Accomplishes results primarily through management and/or experienced specialists who exercise significant latitude and independence. Provides strategic direction to one or more departments. Establishes operating policies and procedures that affect departments and subordinate sections, disciplines and work units. Interprets company-wide policies and procedures. Develops budgets, schedules, and department objectives and metrics derived from organizational objectives. Collaborate and interact frequently with internal and external key stakeholders and senior-level business partners concerning projects, operational decisions, scheduling requirements, and/or contractual clarifications. Leads briefings and technical meetings to support IT objectives.
At Thrivent, we are focused on a digital transformation that will deliver modern, innovative experiences for our clients, financial advisors, and employees. We are investing in data and technology, using DevOps practices, and building an engineering culture of empowered technical experts. Our technologists are involved in work that includes cloud native development, digital architecture and integration, automation, cloud data platforms, artificial intelligence, and machine learning as well as maximizing platforms such as ServiceNow, Microsoft Copilot and Genesys contact center solutions

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Manager, Engineering to lead our Technology Service Management Capabilities team (TSMC) within the Technology Contact Center department (TCC). The ideal candidate will have a strong background in service management tools and processes, data lake technologies and advanced analytics platforms, a passion for customer service, and the ability to drive engineering principles for TCC products and services.

         

          

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage the TSMC engineering team, providing direction, mentorship, and support to ensure the successful delivery of product outcomes.

·         Provide technical leadership and guidance to teams working within enterprise platforms and modern development tools, including but not limited to workflow automation (e.g., ServiceNow, RPA), backend development (e.g., Java, SQL), data lake technologies (e.g., Databricks), data analytics (e.g., Power BI) and version control systems (e.g., GitHub).

• Oversee the management and optimization of TCC omnichannel services, including IVR, virtual chat and self-service capabilities to support our business customers.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including IT, Information Security, and business stakeholders, to align TCC service initiatives with business objectives.

• Manage product budgets, resource allocation, and deliverables to ensure product outcomes are completed on time and within financial constraints.

• Foster strong, trust-based relationships with clients and stakeholders, enabling collaboration and shared understanding.

• Stay current with industry trends and best practices in TCC, contact centers, collaboration tools, AI and data analytics.

Designing Solutions

·         Review technical solution design and architecture and provide guidance and direction.

·         Take part in system design and architecture conversations with the team to land approaches to deliver solutions.

·         Review technical solution and supports the execution of the solution

·         Ensure solutions align with product vision and strategy

Developing Software

·         Has developed software.   Can read code and stays up to date on best practices.

·         Ensure code reviews are completed - Problem solving and analytical skills

Learning and applying new techniques

·         Promotes and empowers sharing ideas, best practices, etc. They need to make space so teams can take time for these activities.

·         Anticipates and analyzes trends in technology and assesses the impact of emerging technologies on the business

Collaborating within team

·         Supports the team agile practices and learning events / trainings

·         Helps break down barriers for the team

·         Engages in sprint demos; Understands the desired and actual outcomes as well as the technology delivered by the team

·         Partner with Product Manager on Initiatives/ Epics / Features and provides clarity on desired outcomes as well as technical expertise.

·         Collaborates with Product Manager for strategies, operating plans, targets and measures for product groups 

·         Creating a positive team environment where individuals have psychological safety and work collaboratively while understanding, respecting, challenging and appreciating each other’s ideas

Collaborating across teams

·         Supports and empowers teams to broker solutions across products

·         Understands how the product integrates with other products and ensures consistency in approach to work towards a common goal / outcome.

·         Builds strong working relationships with peers across teams

·         Proactively identifies cross team challenges and works to empower teams to solve collaboratively

Collaborating across the organization

·         Align your team with the priorities of the company and the technology organization for a given product area

Setting product/platform technology strategy

·         Participate in setting the product and platform technology vision, strategies, initiatives, roadmaps, objectives and alignments

·         Represents the business value of technology upgrades, etc. and influences prioritization in the product roadmap

·         Empowers the team to select the right tool and platforms for the given product area.

Defining Engineering standards/patterns

·         Collaborating with Engineers to ensure engineering practices and be an advocate to bring the engineering disciplines.

·         Promoting engineering practices and continuous improvement such as DevOps and observability

·         Contributes to the creation of enterprise frameworks and patterns

DevOps

·         Define and supports the development lifecycle processes

·         Supports the team and removes barriers to resolving production incidents/problems

·         DevOps continuously evaluated through observability, monitoring and alerting

·         Understands the health of technology products and promotes prioritization of work to maintain and continuously improve

·         Serve as an escalation point in product level support for ongoing maintenance and production issues 

Selecting & Managing Technology Vendors

·         Be an advocate to the team to define criteria for selecting the right platform/technology

·         Guides the team to build consensus on an approach and driving a build vs buy decision with the team. In a buy decision, works with the team to decide on criteria and vendor selection.

·         Execute or manage the overall technology solutions, platforms for the product groups and associated vendor relationships.

Coaching Engineers

·         Holding regular 1:1s with team members and team meeting

·         Provides constructive feedback, guidance and coaching to help engineers grow their skills and experience.

·         Provides career planning advice to engineers and creates development plans to help them achieve their career goals which leverages their skills and capabilities and provides them with learning opportunities.

Recruiting/building talent

·         Leads the process of selecting and engaging the right consulting partners

·         Planning in advance for future people needs for the product groups, collaborate with the other teams on the recruitment process

·         Recruits, develops, and sustains a high-performing team while promoting a culture of shared accountability, operational excellence, and partnership across the organization.

·         Models Thrivent’s leadership competencies – courage, collaboration, and commitment by demonstrating resiliency, working together to make the best decisions, and holding yourself and others accountable.  ​

·         Supports and/or develops an environment in which Thrivent employees and colleagues are focused on continuous improvement, exceptional employee engagement, and an unwavering commitment to our clients.  Shapes and/or supports a culture that represents the Thrivent purpose, promise and values, ensuring that Thrivent’s trust and reputation remain strong with its clients.  

·         Manage a team of direct and indirect staff 

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QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:  

 Required:

·         Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or other technical field or equivalent work experience 

·         8+ years of progressively responsible positions in Information Technology including 5+ years’ experience in IT discipline, e.g., customer relationship management, portfolio strategy and roadmap development. 

·         3+ years of leadership experience in all aspects with workflow automation (e.g., ServiceNow, RPA), backend development (e.g., Java, SQL), data analytics (e.g., Power BI) and version control systems (e.g., GitHub).3+ years’ management/supervisory experience in specific IT functional area discipline, e.g. applications development or equivalent skills leading major technical projects with accountability for enforcing talent management needs and performance standards. 

·         Demonstrated leadership and experience managing multidiscipline, high-performance work teams. 

·         Strong competency in agile methodologies and execution of product teams.

·         Experience working with customers to develop solutions to complex business problems. 

·         Proven ability to communicate effectively with internal/external stakeholders to support business initiatives. 

·         Proven ability to function in an environment which requires flexibility, good judgment and intelligent decision making, often based on limited information and/or extreme conditions. 

·         Ability to formulate, implement and evaluate plans, programs and procedures applicable to customer relationship and demand management. 

 Preferred: 

·         MBA 

·         Financial Services industry experience 

·         Experience in IT planning and business relationship management 

·         Experience working in a matrix management organization 

·         Experience with product development and management 

 

              

Pay Transparency

 

Thrivent’s long-term growth depends on attracting, rewarding, and retaining people who are committed to helping others thrive with purpose. We accomplish this by offering a wide variety of market competitive compensation programs to attract, reward, and retain top talent. The applicable salary or hourly wage range for this full-time role is $139,455.00 - $188,676.00 per year, which factors in various geographic regions. The base pay actually offered will be determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to, location, relevant experience, skills, and knowledge, business needs, market demand, and other factors Thrivent deems important.

 

Thrivent is unique in our commitment to helping people to be wise with money and live balanced and generous lives. That extends to our benefits.

 

The following benefits may be offered: various bonuses (including, for example, annual or long-term incentives); medical, dental, and vision insurance; health savings account; flexible spending account; 401k; pension; life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance; supplemental protection insurance; 20 days of Paid Time Off each year; Sick and Safe Time; 10 paid company holidays; Volunteer Time Off; paid parental leave; EAP; well-being benefits, and other employee benefits. Eligibility for receipt of these benefits is subject to the applicable plan/policy documents. Thrivent’s plans/policies are subject to change at any time at Thrivent’s discretion.

 

Thrivent provides Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, marital status, citizenship status, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable local, state, or federal law. This policy applies to all employees and job applicants.

Thrivent is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please let us know by sending an email to human.resources@thrivent.com or call 800-847-4836 and request Human Resources.