Cigna Healthcare is hiring a Head of Transformation

The Head of Transformation is responsible for leading comprehensive transformation across Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa, including operating model redesign, technology and data modernization, regulatory readiness, and execution discipline. This role reports to the MEA CEO and serves as a core member of the leadership team, establishing the Transformation Office and driving enterprise-wide agility and change.

What You'll Do

• Define, own, and continuously re-prioritize the MEA transformation roadmap, with explicit accountability for sequencing initiatives based on regulatory urgency, value at risk, and delivery capacity.
• Hold authority to recommend stopping, pausing, or re-scoping initiatives that do not deliver measurable outcomes or jeopardize regulatory or operational stability.
• Evolving and lead the Transformation Office (TO) including Lean Portfolio Management, ensuring value streams are defined, funded, and sequenced.
• Oversee execution of enterprise initiatives, impacting MEA value streams.
• Institutionalize agile and product-led operating models across MEA, ensuring adoption translates into faster time-to-market, improved delivery predictability, and measurable flow improvements.
• Partner with the business and support functions to align operating model changes, budget cycles, workforce plans, vendor strategies, and benefit realization.
• Own the delivery of a multi-year enterprise transformation portfolio, including but not limited to digital distribution, customer self-service, claims and medical cost transformation, provider network enablement, and core platform modernization.
• Be accountable for delivery outcomes across a matrixed environment, including dependencies on Operations, Technology, Finance, Markets, and third-party vendors.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration and dependencies management (Scrum of Scrums, ART Sync), ensuring blockers are escalated and resolved quickly.
• Institutionalize benefits realization, tracking both leading indicators (adoption) and lagging outcomes.
• Champion agile and customer-centric mindsets; coach executives and teams on lean/agile, product ownership, and hypothesis-driven delivery.
• Design and execute change plans (communications, stakeholder mapping, training, role clarity, incentives) using proven frameworks.
• Build on transformation capability by developing delivery talent (RTEs, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, PMs, BAs) and shaping Communities of Practice.
• Advance data and analytics foundations (data quality, governance, BI/self-service, AI/ML use cases) to improve business outcomes.
• Lead process re-engineering and automation (Lean, Six Sigma, workflow digitization, RPA).
• Partner with Technology while retaining outcome accountability for platform modernization, data foundations, integration simplification, and automation that materially reduce operational risk, cost-to-serve, and regulatory exposure.
• Act as a senior counterpart to Technology leadership to challenge delivery plans, vendor dependencies, and sequencing decisions.
• Own benefits realization end-to-end, with explicit linkage between initiatives and financial, operational, and regulatory outcomes; ensure benefits are auditable, tracked, and reflected in business performance.
• Ensure all transformation initiatives are fully aligned with MEA regulatory requirements, with clear ownership of remediation plans, delivery milestones, and executive escalation where risks emerge.
• Proactively manage risk (operational, technology, data, third-party) via robust controls, testing, and audit readiness.
• Provide clear, decision-oriented executive reporting to the CEO and leadership team, including delivery risks, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Serve as a thought partner to the CEO and leadership team, shaping priorities, investment decisions, and enterprise cadence.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 12–15+ years of experience in transformation leadership, program delivery, or corporate strategy
• Demonstrated experience leading transformation at scale in regulated, multi-market environments
• Proven enterprise transformation track record, including Agile SAFe adoption across business and technology
• Demonstrated business impact delivering quantifiable results (e.g., medical cost containment, loss ratio improvement, cost-to-serve reduction, cycle time reduction, digital adoption)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability; fluent in data-led decision making and benefits realization
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement with the ability to influence at C-suite level and across geographies
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to pivot based on evidence and market dynamics
• Leadership presence that inspires trust, accountability, and high performance
• Excellent synthesis skills—able to translate complexity into clarity
• Open, concise communicator with strong written and verbal skills
• Prioritization mastery, adept at managing multiple complex initiatives

Nice to Have

• MBA/Master’s preferred
• Insurance or financial services experience strongly preferred
• Experience in healthcare, insurance, or adjacent regulated industries strongly preferred
• Relevant certifications: SAFe (SPC or RTE preferred), Prosci/ADKAR, Lean Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), PMP/PgMP (or equivalent)
• Regional experience in MEA regulatory/market environments is an advantage

Technical Stack

Agile SAFe, Lean Portfolio Management, Lean, Six Sigma, RPA, Data quality, Data governance, BI/self-service analytics, AI/ML, Workflow digitization, Scrum of Scrums, ART Sync

Team & Environment

Enterprise-level cross-functional teams operating in a matrixed environment with dependencies across Operations, Technology, Finance, Markets, and third-party vendors. Reports directly to the MEA CEO.

Benefits & Compensation

• Hybrid working model aligned to business requirements
• Regional travel to markets and partners as needed
• Opportunity to join a positive, inclusive culture that prioritizes colleagues
• Meaningful work within a team that champions teamwork and collaboration
• Empowerment with cutting-edge technology to drive efficiency and amplify impact
• Growth and development opportunities
• Environment where every individual thrives and contributes to meaningful change

Work Mode

Hybrid role based in Middle East & Africa, with regional travel to markets and partners as needed. Hybrid working model aligned to business requirements.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.