Modernization Project Manager Jobs in Wausau, WI

What you'll do:
The Assistant Vice President of IT & Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is a senior IT executive role responsible for enterprise application development, integration, and data platforms across Church Mutual's Property & Casualty insurance technology ecosystem. This role leads a high-performance technology delivery organization and partners closely with business leaders to translate strategy into scalable, secure, and reliable technology solutions.
The CTO owns working with business unit leaders to translate business needs into technology strategy execution, application portfolio health, and delivery of strategic initiatives, ensuring alignment with business priorities, architectural standards, security requirements, and financial stewardship. The role is accountable for both run-the-business stability and transformational modernization initiatives.
Primary Accountabilities:
Technology Leadership & Strategy

• Partner with business unit leaders to co-develop and execute business-aligned technology strategies and roadmaps.
• Translate enterprise and line-of-business strategies into actionable technology delivery plans.
• Serve as a key member of the IT executive leadership team, contributing to enterprise-wide IT strategy, investment prioritization, and governance.

Application Development & Integration

• Department head for full-stack application development across enterprise and customer-facing platforms, with emphasis on Java-based architectures.
• Own data integration, API strategy, and system interoperability across core insurance platforms and vendor ecosystems.
• Ensure development practices support scalability, reliability, and maintainability in a regulated P&C insurance environment.

Data Platforms & Analytics Enablement

• Provide technology leadership for:
• Data acquisition and Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW)
• OneLake / modern data platforms
• Data pipelines supporting reporting, analytics, and operational insights
• Partner with analytics and business teams to ensure data platforms are trusted, secure, and fit for purpose.

Agile Delivery & DevOps Excellence

• Establish and mature Agile delivery practices across application teams.
• Own CI/CD pipelines, DevOps tooling, and automation to accelerate delivery while maintaining quality and security.
• Drive continuous improvement in delivery predictability, velocity, and quality.

Application Portfolio Management

• Maintain accountability for application lifecycle management, including:
• Currency and technical debt management
• Rationalization and modernization planning
• Retirement of obsolete or redundant systems
• Partner with Architecture, Security, and Portfolio Management to ensure investment discipline and sustainability.

Strategic Initiative Delivery

• Lead delivery of major strategic initiatives, including:
• Core system modernization
• Digital customer experience platforms
• Enterprise integration and data modernization efforts
• Ensure initiatives are delivered with clear ownership, disciplined execution, and measurable outcomes.

People Leadership & Culture

• Build, lead, and inspire a high-performance technology organization.
• Attract, develop, and retain top engineering and technology talent.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and operational excellence.

Key Relationships

• CIO and Executive Management Team
• Business Unit Leaders and Executives
• Infrastructure/Operations, Security CISO, Enterprise Architecture and Project Management Office Leadership
• External technology partners and vendors

Key competencies:

• Technical expertise: In-depth knowledge of enterprise application platforms, cloud computing and immersion technologies. Ability to use strategic planning to translate business goals into technology solutions.
• Communication and collaboration: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. Ability to collaborate with other executives, stakeholders and teams across the organization, and to influence people to achieve common goals.
• Project management: Strong project management skills, including experience with agile methodologies and change management.
• Analytical skills: Excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities; proficiency in data analysis and performance metrics.
• Financial acumen: Understanding of financial principles and ability to manage budgets and optimize costs.
• Leadership and decision making: Readiness to lead, inspire and develop innovative teams. Ability to foster a culture of continuous improvement while demonstrating sound judgment and making timely, effective decisions.
• Customer focus: Prioritization of the needs of our business and its customers. Ability to drive initiatives that enhance customer satisfaction and business value.

Integrity and trust: High ethical standards and trustworthiness. Ability to act consistently with transparency and accountability
Qualifications:
Required

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 10+ years of progressive IT leadership experience, including enterprise application development and integration.
• Demonstrated leadership experience in P&C insurance or regulated financial services environments.
• Experience with large scale delivery projects.
• Deep experience with:
• Full-stack development (Java-based ecosystems)
• Enterprise integration and APIs
• Data platforms (Data Warehouse, modern data lakes)
• Agile and DevOps / CI-CD practices
• Core Insurance applications (Policy, Claims, Billing) and platforms.
• Artificial Intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA) and workflow technologies.

Preferred

• Experience leading large-scale modernization programs.
• Strong executive communication and business partnership skills.
• Proven ability to balance run stability with transformational change.

Success Measures

• Delivery of strategic initiatives on time, on budget, with quality to deliver desired business outcomes.
• Strong application portfolio health, with 5-year business technology roadmap and technical debt reduction strategies.
• Increased delivery predictability and engineering maturity
• Strong business satisfaction with IT partnership and outcomes

Church Mutual is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Exact compensation will vary based on consideration of a variety of factors including education, skills, experience, and location.