Manager, Engineering, Digital Experience - Thrivent Asset Management

About the role

We exist to help people achieve financial clarity. At Thrivent, we believe money is a tool, not a goal. Driven by a higher purpose at our core, we are committed to providing financial advice, investments, insurance, banking and generosity programs to help people make the most of all they've been given.

At our core, we are a membership-owned fraternal organization, as well as a holistic financial services organization, dedicated to serving the unique needs of our clients. We focus on their goals and priorities, guiding them toward financial choices that will help them live the life they want today-and tomorrow.

Job Summary

The Manager. Engineering, Digital Experience - Thrivent Asset Management leads a cross-functional digital platform team responsible for the design, development, security, and operational excellence of Thrivent Asset Management digital experiences, primarily thriventfunds.com.

Serving as a hands-on technical leader, this role provides architectural guidance and establishes engineering standards. This role collaborates and interacts frequently with internal and external key stakeholders including marketing, sales and marketing technology to deliver experiences leveraging Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Service and AWS.

Duties & Responsibilities

Designing Solutions

• Review technical solution design and architecture and provide guidance and direction.
• Actively participates in the design and architecture for Thrivent Asset Management web site and deliver solutions aligned with business objectives
• Review technical solution and supports the execution of the solution

Developing Software

• Has Developed software. Can read code and stays up to date on best practices for Adobe Experience Manager Cloud Services and AWS.
• Ensure Code reviews are completed - Problem solving and analytical skills

Learning and applying new techniques

• Promotes and empowers sharing ideas, best practices, etc. ensuring capacity is held for these activities.
• Anticipates and analyzes trends in technology and assesses the impact of emerging technologies on the business
• Ensures the team applies new techniques and learnings to support web infrastructure.

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 leads on Initiatives/ Features/ Epics and provides clarity on desired outcomes as well as technical expertise.
• Collaborates cross functionally for strategies, operating plans, targets and measures for delivery teams.
• Creates 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 delivery teams.
• Understands how delivery team outcomes integrate with other delivery team outcomes 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 in solve collaboratively

Collaborating across the organization

• Align your team with the priorities of the company and the technology organization for Thrivent Asset Management Distribution.

Setting product/platform technology strategy

• Participates in setting the distribution technology vision, strategies, initiatives, roadmaps, objectives and alignments
• Represents the business value of technology upgrades, etc. and influences prioritization in the platform roadmap
• Empowers the team to select the right tool and platforms for Thrivent Asset Management digital experiences.

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 dev ops and observability
• Contributes to the creation of enterprise frameworks and patterns

DevOps

• Define and supports the development Lifecyle processes
• Supports the team and removes barriers to resolving production incidents/problems
• Champions DevOps practices including CI/CD automation, monitoring, observability, incident management, and infrastructure automation.
• Understands the health of technology products and promotes prioritization of work to maintain and continuously improve
• Serve as an escalation point in support for ongoing maintenance and production issues

Selecting & Managing Technology Vendors

• Be an advocate to the team to define criteria's 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 and leadership to decide on criteria and vendor selection.

Execute or manage the overall technology solutions, platforms and associated vendor

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 platform and delivery teams, 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

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., web site development and web infrastructure management.
• 3+ years of leadership experience in all aspects of web site development and web infrastructure management.
• 3+ years' management/supervisory experience in web experience delivery 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 project management and execution of multiple or large projects.
• 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

• 5+ years of experience with Adobe Experience Manager, preferably with 1+ years of experience with AEM Cloud Services.
• 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

This is a hybrid working arrangement, in office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

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.