Functional Lead

EXL
Jersey City, NJ
On-site

Who this role is best for

A natural match if you have insurance domain experience and a history of leading business transformation projects.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with insurance domain expertise and proven leadership in business transformation initiatives
    — “Strong experience working within the Insurance domain”
  • Individuals who can act as a bridge between business and technology stakeholders
    — “Proven experience working as a bridge between business and technology teams”
  • Professionals with a track record of translating complex requirements into actionable specifications
    — “Translate business requirements into detailed functional requirements”

Things to consider

  • Compensation may vary based on location, with higher potential in New Jersey due to cost-of-living factors
    — “For positions based in higher-cost zones (e.g., California, New York, New Jersey)”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your ability to lead workshops and coordinate cross-functional teams in your resume
    — “Experience leading requirements workshops and managing multiple business and functional workstreams”
  • Showcase your insurance domain knowledge with specific examples of process simplification or automation
    — “Support analysis of existing processes and identify opportunities for process simplification, automation, and operational improvement”
  • Emphasize your experience in creating BRDs, FRDs, and requirement traceability matrices
    — “Support preparation and review of key artifacts such as BRDs, FRDs, process maps, workflows, functional specifications, and requirement traceability matrices”
  • Demonstrate your ability to align solutions with business objectives and insurance processes
    — “Ensure solutions and deliverables remain aligned with business objectives and insurance processes”
  • Demonstrate your expertise in translating complex requirements into clear functional direction
    — “Translate complex business requirements into clear functional direction for delivery teams”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • functional leadership across insurance initiatives
  • providing business guidance
Typical background
strong insurance domain knowledgebusiness analysis experience

Skills & requirements

Required

Functional ExpertiseBusiness AnalysisRequirements GatheringProject CoordinationInsurance Domain Knowledge

Preferred

Technology CoordinationSolution Discussions

Stack & domain

AgileWaterfallJiraConfluenceRallyVisioCommunicationFacilitationDocumentationStakeholder ManagementInsurance

About the role

Original posting from EXL

We are seeking an experienced Functional Lead – to provide functional and business leadership across insurance transformation and technology initiatives. The ideal candidate will bring strong insurance domain knowledge, coupled with experience in business analysis, requirements 

Base Compensation Range: 140,000 -180,000

The posted range is the hiring range for this role — a subset of the broader range available to employees over time — and reflects base salary across our national hiring scale. Final offers are based on several factors, including the candidate's skills and experience, internal pay equity, work location, market conditions for the role, and the specific scope and responsibilities of the position. The top of the range is reserved for candidates who notably exceed the requirements; the lower end applies to those with less experience or fewer preferred qualifications. For positions based in higher-cost zones (e.g., California, New York, New Jersey), actual compensation may exceed the posted range; your recruiter will share specifics during the process.

For more information on benefits and what we offer please visit us at https://www.exlservice.com/us-careers-and-benefits

Key Responsibilities

Functional & Business  Expertise

Lead functional activities across insurance business and technology transformation initiatives.Serve as a functional subject matter expert (SME) and support teams in understanding insurance business processes, requirements, workflows, and business rules.Partner with business stakeholders to understand business objectives, operational challenges, and transformation priorities.Provide functional guidance to technology, data, QA, and delivery teams throughout the project lifecycle.Ensure solutions and deliverables remain aligned with business objectives and insurance processes.Insurance Domain Expertise

Provide strong functional understanding of the insurance lifecycle, including areas such as policy administration, underwriting, claims, billing, renewals, and distribution.Work closely with insurance business teams to understand business processes, operating models, workflows, and downstream impacts.Support analysis of existing processes and identify opportunities for process simplification, automation, and operational improvement.Ensure business and functional requirements appropriately reflect insurance-specific workflows, controls, and business rules.Requirements & Functional Analysis

Lead requirement gathering sessions and workshops with business stakeholders and SMEs.Translate business requirements into detailed functional requirements, business requirements, user stories, use cases, process flows, and acceptance criteria.Support preparation and review of key artifacts such as BRDs, FRDs, process maps, workflows, functional specifications, and requirement traceability matrices.Analyze business requirements and identify dependencies, gaps, impacts, and functional risks.Ensure end-to-end traceability between business requirements, functional specifications, solution delivery, testing, and business outcomes.Business & Technology Coordination

Act as the primary functional liaison between business, operations, product, data, technology, and QA teams.Translate complex business requirements into clear functional direction for delivery teams.Support technical teams in understanding insurance terminology, business rules, workflows, and expected business outcomes.Participate in solution discussions and ensure proposed solutions meet business and functional requirements.Support resolution of requirement conflicts, functional gaps, and business process issues.Testing & Business Validation

Partner with QA and business teams to ensure test scenarios adequately cover functional and business requirements.Support UAT planning, business validation, defect triage, and requirement clarification.Review test scenarios and acceptance criteria from a functional and insurance business perspective.Coordinate with stakeholders for business sign-off and readiness.Stakeholder  Governance

Build strong relationships with business leaders, SMEs, product owners, operations teams, and technology stakeholders.Facilitate workshops, requirement discussions, walkthroughs, and business reviews.Communicate functional progress, dependencies, risks, issues, and decisions to project and business leadership.Maintain appropriate governance around requirements, changes, decisions, and business approvals.Qualifications

Experience

7+ years of experience in Business Analysis, Functional Consulting, Product/Business Consulting, or similar roles.Strong experience working within the Insurance domain.Experience supporting large-scale business transformation, technology modernization, data, or digital initiatives.Proven experience working as a bridge between business and technology teams.Experience leading requirements workshops and managing multiple business and functional workstreams.Prior experience as a Lead Business Analyst, Functional Lead, Business Consultant, or Insurance Functional SME is preferred.Skills

Strong understanding of insurance business processes and workflows.Knowledge across key insurance functions such as Policy Administration, Underwriting, Claims, Billing, Renewals, and Distribution.Strong expertise in: Business Requirements GatheringFunctional Requirements AnalysisBRD / FRD creationUser Stories & Acceptance CriteriaBusiness Process MappingFunctional SpecificationsRequirements TraceabilityGap & Impact AnalysisUAT & Business ValidationStakeholder ManagementAbility to translate business needs into clear functional requirements for technology and data teams.Strong experience with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery models.Working knowledge of tools such as Jira, Confluence, Rally, Visio, or similar requirement/process management tools.Excellent communication, facilitation, documentation, and stakeholder management skills.Ability to work effectively with both senior business stakeholders and technical delivery teams.

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline

Source: EXL careers

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