Daniel Kowalchuk
Breinigsville
Summary
Dynamic technology leader with a proven track record at Guardian Life and other organizations, specializing in collaboration with key stakeholders to develop strategic roadmaps and targeted portfolios. Skilled with integrating modern technologies such as AI and automation to increase volume while eyeing opportunities to improve OPEX. Adept at coaching teams and driving continuous improvement initiatives to deliver stable and performant systems.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Group Benefits Technology Admin Systems
Guardian Life
08.2023 - Current
- Collaborate with business and technology stakeholders to design strategic solutions leveraging AI, Machine Learning, and Automation.
- Coordinate with business stakeholders to develop delivery portfolios for the Underwriting and Operations systems each year. This includes estimation, resource allocation, and delivery timelines.
- Strategize with vendors and technology teams to develop approaches to migrate from legacy backend technologies to a modern stack.
- Partner with business teams to identify pain points and add/prioritize them in the backlog. Ensure that capacity is set aside to address.
- Lead numerous technology teams located in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, India, and remote locations within the United States.
- Turn system issues, vulnerabilities, and outages into improvement opportunities while working with technology and business stakeholders to resolve and add preventative measures.
Head of Business Technology for Rating & Quoting
Guardian Life
08.2021 - 07.2023
- Led efforts with business and technology teams to integrate Guardian's Group Underwriting systems with a modern administration platform.
- Collaborated with Benefits Administration business and technical teams to expose Underwriting APIs to a variety of partners increasing opportunity intake.
- Identified and advocated for the use of vendor technology to replace Guardian's aging rules engines and actuarial calculation algorithms.
- Led a number of technology teams based in both the United States and India to deliver on strategic and portfolio initiatives.
- Spearheaded performance and stabilization efforts for New Business and Inforce Underwriting systems. Highlights includes capacity expansion for year over year volume increases, a substantial speed increase for renewal systems, and increased stability for legacy systems.
Manager, Application Development
Guardian Life
12.2016 - 07.2021
- Had frontline management responsibilities on both New Business and Renewal Group Underwriting Systems.
- Led a number of technology teams located in the United States and India.
- Delivered detailed and defensible estimates for strategic and portfolio initiatives.
- Stabilized a number of Underwriting systems upon arrival, including long standing renewal automation defects and a vision vendor eligibility system.
- Collaborated with enterprise technology teams to introduce and vet cloud container services for the enterprise.
- Partnered with business stakeholders to relaunch New Business's discounting system as well as provide a means by which users could securely launch and use existing systems on large mobile devices.
- Vetted several vendors and their solutions in a search to modernize Guardian's legacy underwriting systems.
Senior Software Engineering Manager
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
06.2014 - 11.2016
- Mentored junior engineers, fostering skill development and promoting a collaborative work environment.
- Designed and executed strategic technology roadmaps aligning with business objectives.
- Established best practices for code quality, testing, and deployment across multiple projects.
- Collaborated with stakeholders to analyze requirements and deliver tailored software solutions.
- Partnered with stakeholders to deliver defensible ROMs and shape the portfolio.
Software Engineering Manager
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
04.2009 - 05.2014
- Led three teams in the United States and India to maintain and deliver enhancements to the company's Business to Consumer system.
- Collaborated with senior architects to introduce SonarQube to analyze code coverage and help enforce coding standards standards.
- Assembled a technical team to deliver front end support for AT&T's GigaPower initiative. Inception to production was five weeks.
Senior Software Engineer
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
04.2007 - 03.2009
Software Developer
Andesa Services
01.2006 - 03.2007
Software Developer
Contracted
07.2005 - 12.2005
Software Engineer
Trifecta Technologies
09.2002 - 06.2005
Software Engineer
Network Security Systems
06.2001 - 08.2002
Education
MBA - Business Administration
Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PABachelor of Science - Computer Science
Moravian University
Bethlehem, PASkills
- Strategic roadmap creation
- Coaching and mentoring
- Budgeting
- Organizational development
- Multi-area collaboration
- Solution delivery
- Troubleshooting and analysis
- Continuous improvement
- Creative solutioning
Timeline
Head of Group Benefits Technology Admin Systems
Guardian Life
08.2023 - Current
Head of Business Technology for Rating & Quoting
Guardian Life
08.2021 - 07.2023
Manager, Application Development
Guardian Life
12.2016 - 07.2021
Senior Software Engineering Manager
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
06.2014 - 11.2016
Software Engineering Manager
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
04.2009 - 05.2014
Senior Software Engineer
Synchronoss Technologies Inc
04.2007 - 03.2009
Software Developer
Andesa Services
01.2006 - 03.2007
Software Developer
Contracted
07.2005 - 12.2005
Software Engineer
Trifecta Technologies
09.2002 - 06.2005
Software Engineer
Network Security Systems
06.2001 - 08.2002
MBA - Business Administration
Lehigh University
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science
Moravian University