Manager, Operational Analytics

Please note that we do not offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Role Summary

The Manager, Operational Analytics leads a team of analytics professionals supporting National Life Group's Service and Operations leaders. The role helps those leaders make informed decisions, improve performance, and create better experiences for agents and customers by turning complex data into clear insights and practical recommendations.

The Manager develops analysts into trusted business partners, guides team priorities, and strengthens analytical practices across the function. The role also advances the responsible use of artificial intelligence, automation, data visualization, and self-service analytics, and partners closely with operational leadership to align analytical work with business value.

The ideal candidate is a people leader who combines analytical expertise with business judgment, curiosity, and the ability to build strong relationships across an organization.

This position currently offers an onsite work schedule, with the expectation that you will be in the office four (4) days per week during onsite core days. Our current onsite core days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The work schedule type and core days are subject to change with advance notification and manager discretion.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of analytics professionals, setting clear expectations and supporting performance, growth, and career development.

• Partner with Service and Operations leaders to understand business challenges, frame analytical questions, and recommend effective approaches.

• Guide the delivery of dashboards, reporting, forecasting tools, analytical investigations, and self-service solutions.

• Move the team beyond reporting by identifying trends, evaluating business implications, and developing actionable recommendations.

• Own the intake and prioritization of analytics requests, balancing immediate operational needs with longer-term initiatives and team capacity.

• Establish consistent standards for analytical quality, data validation, documentation, visualization, and interpretation.

• Identify opportunities to simplify work, automate recurring activities, and responsibly apply approved AI-enabled tools.

• Communicate priorities, findings, tradeoffs, and recommendations to technical, operational, and leadership audiences.

• Apply sound judgment to complex and sometimes ambiguous challenges, setting short-term priorities that support broader Service and Operations objectives.

• Create an inclusive, collaborative, and accountable team environment grounded in National Life Group's values and Servant Leadership Tenets.

• All other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and eight or more years of related experience; an advanced degree and five or more years of related experience; or twelve or more years of total combined post-secondary education and relevant work experience.

• Experience in operational analytics, business intelligence, data analytics, decision support, or a related discipline.

• Demonstrated success leading, coaching, and developing employees.

• Ability to translate complex data into clear business insights, recommendations, and leadership-ready communications.

• Experience managing competing priorities and allocating resources based on business value, urgency, effort, risk, and strategic alignment.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and experience with data-analysis, business-intelligence, or data-visualization tools.

• Knowledge of data sources, database structures, data-quality concepts, and data-validation practices.

• Strong analytical reasoning, communication, stakeholder-management, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to use approved AI-enabled tools responsibly and maintain accountability for the quality and integrity of work products.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in analytics, data science, statistics, mathematics, finance, economics, operations research, business administration, or a related field.

• Experience in life insurance, financial services, or another highly regulated industry.

• Experience implementing AI-enabled analytics, automation, or self-service reporting solutions.

• Experience with forecasting, capacity planning, statistical modeling, process analytics, or operational performance measurement.

• Familiarity with data governance, privacy, risk, compliance, or responsible AI practices.

AI Proficiency Expectations:

At National Life Group, we view AI as an enabler of human potential. We use AI to help us work smarter, serve more clients, and keep our promises, while remaining a relationship-driven business where our people are our greatest strength.

All applicants are expected to:

• Leverage approved AI tools, where appropriate, to improve the efficiency, quality, and impact of their work.

• Stay curious and open to new AI-enabled ways of working.

• Exercise sound judgment by reviewing and validating AI-generated content.

• Maintain accountability for the accuracy, quality, fairness, and integrity of work products by adhering to National Life's AI guiding principles.

• Use AI responsibly and in accordance with company policies related to confidentiality, data privacy, security, compliance, retention, and intellectual property.

• Additional Expectations for AI-Forward Roles

Applicants in AI-forward roles are also expected to:

• Identify practical opportunities to apply AI to improve workflows, productivity, analysis, and business outcomes.

• Create effective prompts, workflows, controls, and human-in-the-loop (HITL) review processes that support responsible AI use.

• Critically evaluate AI-generated outputs for accuracy, quality, bias, fairness, confidentiality, compliance, security, and business relevance.

• Partner appropriately with Legal, Compliance, Risk, Security, Data/Technology, and business stakeholders to move AI ideas from experimentation to responsible adoption.

• Help model responsible, human-centered AI adoption across the organization.

Core Competencies

Cultivates Innovation - Fosters innovation by taking calculated risks; Work cooperatively with others to produce innovative solutions.

Ensures Accountability - Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments and performance goals.

Directs Work - Provides direction, delegates, and removes obstacles to get work done.

Demonstrates Emotional Intelligence - Exhibits the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions and how emotions can influence others; Uses a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and opportunities.

Exhibits Critical and Creative Thinking - Engaging thinking skills that focus on logic and reasoning to make decisions (critical) and innovative solutions to solve problems (creative).

Leads Change - Facilitates change and transition at the individual and team level; Develops strategic goals for aligning with change.

Develops Talent - Builds team(s) equipped for the future by applying coaching techniques for developing team members to meet their professional/personal goals and the organizational goals; Listens and responds with empathy; Asks thought provoking questions.

Inspires Others - Motivates and influences others by creating an environment where teams can do their best work; Partners across the organization to achieve results.

Benefits

• Your benefits start day one and are flexible and customizable to your and your family’s specific needs. Check out the BENEFITS of a Career at National Life!