AVP Strategic Program Management

Symetra has an exciting opportunity to join our Retirement Sales team as an Assistant Vice President of Strategic Program Management !
About the role

The AVP, Strategic Program Management is a senior divisional leadership role responsible for driving the Retirement Division’s highest-priority and highest-visibility strategic initiatives from planning through execution and benefits realization. This role partners closely with Retirement executive leadership to translate divisional strategy into coordinated, measurable business outcomes.

The AVP leads a portfolio of complex, cross-functional initiatives that are highly visible to divisional leadership and may have significant business, financial, operational, partner, or reputational impact. Key areas of focus include business growth, Go-to-Market execution, distribution effectiveness, partner and advisor experience, AI enablement, operational excellence, and business transformation. Although the role is accountable for Retirement Division initiatives, successful execution requires close collaboration with senior leaders across Symetra , including Distribution, Product, Marketing, Technology, Operations, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Risk, and other shared functions.

Serving as a trusted advisor to divisional leadership, the AVP establishes program governance, drives organizational alignment, facilitates executive decision-making, and provides clear visibility into the progress, risks, financial impact, and business outcomes of critical initiatives. The role is expected to anticipate challenges, elevate issues requiring executive attention, and ensure high-profile programs maintain momentum and deliver measurable business value.
What you will do
Divisional Strategy and Executive Enablement

- Partner with senior leadership to translate divisional priorities into executable programs, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes.

- Support the identification, prioritization, and sequencing of strategic initiatives based on business value, organizational capacity, risk, and interdependencies.

- Facilitate divisional strategic planning, initiative roadmapping, executive working sessions, and governance forums.

- Provide recommendations to divisional leaders regarding priorities, investment decisions, resource constraints, risks, and execution alternatives.

- Develop executive presentations, business cases, strategic communications, and decision materials that support informed leadership action.

- Monitor progress against divisional objectives and recommend adjustments in response to changing business needs or performance.

- Establish and monitor ROI measures for the Division’s highest-priority programs, providing executive leadership with visibility into expected value, realized benefits, financial performance, and opportunities to improve program outcomes.

Strategic Portfolio and Program Leadership

- Lead a portfolio of the Division’s highest-priority strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with divisional objectives and broader company priorities.

- Establish program scope, objectives, governance, milestones, dependencies, resource requirements, success measures, and accountability.

- Direct multiple complex, cross-functional initiatives simultaneously from initial planning through implementation and benefits realization.

- Maintain an integrated view of initiative health, organizational capacity, dependencies, and competing priorities across the divisional portfolio.

- Recommend re-scoping, reprioritization, postponement, or cancellation when necessary to protect business value, financial performance, or organizational readiness.

- Serve as the primary escalation point for complex program issues requiring divisional leadership attention or decisions.

- Ensure programs are delivered within approved scope, schedule, budget, quality, and risk parameters.

Go-to-Market, Distribution, and Partner Experience

- Serve as a strategic program leader for Division Go-to-Market in