Senior Manager, Product Strategy, Design & Management - Absence Products (Location Flexible) at Gaurdian Life Insurance Company of America

 

POSITION SUMMARY

• The Sr. Product Manager will play a key role in the strategic development and management of Guardian’s Absence Products for the employer market. 
• This position will act as general manager for the product lines and is responsible for formulating, preparing, and implementing product strategies and action plans, as well as monitoring and managing the performance of assigned products throughout the product life cycle.
• These responsibilities include active review of pricing and strong partnership with legal, compliance, underwriting and claims organizations to influence all aspects of the product. 
• Additionally, this individual will help identify, prioritize, and design new products or enhancements for the product set in support of the Product Value Proposition and Guardian’s aggressive growth goals.
• This position will be responsible for partnering with marketing to help define the overall marketing strategy, key messages, and differentiation points. 
• This role will also represent Guardian as the face of the product to the market, representing Guardian in Thought Leadership webinars and speaking engagements, broker roadshows, industry associations etc. and will continue to build and enhance Guardian’s reputation in the marketplace.

CANDIDATE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assess key market factors, including competitive landscape, consumer and policyholder insights, and unmet customer needs to identify areas of opportunity for differentiated product or service enhancements to meet customer expectations and achieve growth for Guardian.
  • Identify primary and secondary market research needs to support the development of product strategy work. 
  • Work with market research team to define research needs and shape research studies. 
  • Oversee and work to finalize analysis and interpretation of research to provide product direction and guidance.
• Translate consumer insights into actionable strategies and initiatives as part of business, marketing and product development plans.
• Execute programs and initiatives in support of improving satisfaction with Guardian for all key constituents.
• Ensure appropriate product training and positioning is developed to educate distribution and other stakeholders
• Partner with Legal and Compliance on Legislative and regulatory topics impacting the product set.

Business Leadership on Product Initiatives

• Drive and champion the development of new products and enhancements of existing products from market assessment through post-product launch.
• Execute product development projects, providing business leadership to large, complex and cross-functional initiatives, ensuring business objectives are realized.
• Collaborate with others within the product area and Group Insurance to define business requirements for product, contracts, claims, online and technological capabilities and service.  
• Drive Go-to-Market Strategy working with Sales, Account Management and Marketing to define target markets and marketing strategy. 
• Responsible for training for distribution partners and internal and external communication campaigns to ensure clarity of purpose and consistent messaging in support of value proposition.

• In partnership with underwriting & pricing evaluate the effectiveness of product performance and leverage insights for influencing or driving product improvement initiatives to positively impact financial outcome of product set, as needed.
  • Use data to develop better products and processes as well as influence competitive pricing, compensation, and service strategies to meet product objectives.
  • Manage activities relating to the maintenance of the assigned product set.
• Act as liaison to other areas, include Sales, Law, Underwriting, Claims and Operations.
• Ensure that procedures and systems are updated as necessary and that changes are communicated to all interested parties. 
• Troubleshoot service, systems and claim issues and work with our partners to resolve.
• Work with competitive intelligence to perform regular and comprehensive competitive analysis, using all available data sources; field, broker and industry contacts; and publicly available competitor information.
• Help drive successful positioning of the product set in various communication, presentation, education, and training capacities with distribution.
  • Act as subject matter expert for communications (marketing materials/consumer materials /forms, etc.)
  • Work with marketing communications to develop product marketing campaigns with an emphasis on market segmentation
  • Provide copy review and oversight of messaging on Guardian.com, Guardian Anytime and internal online communications and tools.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

• This position reports to the Assistant Vice President, Absence, Disability, Paid Leave and Life Products, who in turn, reports to the Vice President, Group Products & Growth Solutions.

 

 

• Must be customer – focused and skillfully manage relationships and expectations with Sales and all other stakeholders.
• Excellent project management and communication skills, with demonstrated success achieving results through others.
• Entrepreneurial – ability to work independently and under pressure; ability to bring clarity to ideas that may appear unclear or ambiguous in concept.
• Financial management, strong analytical skills, ability to analyze and communicate financial information.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability produce clear supporting documents in PowerPoint, Excel etc.
• Ability to effectively handle multiple priorities.
• Fosters a high level of teamwork and collaboration between employees, teams, across departments and the field as appropriate
• Understands how to communicate effectively; articulates information is a manner that is easily understood.
• Possesses excellent organizational skills

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA preferred
• At least 7 years of experience in insurance industry and deep experience in product set,
• Proven ability to influence cross functional teams to achieve results in a dynamic, rapidly changing market.

Guardian has been helping people protect their futures and secure their lives for more than 150 years. Every day, we serve approximately 27 million people through a range of insurance and financial products. As one of the largest mutual insurance companies, we know what matters most: putting the needs of our customers first. Because everyone deserves a Guardian. Learn more about Guardian at guardianlife.com

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.

© Copyright 2020 The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY.