Field Centers of Excellence Lead (CoE)

Is the opportunity to join a culture where “We Do the Right Thing,” and “We Courageously Shape Our Future Together” important to you? If so, Guardian is seeking a motivated individual to join our team as a Field Centers of Excellence Lead. In this role, you will build and scale a new Field-facing capability within Guardian’s Inclusion & Impact function to help Client Solutions & Wealth Management (CSWM) and the Field accelerate growth in diverse and evolving market segments. You will design a hub-and-spoke Centers of Excellence model that equips advisors and firms with market intelligence, prospecting and outreach insights, practical tools, and compliant, business-relevant content that supports protection and wealth management conversations with priority client segments. Success in this role requires strong partnership, influence without authority, and the ability to design systems that help others scale impact in market. This role will establish the charter, governance, operating rhythms, and partner ecosystem for the CoEs. The CoE model is intended to reduce duplication, increase quality and consistency, strengthen measurement, and enable scalable execution—without becoming a centralized team that owns or builds every deliverable. This leader will partner across CSWM, Principal Owner Development & Growth, Marketing, Communications, Product, Enterprise Thought Leadership, Legal/Compliance, and Corporate Impact to translate enterprise priorities and inclusion strategies into field-ready offerings that are relevant to advisor practice growth and client needs. This role reports to the Head of Inclusion & Impact. You will Design and launch Guardian’s Field Centers of Excellence (CoEs) approach, including a clear charter that defines what the CoEs own, influence, and explicitly does not own or do Establish governance, decision rights, and intake/prioritization processes to ensure CoE work aligns to CSWM priorities, Field needs, and risk/compliance requirements Build an operating model (hub-and-spoke) that scales scarce expertise, standardizes best practices, and enables consistent execution across Field channels and teams Understands CSWM’s priority diverse and emerging market segments and define repeatable segment frameworks for those segments (personas, needs, common concerns, value propositions, compliant messaging guardrails, and recommended engagement pathways) Partner with Marketing, Communications, and Enterprise Thought Leadership to curate, adapt, and package content into Field-ready assets (playbooks, talk tracks, toolkits, event programming, and digital resource hubs) Collaborate with PO Development & Growth and Field partners to integrate CoE offerings into advisor lifecycle moments (recruiting, onboarding, practice development, retention, and key convenings) Translate field and market feedback into actionable insights for enterprise partners, helping inform product, experience, and distribution strategies Define success metrics and measurement approaches (adoption, satisfaction, content utilization, pipeline/activity indicators, and qualitative outcomes) and provide regular reporting and recommendations Build and manage a cross-functional network of subject matter experts and partners (internal and external) to extend capability and accelerate delivery Operate with strong judgment in a regulated environment, ensuring content/programs are defensible, inclusive, and aligned with Guardian brand and enterprise priorities You have 8+ years of experience in one or more of the following: go-to-market strategy, market segmentation, distribution enablement, practice management, product marketing, customer/market insights, or strategic program leadership Demonstrated experience building and scaling cross-functional programs or Centers of Excellence (or equivalent shared-services / enablement models) with clear governance and measurable outcomes Strong ability to translate complex enterprise priorities into practical offerings, tools, and content that drives adoption and behavior change Proven stakeholder management skills and ability to influence at senior levels across a matrixed organization without direct authority Analytical and strategic thinking skills, including the ability to synthesize qualitative and quantitative inputs into clear recommendations Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including executive-ready narrative, facilitation, and field-facing messaging Program and project management strength, including prioritization, operating cadence, and delivery discipline Comfort operating in ambiguity and building new capability from the ground up Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams Insurance, wealth management, or adjacent regulated-industry experience strongly preferred Direct Field distribution experience and/or familiarity with an agency model is a plus, but not required Location /Travel Hybrid role –in office 3 days a week, Hudson Yards, NY; Stamford CT or Holmdel, NJ. 2 days WFH. Travel - Up to 25% occasional travel to various U.S. Guardian offices and Field events (e.g., community convenings, leadership forums, and partner engagements). Salary Range: $132,420.00 - $217,545.00 The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation. Our Promise At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards. Inspire Well-Being As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits . Benefits apply to full-time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits. Equal Employment Opportunity Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law. Accommodations Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [email protected] . Please note: this resource is for accommodation requests only. For all other inquires related to your application and careers at Guardian, refer to the Guardian Careers site. Visa Sponsorship Guardian is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment visas. In order to be a successful applicant. you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship. Notice Regarding Guardian’s Use of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment As part of Guardian’s job application process, Guardian may use artificial intelligence tools (“AI Tools) to automate the sorting and filtering of information provided by applicants as part of its preliminary screening. This preliminary screening may be used to help identify applicant materials and resumes relative to their indication that the applicant meets the requirements for the specific job for which they are applying, as specified in the listing posted on Guardian’s jobs website (Careers at Guardian at https://www.guardianlife.com/careers ). At Guardian, we do not use AI Tools to substantially assist or replace human judgment or discretionary decision making in our hiring process. All hiring decisions will be made by Guardian colleagues. Please be aware that if you apply for a specific position with Guardian, you will have the choice of opting out of Guardian’s use of AI Tools during the job application process. If you would like to request an alternative process that does not utilize AI Tools or would like to request a reasonable accommodation, within ten business days of your position application, you must email your request to [email protected] , making sure to provide your name and job requisition identification number. Guardian will retain your applicant materials and resume and all information therefrom in accordance with Guardian’s document retention policy, a copy of which you may request via [email protected] . Additionally, at applicable times, Guardian will make public the most recent bias audit results for such AI tools, which may be found here . Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday.