Platform Portfolio Lead, Asia

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Job Description:

Job description (heading) /  Description du poste (titre)

The Platform Portfolio Lead is accountable for the overall performance, outcomes, budget management, and coherent platform roadmap of a defined technology platform portfolio, such as Distribution, Operations, or Digital.

This role owns portfolio-level KPIs, prioritization, and budget allocation decisions, ensuring that platforms collectively deliver business value and that platform roadmaps are aligned to the business strategy, Asia technology strategy, and market needs.

The role ensures that platform roadmaps across the portfolio are aligned, integrated, and collectively support the business roadmap, avoiding duplication and enabling scalable, reusable capabilities across markets.

The Platform Portfolio Lead defines the platform structure within the portfolio, identifies and assigns Platform Owners, and may directly act as Platform Owner for selected platforms where appropriate, while maintaining clear separation between portfolio-level accountability and platform-level ownership.

The role works closely with the Portfolio Tech Lead, who partners with business portfolio leads to define solution direction and capability roadmaps. The Platform Portfolio Lead supports this by ensuring platform readiness, alignment, and execution across the portfolio.

The Platform Portfolio Lead is a people leader, responsible for coaching and developing Platform Owners, particularly where capability is still maturing, to ensure consistent execution, adherence to standards, and strong platform performance.

Preferred skills (heading) / Compétences particulières (titre)

• Strong people leadership capability, with the ability to coach, challenge, and develop Platform Owners and platform teams while maintaining clear accountability for outcomes.
• Able to provide constructive feedback, manage difficult conversations, and build capability in a respectful, outcomes-focused manner.
• Strong portfolio judgment, with the ability to connect platform performance, KPIs, budget decisions, operational stability, and risk to measurable business value.
• Demonstrates executive presence, resilience, and the ability to influence CIOs, business leaders, technology leaders, and market stakeholders.
• Able to manage a wide range of senior stakeholders, resolve competing priorities, and present strategy, plans, risks, and recommendations in a clear, business-oriented way.
• Comfortable operating in matrixed, non-hierarchical environments with a strong bias for collaboration, transparency, trust, and shared ownership.
• Ability to identify and manage integration points across portfolios, platforms, business stakeholders, technology teams, CIOs, and Asia markets.
• Strong technical fluency, with the ability to understand, challenge, and communicate technology concepts, platform health, dependencies, and delivery risks effectively.
• Strong understanding of data platforms, AI capabilities, AI agents, APIs, test automation, DevSecOps, and engineering productivity tools, with the ability to translate these into practical portfolio priorities and adoption plans.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, prioritization, and decision-making skills.
• Strong organizational and execution discipline, with the ability to manage complexity across multiple platforms, priorities, and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a collaborative and growth-oriented mindset.

Qualifications (heading) / Compétences (titre)

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Business, or a related field from a reputed institute.
• 15+ years of progressive technology experience, including 10+ years in product management, platform portfolio leadership, platform engineering, or related technology leadership roles.
• Experience leading portfolios or platform capabilities across Distribution, Operations, Digital, or related enterprise technology domains, with the ability to adapt the operating model to different portfolio contexts.
• Proven experience managing the lifecycle of complex platforms or products, including modernization, simplification, reuse, decommissioning, and continuous improvement.
• Strong understanding of insurance, wealth management, or financial services domains, with the ability to advocate for client, advisor, market, and business outcomes.
• Experience owning or influencing portfolio-level budgets, prioritization decisions, KPIs, OKRs, and performance outcomes across multiple platforms.
• Experience leading digital, platform, or enterprise transformation initiatives from strategy through execution and adoption.
• Proven ability to lead platform operating models that balance business, technology, risk, operations, and market outcomes across multiple stakeholders and geographies.
• Experience operating in regional, multi-market, or matrix environments, with the ability to align market needs, CIO priorities, enterprise standards, and technology strategy.
• Ability to identify integration points across journeys, portfolios, business stakeholders, and technology teams to enable coherent end-to-end delivery.
• Strong working knowledge of Agile, Scrum, DevOps, design practices, SDLC delivery models, and software development tooling.
• Knowledge of digital technologies such as mobile platforms, APIs, integration patterns, and platform engineering practices.
• Experience working with data platforms, data governance, data quality, and AI-ready data foundations to support scalable digital, operational, and AI-enabled capabilities.
• Familiarity with AI agents, GenAI-enabled delivery models, vendor-provided AI capabilities, and responsible adoption of AI across business and technology workflows.
• Experience driving adoption of engineering productivity and quality tools such as GitHub Copilot, test automation, APIs, secure coding practices, and DevSecOps capabilities.
• Certification in Agile, Scrum, SAFe, Product Management, or related disciplines is preferred.

Responsibilities (heading) / Responsabilités (titre)

• Portfolio Strategy and Governance: Define and communicate the strategy, strategic themes, and priorities for the assigned technology platform portfolio, ensuring alignment with business strategy, Asia technology strategy, and market needs. Ensure a coherent and integrated platform roadmap across the portfolio that aligns to the business roadmap, translating strategy into actionable platform plans that drive modernization, simplification, reuse, and scalable platform capabilities across markets. Define the platform landscape within the portfolio, including accountability and ownership structure.
• Budget and Prioritization: Accountable for the overall portfolio run budget and prioritization of run-related work across platforms, ensuring resources are allocated effectively based on business priorities, risk, operational needs, and platform health. Partner with technology leadership on investment-funded initiatives to ensure alignment with the business roadmap, portfolio priorities, and platform roadmaps.
• Portfolio Performance and KPIs: Own portfolio-level KPIs and OKRs, ensuring platforms collectively deliver measurable business outcomes. Monitor and drive performance across platforms, intervening where delivery, platform health, stability, or outcomes are at risk. Ensure consistent measurement frameworks across platforms.
• Data, AI and Engineering Enablement: Ensure the portfolio has a clear understanding of data dependencies, data platform capabilities, AI readiness, AI-enabled opportunities, and required controls. Work with Platform Owners, Technology Leads, business stakeholders, and vendors to identify, evaluate, and incorporate AI capabilities into portfolio strategy and platform roadmaps, including vendor-provided AI capabilities where platforms are vendor-managed. Drive adoption of engineering productivity and quality tools such as GitHub Copilot, AI agents, test automation, APIs, and DevSecOps practices to improve speed, quality, security, and scalability.
• Platform Oversight and Delivery Enablement: Ensure Platform Owners deliver stable, scalable, secure, and high-performing platforms aligned to agreed SLAs. Provide direction and challenge to Platform Owners to improve performance, delivery, platform health, and execution discipline. Act as escalation point for cross-platform dependencies, delivery blockers, and operational issues.
• People Leadership and Capability Building: Identify, assign, and develop Platform Owners across the portfolio. Provide active coaching and leadership, particularly to junior or newly appointed Platform Owners, to build capability, consistency, and accountability. Foster a high-performing, collaborative, and accountable platform organization.
• Stakeholder and Market Alignment: Report directly to the Chief Digital Officer, Asia and partner closely with the Portfolio Tech Lead to support the assigned portfolio. Work with Platform Owners, Technology Leads, CIOs, DBTS leaders, business stakeholders, and Asia markets to align platform strategy, delivery priorities, market requirements, and adoption plans. Ensure Platform Owners and Technology Leads engage markets effectively during delivery and transition platforms into a regional operating model post-implementation, with clear ownership for BAU, KTLO, stability, reuse, standardization, and scalability.
• Executive Communication and Business Direction: Present portfolio strategy, platform plans, AI and data opportunities, risks, dependencies, and business trade-offs to the Chief Digital Officer, Asia, CIOs, and senior stakeholders. Provide clear recommendations and decision support to help shape business and technology direction in support of Sun Life’s strategic outcomes.
• Collaboration with Portfolio Tech Lead and DBTS Leaders: Work closely with the Portfolio Tech Lead and DBTS leaders to ensure alignment between solution direction, architecture, capability roadmaps, data strategy, AI adoption, platform readiness, and execution. Support the translation of capability roadmaps into executable platform plans and ensure platform teams are prepared to deliver against agreed priorities.
• Standards, Risk and Compliance: Ensure all platforms adhere to Sun Life technology, security, architecture, risk, and governance standards. Oversee portfolio-level risk management and compliance, ensuring issues are identified, managed, and escalated appropriately.
• Stability and Operations: Accountable for portfolio-wide stability, availability, resiliency, and SLA adherence. Ensure platforms effectively support BAU and KTLO operations across markets, with clear ownership for operational issues, continuous improvement, and platform health.

Job Category:

IT - Technology Services

Posting End Date:

18/08/2026