Corporate Vice President - Enterprise Release Governance and Coordination

Location Designation:  Hybrid - 3 days per week

Technology, Data, AI and Ventures:

Within the Tech, Data, AI, Ventures (TDAV) organization, our work is guided by a shared vision: deploying the power of technology, data, AI and ventures to accelerate sustainable competitive advantage for New York Life's businesses. We build solutions that power how we serve policy owners, agents, advisors and employees while delivering measurable business outcomes.

Across technology, data, AI, cyber, product, digital experience, architecture and infrastructure, TDAV combines the scale and investment of an industry leader, access to leading-edge technologies and the opportunity to help shape how a world-class financial services company competes in the AI era - all backed by the stability and purpose of a mutual company built to last.

Role Overview

New York Life is seeking an experienced technology leader to govern and coordinate the Enterprise Release Calendar across Agent and Field Technology and related enterprise dependencies. The role establishes release guardrails, orchestrates cross-value-stream planning, identifies aggregate technology and business risk, and ensures leaders have the evidence required to make informed release-readiness decisions.

This is a governance and orchestration role. The leader works across application delivery, Quality Engineering, ServiceNow Change Management, the Change Advisory Board (CAB), Cybersecurity, infrastructure, Data, business partners, and Agency communications. Delivery and technology teams remain accountable for implementation, technical validation, and recovery execution.

The successful candidate will combine enterprise governance, program leadership, and sufficient technical depth to challenge assumptions, evaluate cross-system impact, and translate complex release risks and tradeoffs into clear executive decisions.

What You'll Do

- Own the governance and operating rhythm of the Enterprise Release Calendar across Foundational Business Value Streams, Data, Cybersecurity, infrastructure, and enterprise technology services. Emergency changes remain governed through the established emergency-change process.
- Lead enterprise release planning, cross-value-stream dependency management, readiness governance, and risk coordination across multiple delivery organizations.
- Establish and maintain enterprise release guardrails, readiness criteria, go/no-go decision practices, and risk-assessment standards.
- Evaluate blast radius, enterprise dependencies, operational risk, and potential impact to Agents, Field users, customers, and shared business capabilities.
- Challenge incomplete assumptions and require clear evidence covering testing, implementation readiness, conflict management, technical validation, communications, and recovery plans.
- Partner with Quality Engineering and delivery teams to define required readiness evidence and confirm that regression, performance, integration, business-process, and recovery results are available before release decisions.
- Partner with ServiceNow Change Management and CAB while maintaining clear functional boundaries: Change Management governs individual change-record compliance and authorization; Release Governance coordinates the enterprise calendar, aggregate risk, cross-system dependencies, exception discipline, and business-impact visibility.
- Govern out-of-window release requests and ensure exceptions include a clear business rationale, dependency analysis, risk assessment, and accountable approval.
- Maintain clear classifications and decision paths for standard releases, standing exceptions, emergency changes, and true exceptions.
- Escalate unsupported exceptions, unresolved dependencies, material readiness gaps, or unacceptable enterprise risk to the appropriate decision-makers.
- Ensure Agent and Field experience, business readiness, training readiness, operational preparedness, and communication needs are considered within release planning.
- Provide executives with concise, evidence-based visibility into release readiness, risk posture, dependencies, exceptions, and business impact.
- Connect release outcomes to change-related incidents, rollbacks, post-release defects, stabilization time, and problem-management follow-through to identify systemic quality gaps.
- Drive continuous improvement in release predictability, resilience, calendar adherence, and organizational accountability while preserving responsible delivery speed.
- Build and mature an enterprise release-governance capability aligned to New York Life’s operating model.

Success Measures | What Success Looks Like

- Consistent adherence to the Enterprise Release Calendar, with fewer late submissions, avoidable deferrals, and unsupported out-of-window changes.
- More releases entering decision forums with complete readiness, dependency, testing, validation, communication, and recovery evidence.
- Measurable reduction in release-related production incidents, rollbacks, emergency changes, and recurring post-release defects affecting Agents and the Field.
- Improved release predictability, demonstrated through faster stabilization and fewer long-tail operational issues attributable to releases.
- Earlier identification and resolution of cross-system dependencies, scheduling conflicts, and aggregate enterprise risk.
- Clear executive visibility into readiness, exceptions, risk posture, dependencies, and business impact ahead of go/no-go decisions.
- Effective partnership with ServiceNow Change Management and CAB, supporting smoother approvals, stronger controls, and audit readiness.
- Increased confidence among Agent, Business, and Technology leaders in the transparency and discipline of the release process.
- Demonstrated follow-through from release-related issues to problem management, accountable remediation, and verified reduction in recurring incidents.

What You'll Bring

- 8+ years of experience in technology delivery, enterprise release governance, technology risk, or enterprise program leadership within a complex organization.
- 5+ years in senior leadership roles within a regulated enterprise; financial services or insurance experience is preferred.
- Demonstrated experience establishing or operating calendar-based enterprise release models across multiple technology organizations.
- Strong knowledge of ITIL Change Enablement and Release Management practices, ServiceNow Change, CAB governance, and enterprise control environments.
- Working knowledge of enterprise applications, infrastructure, Cybersecurity, patching, certificates, identity and access, networks, middleware, cloud platforms, Data, and third-party technology dependencies.
- Demonstrated ability to assess how application, infrastructure, or Cybersecurity changes may affect shared capabilities and broader enterprise business processes.
- Ability to challenge technical assumptions constructively, recognize incomplete risk narratives, and ask the questions required for evidence-based decisions.
- Strong enterprise program-management skills, including dependency orchestration, stakeholder alignment, decision facilitation, and executive escalation.
- Proven ability to communicate complex technology risk, business impact, and tradeoffs to senior executives with clarity and precision.
- Experience working across Agent- or Field-facing technology domains is strongly preferred.

Job Level: LEVELPF5

Pay Transparency

Salary Range: $147,500-$211,000

Overtime eligible: Exempt

Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes

Sales bonus eligible: No

Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual’s experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.

Company Overview

At New York Life, our 180-year legacy of purpose and integrity fuels our future. As we evolve into a more technology-, data-, and AI-enabled organization, we remain grounded in the values that drive lasting impact.

Our diverse business portfolio creates opportunities to make a difference across industries and communities—inviting bold thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and purpose-driven innovation. Here, you’ll find the rare balance of long-standing stability and forward momentum, supported by an inclusive team that honors tradition while embracing progress.

As a Fortune 100 mutual company, we offer a place to grow your skills, contribute to meaningful work, and deliver solutions that matter. Your ideas drive what’s next, and your growth powers it.

Our Benefits

We provide a full package of benefits for employees – and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so that you can flourish both inside and outside of work. Click here to discover more about our comprehensive benefit options or visit our NYL Benefits Site .

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities.  Click here to learn more about New York Life’s leadership in this space.​

Recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by the  Foundation . We're proud that due to our mutuality, we operate in the best interests of our policy owners. To learn more about career opportunities at New York Life, please visit the Careers page of www.NewYorkLife.com .

Job Requisition ID: 95347