Delivery Lead - Infrastructure, IRM

This is your opportunity to join AXIS Capital – a trusted global provider of specialty lines insurance and reinsurance.  We stand apart for our outstanding client service, intelligent risk taking and superior risk adjusted returns for our shareholders. We also proudly maintain an entrepreneurial, disciplined and ethical corporate culture.  As a member of AXIS, you join a team that is among the best in the industry.

At AXIS, we believe that we are only as strong as our people. We strive to create an inclusive and welcoming culture where employees of all backgrounds and from all walks of life feel comfortable and empowered to be themselves. This means that we bring our whole selves to work. 

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic, including age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any basis prohibited by the laws that govern its operations.

Job Description: Delivery Lead – Infrastructure & IRM

How does this role contribute to our collective success?

The Delivery Lead – Infrastructure & IRM is accountable for the outcomes of AXIS's portfolio of strategic Infrastructure and Information Risk Management (IRM) investments, spanning infrastructure and cloud modernization, network and end-user technology, technology resilience, and cybersecurity capabilities that protect AXIS's businesses and regions globally. This is a delivery leadership role: it owns the integrated portfolio, ensures investment is focused on the highest-value priorities, and is measured on the resilience, risk reduction, and business value the portfolio delivers.

Reporting to the Strategic Delivery Lead – COO, this role drives disciplined portfolio execution across regions and time zones, actively managing dependencies, delivery risk, and investment performance, and gives sponsors and senior leadership transparent, decision-ready insight into what is being delivered, at what cost, and with what result.

Working closely with Infrastructure and IRM leadership, the role influences senior stakeholders to make timely decisions and trade-offs, leads the portfolio's shift to product-aligned, Agile ways of working, and translates strategic priorities into delivered capabilities, sustained adoption, and realized benefits.

What will you do in this role?

Shape and Prioritize the Portfolio

• Translate Infrastructure and IRM strategy into a sequenced, outcome-based portfolio with clear objectives, success measures, and accountable owners for each initiative.

• Lead annual and multi-year Infrastructure and IRM portfolio planning, working with technology leaders to identify demand, shape scope and estimates, determine resource requirements, and sequence initiatives for budget and investment planning.

• Challenge and shape business cases to ensure investment is directed to the initiatives that deliver the greatest resilience, risk reduction, and business value.

• Mobilize initiatives with the right team structures, capabilities, and partners, and secure the resources required to deliver.

• Ensure Infrastructure and Security dependencies, including environments, connectivity, security, capacity, testing, and implementation, are built into broader business and application programs from the outset.

Drive Disciplined Portfolio Execution

• Lead delivery across strategic initiatives covering infrastructure and cloud modernization, network, end-user technology, identity and access management, security operations, and technology resilience across AXIS's regions and business units, ensuring commitments translate into delivered outcomes.

• Maintain a forward-looking view of portfolio performance, identify slippage early, and take decisive corrective action to protect outcomes, cost, and quality.

• Own cross-project, cross-regional, and enterprise dependencies, including sequencing and critical path, and resolve conflicts with other COO, Technology, application, and regional programs before they affect delivery.

• Oversee design, build, testing, deployment, cutover, and stabilization with infrastructure, security, and business partners, minimizing disruption to production services and the business.

• Apply commercial judgment in managing third-party and staff-augmentation partners, including SOW development and renewal, commercial and rate-card analysis, contract consumption, partner performance, and opportunities to optimize delivery cost and capacity.

Deliver Infrastructure, Security, and AI Outcomes

• Align Infrastructure, IRM, Architecture, and application delivery teams on backlogs, release plans, and capacity so that effort remains focused on portfolio priorities.

• Drive delivery of prioritized automation and AI use cases, such as infrastructure automation, AIOps and observability, threat detection and response, and vulnerability management, from discovery through pilot and scaled rollout, with clear value expectations and go/no-go decisions.

• Ensure business and security requirements, acceptance criteria, and value expectations are clearly defined and that solutions include security by design, appropriate human oversight, risk management, and controls.

• Hold delivery accountable beyond implementation for effective operational handover, sustained adoption, and measurable value.

Lead the Shift to Product-Aligned Delivery

• Lead the transition of Infrastructure and IRM from project-based delivery to persistent, product-aligned Agile teams, in partnership with Infrastructure and IRM leadership and the COO delivery organization, to deliver outcomes faster and more predictably.

• Define team structures, roles, and decision rights, and establish planning and prioritization cadences that are proportionate to the portfolio.

• Implement portfolio intake, prioritization, and capacity allocation across strategic initiatives, run and maintain activities, technical debt, security remediation, and audit findings.

• Use delivery and flow measures, such as predictability, cycle time, and throughput, supported by consistent tooling, to provide portfolio visibility and drive continuous improvement.#

Manage Investment, Transparency, and Value Realization

• Own the portfolio investment, including forecasts, actuals, accruals, and variance, in partnership with Finance, and recommend reallocation of funding and capacity as priorities, risks, or performance change.

• Provide the Strategic Delivery Lead – COO, Infrastructure and IRM leadership, sponsors, and senior leadership with transparent, decision-ready reporting on progress, spend, risk, and value, including a candid view of portfolio health and the decisions required.

• Define and track outcome measures and baselines for service availability, resilience, security risk posture, cost, and quality alongside delivery KPIs.

• Maintain a benefits register and work with Infrastructure and IRM owners to evidence value realization and risk reduction, recommending changes to initiatives that are no longer delivering expected value.

Govern Delivery Risk and Control

• Run proportionate, decision-focused portfolio governance, including steering committees, decision logs, and stage gates, ensuring decisions are made at the right level and acted on.

• Proactively identify, assess, and manage delivery risks, issues, and dependencies, escalate with clear options and recommendations, and drive timely resolution.

• Manage scope and change control, assessing the impact of changes on outcomes, investment, schedule, and benefits.

• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Internal Audit to ensure changes maintain effective IT general and security controls and meet regulatory and cybersecurity requirements across jurisdictions.

• Ensure delivery controls and audit evidence meet COO delivery and enterprise standards.

Influence Senior Stakeholders and Drive Adoption

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior business, technology, and risk stakeholders, framing trade-offs in terms of business impact, risk, and cost, and securing timely decisions.

• Build alignment on priorities, sequencing, and investment across regions and functions, and constructively challenge when scope, spend, or priorities are not aligned to value.

• Develop and execute stakeholder engagement and communication plans across regions and locations globally.

• Partner with change management and training teams on change impact, readiness, training, and adoption activities.

Success Measures

• Committed portfolio outcomes, including milestones, capabilities, and benefits, delivered on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.

• Investment directed to the highest-value priorities, with accurate forecasting, minimal unplanned variance, and timely reallocation where needed.

• Dependencies and delivery risks identified early and resolved before they affect outcomes.

• A transparent, trusted, and consistent view of portfolio progress, spend, risk, and value for senior leadership.

• Measurable value realization against the benefits case, including improvements in resilience, service availability, security risk posture, cost, and quality.

• Successful deployment and sustained adoption of infrastructure, security, automation, and AI capabilities consistently across regions, with minimal disruption to production services and supported by effective controls.

• Product-aligned ways of working adopted across Infrastructure and IRM, evidenced by stable teams, a prioritized portfolio backlog, and more predictable delivery.

• Strong sponsor and senior stakeholder confidence, with timely decisions on priorities and trade-offs.

• No material control issues or audit findings arising from portfolio changes.

About you:

What you need to have:

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.

• 10+ years of technology delivery leadership experience, including accountability for outcomes across complex, multi-workstream global infrastructure, security, or technology transformation portfolios.

• Experience in insurance or reinsurance, with a solid understanding of how infrastructure, cybersecurity, and information risk support underwriting, claims, and corporate functions and meet industry regulatory expectations; broader financial services experience will be considered.

• Proven track record of disciplined portfolio execution, including managing dependencies, delivery risk, investment, and governance across multiple stakeholders and third-party partners.

• Demonstrated commercial judgment, including managing significant technology budgets, shaping business cases, managing vendor commercials, and making value-based trade-offs.

• Track record of influencing senior executives and sponsors and securing decisions, including preparing and presenting executive-level reporting and steering committee materials.

• Demonstrated experience delivering across multiple regions, time zones, and regulatory environments, including working with global and regional leadership.

• Experience delivering infrastructure modernization, cloud migration, cybersecurity, automation, or AI-enabled solutions, including the related process, control, and change implications.

• Experience leading the shift to Agile or product-aligned delivery in infrastructure, security, or operations-focused technology environments.

Key Capabilities

• Outcome-oriented delivery leadership: Turns strategy into outcomes, keeps teams focused on value delivered rather than activity completed, and drives disciplined execution to agreed scope, time, cost, and quality.

• Commercial judgment: Makes sound investment, vendor, and prioritization decisions, balancing value, cost, and risk.

• Insurance and business acumen: Understands the insurance and reinsurance business and how infrastructure, security, and information risk capabilities protect and enable it.

• Senior stakeholder influence: Builds credibility with senior leaders, frames trade-offs clearly, and drives timely decisions across functions and geographies.

• Ownership and accountability: Takes end-to-end ownership of outcomes, holds workstreams to commitments, and escalates early and constructively.

• Structured problem solving: Anticipates risks and dependencies, resolves issues, and makes sound trade-offs under pressure.

• Technology and security acumen: Understands how infrastructure, cloud, security, automation, and AI capabilities improve resilience and reduce risk, and what it takes to deliver and adopt them responsibly.

• Transparent communication: Provides concise, candid reporting and tailors messages for executive, business, and technical audiences.

• Team leadership: Leads and motivates cross-functional and third-party teams without always having direct authority, and guides them through the shift to product-aligned ways of working while maintaining operational stability and control.

What we prefer you to have:

Role Factors: In the office three days per week. Flexibility to work across time zones and travel internationally as required.

What we offer:

For this position, we currently expect to offer a base salary in the range of $80,000 - $100,000; $100,000 - $135,000 CAD. Your salary offer will be based on an assessment of a variety of factors including your specific experience and work location. 

In addition, you will be offered competitive target incentive compensation, with awards based on overall corporate and individual performance. On top of this, you will be eligible for a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes medical plans for you and your family, health and wellness programs, retirement plans, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation, and much more.  

This posting is for an existing vacancy.