Technology Contact Center Engineering Manager

Thrivent is focused on a digital transformation that will deliver modern, innovative experiences for their clients, financial advisors, and employees. They are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Manager, Engineering to lead their Technology Service Management Capabilities team within the Technology Contact Center department, focusing on service management tools and processes, data lake technologies, and advanced analytics platforms.

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
• 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
• Has developed software. Can read code and stays up to date on best practices
• Ensure code reviews are completed - Problem solving and analytical skills
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Align your team with the priorities of the company and the technology organization for a given product area
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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

Requirements:

• 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
• 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