into actionable insights

Education

• Bachelor's degree in business, Finance, or related field
• MBA preferred

Experience / Knowledge

• 5+ years of experience in project management or product implementation within life insurance
• Proven experience delivering projects in an agile or hybrid delivery environment
• Proficient understanding of life insurance product lifecycle and underwriting concepts
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to lead large-scale project team
• High energy, positive can-do attitude and collaborative nature
• Critical thinking skills and attention to detail.

Certifications

• PMP certification strongly preferred
• Agile certification (CSM, SAFe, PMI-ACP, or similar) strongly preferred
• Life Office Management Association (LOMA) designation preferred

Skills / Attributes

• Proven ability to manage complex, cross-functional initiatives
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and results-driven
• Ability to balance speed, risk, and quality; ability to adapt in rapidly changing environment
• Experience using JIRA, Confluence, and other project management tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; both internal and client facing.

What's in it for you?

The expected hiring compensation range for this position is $107,800 - $148,200 annually. This is a remote opportunity working on EST.

The total compensation package for this position may include other elements, such as a sign-on bonus, long term incentives, and annual bonuses. This role is eligible to participate in the Annual Incentive Plan. The current target payment for the position is 20% of base salary, modified for corporate and individual performance. Bonuses are pro-rated based on start date. This role has 20 vacation days and 10 sick days that are accrued on a bi-weekly basis. Employees also have 9 paid holidays throughout the calendar year.

We have a competitive compensation and benefits package focused on your overall wellbeing. Employee benefits include health, life, and dental insurance; 401K with company match up to 6% as well as a pension package; generous time off; and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year (we like doing fun stuff). We're big on professional development and we'll support and mentor you in your career progression and expect you to help us pay it forward by helping us develop tomorrow's leaders and growth-focused professionals. We value our teams and our communities and believe in giving back. Enjoy time off to volunteer for those causes that matter most to you!

If hired, employee will be in an "at-will position" and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors. The Company reserves the right to change benefits plans at any time.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.