Austin Schwai
Hudson,USA
Summary
Accomplished IT leader with a proven track record of successfully leading technology transformations and consistently delivering outstanding solutions across diverse technology domains and industries. Recognized as a respected thought leader, trusted to drive and optimize critical organizational initiatives and strategies. Committed to guiding top-performing engineering teams through effective coaching, mentoring, and fostering a culture of collaboration.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Engineering Consulting Director – Technology Operational Excellence
Securian Financial
12.2023 - Current
- Accountable for a multi-year transformation across our IT organization to standardize engineering and quality processes focused on reducing the disruption of critical business services and driving operational efficiency through people, process and technology
- Collaborated with our CIO and senior technology leadership to establish a 3-year journey to improve our organizations approach to resiliency, reliability, and quality assurance
- Defined and supported the IT quality vision including establishment of quality standards, advancement of test automation, standardization of tooling and alignment of quality processes
- Scaled our organizations IT service management practice across application development teams leveraging best practices, automated processes and AIOps leading to a 12% decrease in major incidents
- Directed the revision of our IT engineering standards and formed governance that defined processes for standard creation, approval, maintenance, and streamlined persona-based access
- Established an enterprise-wide application tiering framework that defined expectations around SLA’s, RTO, disaster recovery, test automation/coverage, and support hours based on business capability criticality
- Managed cross functional delivery teams and created a culture of high performance, accountability and engagement through goal setting, talent development, coaching, and feedback
Engineering Director - Canada Technology
Securian Financial
12.2022 - 12.2023
- Directed multiple engineering, product and quality teams through the M&A of a Canadian based insurance company which included the implementation and ongoing support of front-end digital solutions, custom developed applications, SaaS products, and AWS data warehouse
- Responsible for defining the IT operating model for our Canada based division by ensuring the organization had the people, process and technology to meet business outcomes and drive continuous improvement
- Established and enhanced technology best practices and standards to support the delivery lifecycle, including Agile, DevOps, automated test coverage, platform security scanning and observability
- Defined the ongoing IT talent and workforce management strategy for Securian Canada which included employees, onshore/offshore consultants and managed service providers
- Formed an operational governance model that allowed for clear communication of objectives and outcomes while ensuring alignment of enterprise standards for engineering, architecture, cybersecurity, risk, and technology procurement between Securian US and Securian Canada
- Completed the technology assessment, selection and implementation efforts for 25+ solutions to establish an entire Canada based insurance technology ecosystem to align with data residency requirements
- Led, mentored, and inspired a high-performing team of managers, senior architects and product managers through a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability
Senior Engineering Manager, Finance Technology
Securian Financial
11.2019 - 12.2022
- Served as a technology owner for greenfield SAP Implementation which required leadership of both direct reports, matrixed internal resources and over 125 external resources to ensure implemented solutions were in alignment with Securian’s future state business and technology strategy
- Accountable for all Finance, Accounting, and Treasury technology which included 35+ applications supported by 3 separate teams
- Developed a comprehensive and risk adverse staffing model that included leveraging a combination of full-time associates, strategic organizational vendors, and mix of offshore/onshore managed services to ensure we could meet the growing demands of our business
- Partnered with IT, business, risk, and security teams to finalize the vendor and implementation partner selection for our ERP implementation by ensuring that the services and quantities included in our bill of materials and vendor SOWs meet our existing and future organizational needs
- Managed a team comprised of managers, engineers, product analysts and scrum masters through performance management, coaching and skill development
- Collaborated with business and technology leaders to develop a 5-year technology roadmap which included strategies to support future business objectives, drive productivity improvements and establish a modern technology architecture
- Transitioned support of legacy mainframe applications to outsourced vendor which included establishing required support model to meet business objective, defining optimal offshore/onshore staff mix, negotiating vendor SLAs, and ensuring proper system knowledge transfer was completed to allow for successful application support
Director of IT
The Tile Shop
01.2018 - 10.2019
- Managed the end-to-end ownership of technology initiatives, which included the launch of SAP, re-platforming of Tileshop.com, and implementation of Salesforce CRM
- Collaborated directly with the CIO, CEO, and senior leadership to understand business objectives and define project approach, vision, key deliverables, and deadlines
- Provided leadership through resource planning, coaching and skill development for a team of managers, engineers and business analysts
- Managed budget by completing detailed resource forecasting, overseeing the purchasing process for the entire IT department, and developing detailed reporting for key metrics
- Facilitated effective communication between customers, help desk, delivery team by monitoring external and internal customer feedback to measure performance and drive process improvement
- Established the collection and distribution of key performance indicators for the IT department including application availability, application performance, infrastructure health, project delivery and project costs
Senior Program Manager, Solution Design Group (Contract)
Tileshop
12.2016 - 01.2018
- Collaborated directly with the CMO and CIO to develop and execute a roadmap for Tileshop.com that focused on customer-centric solutions and enhancing the customer experience including the implementation of e-commerce, personas, regional pricing, and real-time inventory details
- Facilitated the adoption of agile application development process utilizing Visual Studio Team Services to maintain the project backlog, document requirements, log defects and track team progress
- Coordinated and drove the efforts of an internal development team, two external consulting firms and three interfacing vendors to deliver a B2B e-commerce solution over a 9-month period with an overall project budget of $1,500,000+
- Analyzed additional project proposals to present detailed project estimates on cost, duration, and resources to the executive team and project stakeholders
- Headed a 10-month, $750,000 project to implement an online 3D design tool by defining the project’s scope, managing cross-functional dependencies, mitigating risks, and ensuring milestones of an international vendor
- Mentored and supported 3 product consultants to create strong workplace culture.
Senior Project Management Consultant, Solution Design Group (Contract)
Tileshop
06.2015 - 12.2016
- Coordinated a data center relocation project that consisted of over 700 virtual machines, 10 physical machines and 185 applications on an extremely accelerated schedule with for a high-profile client
- Developed and managed the overall project schedule and budget by collaborating with the lead developer to estimate task duration, determine project dependencies, evaluate vendor integrations, and assess required time frame for QA testing
- Conducted detailed requirement gathering on both existing and intended processes by defining project scope, conducting formal and informal interviews, determining user stories, and creating detailed process flowcharts
- Formulated and managed a project plan and critical path, including detailed tasks, hours, resources, and dependencies to determine project schedule, setup of necessary hardware, and resources projections
- Created the project go-live schedule that consisted of over 575 action items including minute by minute breakdown of every activity, resource, application, and server involved in the entire Migration Event from start to finish
Project Manager
AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.
05.2014 - 06.2015
- Spearheaded a new business initiative to integrate our identity protection product with an employee benefits vendor by overseeing all facets of project implementation including technical integrations, direct mail campaigns, call center strategy and support processes
- Led simultaneous business and technical projects with both an internal cross-functional team and outside vendors by collecting complex project requirements, managing scope, and developing detailed project plans
- Coordinated a systems migration to a new parent company’s data center which included the transfer of existing data and processes, adoption and setup of a new transmission protocols, and establishment of new policies and procedures
- Communicated accurate and timely project plans, status, risks, and issues to project stakeholders, to ensure interests, requirements and expectations were met throughout the life of the project; along with driving issue and conflict resolution and escalating as appropriate
Senior Implementation Specialist
MEDITECH
06.2011 - 05.2014
- Oversaw concurrent medical software implementations which included the creation of project timelines, developing client workflows, training on system functionality, and coordinating of vendor interfacing
- Served in a project management role for the financial and administrative components of customer implementations ranging in sizes from 50 to 500 providers ensuring projects delivered on time
- Coordinated the adoption of an internal customer support system which included evaluating functionality gaps, developing training materials and conducting internal trainings for all staff
- Collaborated with the development team on new functionality throughout the project life cycle to ensure project requirements were being met
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration - Information Systems & Finance
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI05.2011
Skills
- Coaching and Mentoring
- Executive Presence
- Technical Thought Leadership
- Team Development
- Strong Communication
- Strategic Development
- Problem Solving
- Decision Making
- Process Improvement
- Communication
- Financial Acumen
- Adaptability
Certification
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, 11/01/20, Current
- Project Management Professional (PMP), 12/01/15, Current
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM), 07/01/15, Current
Cerifications
PMP
AWS
CSM
Timeline
Engineering Consulting Director – Technology Operational Excellence
Securian Financial
12.2023 - Current
Engineering Director - Canada Technology
Securian Financial
12.2022 - 12.2023
Senior Engineering Manager, Finance Technology
Securian Financial
11.2019 - 12.2022
Director of IT
The Tile Shop
01.2018 - 10.2019
Senior Program Manager, Solution Design Group (Contract)
Tileshop
12.2016 - 01.2018
Senior Project Management Consultant, Solution Design Group (Contract)
Tileshop
06.2015 - 12.2016
Project Manager
AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.
05.2014 - 06.2015
Senior Implementation Specialist
MEDITECH
06.2011 - 05.2014
- AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, 11/01/20, Current
- Project Management Professional (PMP), 12/01/15, Current
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM), 07/01/15, Current
Bachelor of Business Administration - Information Systems & Finance
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
Similar Profiles
Morgan BruggemanMorgan Bruggeman
Administrative Business Partner Supervisor at Securian FinancialAdministrative Business Partner Supervisor at Securian Financial
Collin PepinCollin Pepin
Actuarial Consultant at Securian FinancialActuarial Consultant at Securian Financial
Timothy ConleyTimothy Conley
Job History Business Operations Representative at Securian FinancialJob History Business Operations Representative at Securian Financial