Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Ryan Specialty
200k - 250k USD/year
Office
Illinois
Full Time
Position Summary
The SVP, COO of Ryan Exchange is responsible for developing the vision, strategy, and capabilities needed to enable and support revenue growth, drive operational excellence, and mitigate risks across the enterprise. In this role, reporting to the RT Specialty President and working with the RT Specialty COO, she/he will be a thought leader and champion for the creation of this new opportunity and play an active role in the initiative’s creation, growth, structure and governance.What will your job entail?
Essential Functions:
Strategy & Planning
- Support RT leadership in developing the strategy and a business plan needed to deliver outcomes for the Ryan Exchange while ensuring alignment with overall company goals and objectives.
- Establish investment priorities that consider financial and people constraints while balancing longer range enterprise goals with near-term Ryan Exchange start-up costs.
- Provide options and recommendations to Ryan Specialty and RT leaders, clearly expressing the trade-offs and optionality behind different strategies.
- Create and maintain the commercialization of the Ryan Exchange, defining the products most applicable, monetization, and success criteria. Help leadership evaluate the appropriate carriers, agents, and government bodies to onboard by escalating key questions and decisions.
- Develop execution roadmaps focused on driving growth and annual productivity improvements while reducing risk.
- Establish and maintain the AI and automation roadmap supporting both internal automation capabilities as well as digital external automation for our retail agents and carriers. Collaborate with other Ryan Specialty business units on the AI journey to ensure mutually beneficial progress.
- Establish regular business and operations reviews to monitor progress, address escalated issues, and make required trade-off decisions as needs change during the year.
Operations:
- Establish the target business and operational objectives and model for the Ryan Exchange required to support growth, drive efficiency and manage risk.
- Design and lead all carrier (and other designated trading partners) interactions and onboarding to the Ryan Exchange while also including those that enable digitization and further integration of IT and operations.
- Develop and manage the onboarding process for carriers/markets to the Ryan Exchange.
- Liaise with Corporate functions such as Legal, BSS, IT, Cat Modeling, and Claims to keep the Ryan Exchange fully functional.
- Effectively manage external vendors to scope, cost, and delivery satisfaction.
- Ensure adequate BCDR plans are implemented to provide for continuity and resiliency of Ryan Exchange operations.
- Drive ongoing improvement planning and execution.
Organization, Management, and Reporting
- Create, oversee and manage the Ryan Exchange cost center P&L.
- Establish service levels, metrics, and KPIs to measure performance and compliance with enterprise and Ryan Exchange standards and controls.
- Play an active role in the governance of Ryan Exchange working within the parameters of the firm’s overall governance model.
- Deliver a positive customer service experience to all internal, external, current, and prospective customers and stakeholders.
Education/Experience/Skills:
- Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience in a senior leadership role within insurance or insurance brokerage.
- Experience with and successful implementation of business transformation programs.
- Able to attract and retain talent as well as motivate in a collaborative but maturing operations environment.
- Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate interpersonally with individuals, groups, and C-suite as well as strong client and stakeholder management skills.
- Proven experience in establishing new business units from scratch where no prior framework or concept exists
- Experience in the insurance wholesale space, specifically understanding the commercial landscape and carrier needs.
- Decisive and persuasive with a bias for action.
- Proven initiative-taker, critical thinker, and strong communicator.
- Creative thinker who is always looking at macro changes in the industry and economy.
- Strong negotiation skills
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Background in managing operations and ability to lead effective change management.
- Collaborative and ability to manage opposing perspectives.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel.
- Strong conceptual skills.
- Ability to "stand up and be counted" with strength to push back.
- Able to lead and manage a highly talented team.
Ryan Specialty is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building and sustaining a diverse workforce throughout the organization. Our vision is an inclusive and equitable workplace where all employees are valued for and evaluated on their performance and contributions. Differences in race, creed, color, religious beliefs, physical or mental capabilities, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and many other characteristics bring together varied perspectives and add value to the service we provide our clients, trading partners, and communities. This policy extends to all aspects of our employment practices, including but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, discipline, firing, promoting, transferring, compensation, benefits, training, leaves of absence, and other terms, conditions, and benefits of employment.
How We Support Our Teammates
Ryan Specialty seeks to offer our employees a comprehensive and best-in-class benefits package that helps them — and their family members — achieve their physical, financial, and emotional well-being goals. In addition to paid time off for company holidays, vacation, sick and personal days, Ryan offers paid parental leave, mental health services and more.
The target salary range for this position is $200,000.00 - $250,000.00 annually.The wage range for this role considers many factors, such as training, transferable skills, work experience, licensure and certification, business needs, and market demands. The pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Full-time roles are eligible for bonuses and benefits. For additional information on Ryan Specialty Total Rewards, visit our website https://benefits.ryansg.com/.
We provide individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment in accordance with applicable law. Please contact us to request an accommodation at HR@Ryansg.com
The above is intended to describe this job's general requirements. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or physical requirements. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
Office
Illinois
Full Time
200k - 250k USD/year
August 20, 2025