Head of IT Portfolio & Service Management

Head Of It Portfolio & Service Management

Starr Insurance Companies is a leading insurance and investment organization, providing commercial property and casualty insurance, including travel and accident coverage, to almost every imaginable business and industry in virtually every part of the world. Cornelius Vander Starr established his first insurance company in Shanghai, China in 1919. Today, we are one of the world's fastest growing insurance organizations, capable of writing in 128 countries on 6 continents.

The Head of IT Portfolio & Service Management is a senior leadership role responsible for architecting and leading the enterprise functions of IT Portfolio Management, Finance, and IT Service Management within Starr's global technology organization. Entrusted with building a cohesive, enterprise-wide view of all technology investments, initiatives, and service performance, this role ensures that IT programs, projects, business-as-usual (BAU) activities, and operational services running across our insurance business are strategically aligned, governed, and executed to create maximum value.

This position partners directly with Technology, Business, Finance and Operational leaders to drive standardization and best practices to foster accountability, consistency, and scalability across the global IT landscape. The Head of IT Portfolio & Service Management establishes robust frameworks, rigorous governance, and best-in-class tooling to deliver end-to-end visibility and performance tracking for IT investments and services.

The ideal candidate brings significant senior experience in the insurance industry, combined with an expert-level understanding of IT portfolio, financial, and service management practices. This leader plays a key role in building a function that ensures operational excellence, disciplined financial stewardship, IT risk containment, and sustainable business / technology alignment.

Responsibilities :

• Strategy, Roadmapping & Alignment
• Collaborate with technology and business leaders to develop and continuously iterate the organization's strategic IT roadmap, ensuring alignment with insurance business goals and regulatory obligations.
• Facilitate the development and execution of annual IT budgets, investment plans, and a rolling 5-year technology blueprint to guide and govern portfolio management.
• Translate business objectives into actionable investment artifacts and targeted portfolio performance indicators.
• Standardization & Best Practices
• Lead the adoption of standardized agile delivery methodologies, lean processes, and best practices across the global IT organization.
• Drive initiatives to establish a unified, objective way to measure productivity and deliverables across all IT towers and teams (Delivery, Infrastructure, Security, Operations).
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement and process excellence.
• Portfolio & Service Management Framework
• Develop and implement an integrated IT portfolio and IT Service Management (ITSM) framework to provide real-time, end-to-end visibility into technology initiatives, programs, investments, and IT service management outcomes.
• Ensure frameworks deliver clarity at all lifecycle stages : intake, prioritization, execution, monitoring, escalation, and closure.
• Governance, Oversight, & Risk Management
• Establish and operate robust governance processes governing intake, prioritization, resource allocation, delivery risk, and value realization for all IT investments and services.
• Continuously track executionincluding schedule, quality, scope, and costacross all IT towers; escalate issues, conduct deep-dives, and drive timely resolutions.
• Oversee risk management, audit preparedness, and compliance initiatives for IT programs and services, including service incidents, change management, disaster recovery, and controls inventory / testing.
• Tooling, Automation & Reporting
• Own the selection, deployment, and evolution of portfolio management and ITSM tools / platforms to support automation, data integrity, and real-time tracking across global operations.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and reporting infrastructure to monitor project health, service quality (SLA attainment), financial performance (CapEx / OpEx, total cost of ownership), and resource utilization.
• Ensure actionable, user-centered transparency for IT, business, and executive stakeholders.
• Service and Application Lifecycle Management
• Oversee effective deployment and use of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and ITSM solutions globally.
• Drive standardization and continuous improvement in service delivery, incident / problem management, change enablement, and user experience.
• Resource & Financial Management
• Govern resource management processes to ensure optimal talent allocation, skills alignment, and workforce planning for BAU operations and transformational initiatives.
• Monitor actuals / forecasts for CapEx, OpEx, and ensure financial transparency and compliance to budgets.
• Champion cost optimization, FinOps, and value realization programs, identifying opportunities to optimize IT spend across all towers.
• Stakeholder Management & Communication
• Act as a key advisor and point of escalation for IT leadership, business stakeholders, and executive committees regarding portfolio health, service performance, risk, and major escalations.
• Communicate strategy, decisions, KPIs, and progress using clear, persuasive, and actionable language suitable for all audiences.

Qualifications :

Preferred :

Starr is an equal opportunity employer, which means we'll consider all suitably qualified applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, ethnic origin, nationality, religion or beliefs, age, sexual orientation, disability status or any other protected characteristic. We recruit and develop our people based on merit and we're committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We offer first class training and development opportunities to all employees. Our aim is to grow our own talent and bring out the best in people.