Vice President - Architecture & Enterprise Platforms

Company Description

Why Wellmark: We are a mutual insurance company owned by our policy holders across Iowa and South Dakota, and we’ve built our reputation on over 80 years’ worth of trust. We are not motivated by profits. We are motivated by the well-being of our friends, family, and neighbors–our members. If you’re passionate about joining an organization working hard to put its members first, to provide best-in-class service, and one that is committed to sustainability and innovation, consider applying today! 

Why Wellmark Technology? Wellmark is building innovative, modern solutions using cutting edge technology. We are driving organizational transformation and business strategy by empowering our technology team to innovate new and elegant solutions to enhance the customer experience. Together, we are leaning into the future, owning the outcome, and driving organizational change to transform how we work. 

Job Description

In this enterprise technology leadership role, you will be responsible for defining and executing the strategy for enterprise technology platform services, architecture, cloud, data, AI adoption, AI foundation, and engineering standards that enable Wellmark to move faster, scale smarter, and deliver greater business value. You will establish reusable capabilities, modern engineering standards, automation, and a product mindset across platform services; simplify and standardize the technology landscape; and accelerate secure, governed AI adoption from experimentation through value realization. In partnership with the CIO, technology partners, security, operations, and executive leaders, this position will align investments, break down silos, and balance innovation, risk, cost, resiliency, and scale. Success will be measured through platform adoption as well as reuse, delivery speed, reliability, stakeholder satisfaction, cost efficiency, and business outcomes. 

Process Note: Wellmark has engaged Heidrick & Struggles to support this search effort. Your interest will be shared with them at the beginning of this process. 

Qualifications

Required:  

• Bachelor’s degree in technology, business administration, or related field or equivalent work experience  
• 10+ years of progressive experience aligning enterprise technology, platform, architecture, cloud, data, AI, or engineering strategy with business objectives, including 5+ years of senior leadership experience in a complex enterprise. 
• Demonstrated success building, scaling, or modernizing shared enterprise platforms and engineering capabilities that improve reuse, adoption, delivery speed, reliability, security, cost efficiency, and business outcomes.  
• Deep engineering and architecture credibility combined with strong business and financial acumen; able to translate complex technology choices into clear investment decisions, trade-offs, and enterprise value.  
• Experience leading engineering excellence through automation, DevSecOps, secure software delivery, observability, reliability, quality engineering, and reusable standards, patterns, or platform services. 
• Experience enabling secure and governed enterprise data and AI capabilities, including moving use cases from experimentation toward scalable adoption and measurable value. 
• Proven ability to lead enterprise transformation, simplify complex technology landscapes, establish common capabilities, and influence executives and peers across organizational boundaries. 
• Effectively leads within a product operating model, sets clear objectives and accountability, and uses data and outcome measures to guide priorities, adoption, performance, and continuous improvement. 
• Demonstrated success developing high-performing leaders and global or distributed teams through coaching, succession planning, clear expectations, and empowerment. 
• Executive presence and communication skills, including the ability to build consensus, advise executive management, and present complex strategies and recommendations to senior and board-level audiences. 

Preferred:  

• Master of Business Administration (MBA). 

Additional Information

• Strategy - In partnership with the CIO and senior leaders, define and execute the enterprise platforms, architecture, and engineering strategy and multi-year roadmap aligned with corporate priorities. Establish investment priorities, operating plans, financial and vendor management, governance, metrics, and accountability for measurable business outcomes. 
• Enterprise Leadership - Serve as an enterprise technology leader and trusted advisor who connects business strategy with platform and engineering execution. Influence peers and business executives, drive alignment across business technology, security, operations, data, and product teams, and position shared platforms as a catalyst for growth, innovation, and efficiency. 
• Team Leadership - Build and lead a high-performing organization of leaders and technical professionals. Establish clear accountability, develop succession and leadership capability, coach and mentor talent, and create an environment that empowers teams rather than creating dependencies. 
• Provide leadership and day-to-day management of financial and human resources, primarily focusing on employee and leader coaching and mentoring, development, performance management and improvement, coordination and budgeting for staff, and department(s) specific functions/services. 
• Enterprise Platforms - Own the strategy, roadmap, delivery, and lifecycle of enterprise cloud, data, AI, engineering standards, integration and API, digital workforce enablement, analytics, and engineering platform services. Build once and scale everywhere by creating secure, resilient, reusable capabilities that eliminate duplication and accelerate delivery across the organization. 
• Platform Product Management - Manage enterprise platforms as products with defined customers, roadmaps, service levels, funding models, and value measures. Use adoption, reuse, satisfaction, delivery speed, reliability, cost efficiency, and business outcomes to prioritize investments and continuously improve the platform experience. 
• Architecture and Simplification - Own enterprise and reference architecture, standards, patterns, and governance. Rationalize technology assets, reduce unnecessary variation and technical debt, streamline platforms, and simplify the technology landscape while balancing change, strategic risk, operational risk, cost, and scale. 
• Engineering Excellence - Establish and advance modern engineering disciplines, including automation, DevSecOps, infrastructure as code, continuous integration and delivery, quality engineering, observability, reliability, secure-by-design practices, and developer enablement. Improve speed, quality, resiliency, and productivity through consistent standards, reusable patterns, tools, and communities of practice. 
• Enterprise Data and AI Enablement - Lead the foundation for AI at enterprise scale by establishing secure, governed, reliable, and reusable data and AI platforms, services, standards, and guardrails. Partner across the organization to accelerate responsible AI adoption and move priority use cases from experimentation to measurable value realization. 
• Transformation and Adoption - Lead enterprise transformation, not only ongoing operations. Break down silos, create shared accountability for reusable technology investments, and drive adoption through clear roadmaps, change leadership, enablement, documentation, and transparent measures of progress and value. 
• Operational Excellence and Risk - Ensure enterprise platforms and engineering services meet expectations for availability, performance, security, privacy, regulatory compliance, disaster recovery, and cost effectiveness. Establish transparent governance and performance management that enables timely decisions and proactive risk mitigation. 
• Technology Foresight - Monitor technology, industry, and competitor developments; assess their business, economic, security, and operating implications; and translate relevant opportunities into pragmatic recommendations, experiments, and investment choices. 
• Employee Experience and Workforce Technology – Champion an employee-centered approach to technology by bringing a deep understanding of workforce experience into platform strategy, design, and delivery. Ensure workforce cloud technologies and digital workplace capabilities enable productive, intuitive, and engaging experiences for employees and leaders, while balancing usability, security, scalability, and business outcomes. 
• Organizational Inspiration and Visibility – Serve as a visible, influential technology leader who inspires confidence, innovation, and continuous learning across the organization. Communicate a compelling vision for technology, build trust through authentic engagement, represent the technology organization with executive presence, and foster a culture that encourages collaboration, accountability, and excellence. 
• Other duties as assigned.  

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

This job requires a non-compete agreement.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

The policy of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is to recruit, hire, train and promote individuals in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability at any stage of the employment application process should contact us at careers@wellmark.com

Please inform us if you meet the definition of a "Covered DoD official".

At this time, Wellmark is not considering applicants for this position that require any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please refer to the following resources:Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants 

Wellmark supports and expects the responsible use of AI for our workforce! We welcome the responsible use of these tools by job seekers as well and are interested in learning from you; you will have an opportunity in the application process to share which tools you used and how you applied them.