AVP, Discovery & Definition Practice Lead

Location: CT - Hartford

Who Are We?

Taking care of our customers, our communities and each other. That’s the Travelers Promise. By honoring this commitment, we have maintained our reputation as one of the best property casualty insurers in the industry for over 170 years. Join us to discover a culture that is rooted in innovation and thrives on collaboration. Imagine loving what you do and where you do it.

Job Category

Technology

Compensation Overview

The annual base salary range provided for this position is a nationwide market range and represents a broad range of salaries for this role across the country. The actual salary for this position will be determined by a number of factors, including the scope, complexity and location of the role; the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; and other conditions of employment. As part of our comprehensive compensation and benefits program, employees are also eligible for performance-based cash incentive awards.

Salary Range

$153,700.00 - $253,700.00

Target Openings

1

What Is the Opportunity?

Travelers is undergoing a significant shift in how we build and deliver technology, and the quality of what gets delivered starts upstream. This role owns the enterprise standards, tools, and practices that shape how we define what gets built, from opportunity framing through requirements and definition of ready. Working within the SDLC+ Value Stream and in close partnership with the VP of Product Enablement, the Technical Design & Build Lead, Experience Design, and Product Owners, this leader will advance and mature how we ideate and define requirements across the enterprise.

This is a senior individual contributor role with enterprise-wide influence, a leader who sets the standard for how discovery and definition work gets done at Travelers. Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the US. The company does not sponsor/support H-1B petitions, TN, or Forms I-983/STEM OPT, this this role.

Discovery & Definition Practice

Own the enterprise standards, tools, and practices that define what gets built — from opportunity framing through requirements and definition of ready, across software, data, and AI-driven solutions

Establish and operationalize upstream quality standards that are consistently applied, measurable, and built with delivery realities in mind

Partner with Experience Design, Business Analysts, and Product Owners to create a cohesive upstream lifecycle that spans disciplines and connects modern requirements practices to delivery outcomes

Product Owner Craft & Capability

Own PO craft standards, role maturity models, and capability-building for Product Owners across all lines of business — the substance, not a separate standing meeting

Develop and sustain role maturity models, learning pathways, and onboarding frameworks that elevate the PO craft, delivered through partnership with the Agile & Product Practice Leads Connect forum rather than a standalone community

Embed systems thinking and outcome-based practices into how Product Owners work, shifting teams from order takers to solution designers

AI-First Workflow Integration

• Integrate AI-augmented discovery and definition workflows into enterprise practice — connecting modern experience design tooling, requirements platforms, and structured definition practices into a shared upstream ecosystem
• Champion AI literacy and tooling adoption across the product and discovery community, with a focus on adoption maturity, not just availability
• Evaluate, pilot, and scale AI tools that improve the quality and speed of upstream delivery work

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Work closely with line-of-business Product Owners, Circle and Value Stream leaders, Experience Design, and the Technical Design & Build Lead to ensure discovery and definition practices are embedded in how solutions are designed and built
• Serve as the enterprise authority on upstream quality — influencing without direct authority across a large, matrixed organization
• What Will Our Ideal Candidate Have?
• Master's degree - MBA, MS in Technology Management, or equivalent
• 10 or more years of progressive experience in product ownership, business analysis, or agile delivery
• 3 or more years in a senior enterprise role with cross-functional accountability
• Demonstrated experience influencing enterprise standards or practices without direct authority
• Deep proficiency in structured requirements practices including user story mapping, jobs-to-be-done frameworks, BDD/ATDD, and definition of ready/done standards
• Experience building or leading a Community of Practice, Center of Excellence, or enterprise capability program
• Working knowledge of AI-augmented product and delivery workflows, with the ability to assess, pilot, and scale tooling
• Fluency across agile delivery frameworks - Scrum, Kanban, SAFe - with the judgment to adapt them rather than prescribe them
• Proven ability to connect discovery and definition work to business outcomes, OKRs, and value stream performance
• Additional Locations: MN - St. Paul