AI Product Lead

What will you do?

MiWay is seeking an AI Product Lead to drive the end to end success of AI enabled products and capabilities across the business. This role will work closely with business area heads, executive stakeholders, data science, technology, risk, and delivery teams to identify, design, prioritise, and deliver AI solutions that create measurable business value.

The AI Product Lead is accountable for managing the full AI product lifecycle—from opportunity identification, business case development, and experimentation through to production deployment, adoption, optimisation, and value realisation. This role ensures AI initiatives are aligned to business strategy, governed responsibly, and embedded into core business processes.

This role will form part of the CIO reporting line, reporting directly to the Head of Business Process Innovation.

What will make you successful in this role?

Minimum Qualification Required
•    A relevant tertiary qualification (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) 
•    Qualification in Business, Engineering, Data Science, Computer Science, or a related field 
•    Postgraduate qualification will be advantageous 
•    Product Management, Agile, Digital, or AI related certifications will be beneficial

Minimum Experience
•    Minimum 2–3 years’ experience in product management, digital transformation, advanced analytics, or technology enabled business change 
•    At least 2–3 years’ experience delivering AI, advanced analytics, or automation solutions in a production environment 
•    Proven experience delivering products or initiatives with measurable business value 
•    Experience operating in financial services, insurance, or a regulated environment 
•    Strong experience working with:
•    Data science and engineering teams
•    Agile delivery teams
•    Senior executives and business leaders

Deliverables include, but will not be limited to

The AI Product Lead will be responsible for, but not limited to, the following:
AI Product Strategy and Portfolio Management
•    Create, own, and maintain the enterprise AI product strategy and roadmap, aligned to MiWay’s business priorities.
•    Own and manage the AI use case portfolio, including intake, assessment, prioritisation, sequencing, and value tracking.
•    Translate strategic business objectives into outcome driven AI product goals and initiatives.

Value Realisation and Business Impact
•    Be accountable for the realisation of measurable value from AI initiatives, including revenue growth, cost reduction, productivity gains, turnaround time improvements, and enhanced customer or agent experience.
•    Define clear success metrics and KPIs for AI products and report on progress and realised benefits.

AI Product Delivery and Lifecycle Ownership
•    Lead the full AI product lifecycle, including: 
•    Problem definition and business case development
•    Data readiness and feasibility assessment
•    MVP definition and experimentation
•    Deployment, adoption, and change management
•    Continuous monitoring and optimisation
•    Ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, production grade, and embedded into end to end business processes.

Stakeholder and Executive Engagement
•    Partner with executive management, business heads, and operational leaders to shape and prioritise AI initiatives.
•    Communicate AI roadmaps, progress, risks, and trade offs clearly to senior stakeholders.
•    Manage stakeholder expectations by negotiating priorities, timelines, and scope, while adapting to changing business needs.

Governance, Risk and Responsible AI
•    Ensure AI initiatives comply with governance, risk, legal, and regulatory requirements.
•    Embed Responsible AI principles, including fairness, transparency, explainability, and data privacy.
•    Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Audit to identify and mitigate AI related risks.

Ways of Working and Capability Building
•    Establish and maintain consistent AI product management standards, templates, and delivery frameworks.
•    Collaborate and align with other Product Owners and Product Leads across the organisation.
•    Provide guidance and mentorship to AI Product Owners and cross functional delivery teams.
•    Support the ongoing development and maturity of MiWay’s AI capability and Centre of Excellence.

Additional Responsibilities
•    Coordinate and align prioritised work across multiple teams and backlogs.
•    Support product releases by enabling training, communication, and adoption across the business.
•    Analyse product performance metrics and user behaviour to drive continuous improvement.
•    Collaborate with internal teams and external service providers to deliver integrated AI solutions.
•    Develop a deep understanding of MiWay’s business processes, data, and technology landscape.

Competencies Required

•    Strong strategic and analytical thinking with a commercial mindset 
•    Outcome driven with a strong product orientation 
•    Excellent communication, facilitation, and executive level storytelling skills 
•    Confident stakeholder management and influencing abilities 
•    Comfortable leading change in complex environments 
•    Strong delivery focus with the ability to balance short term wins and long term impact 
•    Experience working in Agile and cross functional delivery environments

Candidates with the following additional skills/exposure will take the preference
•    Prior experience as an AI Product Lead, Product Manager, Product Owner, or similar role 
•    Exposure to insurance, financial services, or highly regulated industries 
•    Exposure to automation, advanced analytics, or generative AI technologies 
•    Experience operating within an AI or Digital Centre of Excellence

Knowledge and Skills

Personal Attributes

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping  our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

Core Competencies

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers. Deadline to apply:23 April 2026. 

Our commitment to transformation