Product Manager

What will you do?

To design, implement and manage appropriate personal and small business insurance products, loyalty and rewards programs, as well as value-added services, to all target markets through all distribution channels for the Santam Group; aligned to the department’s product range strategies.

PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES:
Leading and Managing
-    Leadership responsibilities to the team reporting to this individual.
-    Ensuring up-skilling through appropriate application and development of skills.
-    Oversight of product analyses and research conducted by team.
-    Managing the development of product solutions in support of Santam Group strategic initiatives.
-    Strategic and technical guidance of product integrations into the wider Sanlam Group.
-    Accountable for changes and maintenance of commoditised products for South Africa.
-    Providing product guidance and support to operational environments.
-    Accountable for product alignment with underwriting rules and mandates.

Product strategy
-    Market research.
-    Data-led market segmentation to identify high-value and high-growth opportunities.
-    Ability to make statistical inferences from financial, underwriting and claims data
-    Client needs analysis.
-    Strategic positioning of the product in market.
-    Concept brief development 

Product planning
-    Product gap analysis and planning 
-    Business case development
-    Roadmapping and feature prioritisation.

Product design
-    Definition of all product elements aligned to product architecture.
-    Brief to actuarial for assumptions, predictive modelling, pricing and rating.
-    Brief to underwriting for rules, pricing and underwriting standards.
-    Definition of all variable document elements.
-    Draft of policy wording clauses in collaboration with underwriting, legal and compliance.
-    Distribution channel definition.
-    Operational models consideration, impact analysis and solutions.
-    Claims models consideration, impact analysis and solutions.
-    Product training brief.
-    Product marketing brief.

Product development
-    Backlog grooming
-    Sprint planning
-    Spring demos
-    User acceptance testing.
-    Regulatory and compliance sign-off
-    Launch planning.

Product governance
-    Implementation of Group product governance framework.
-    Complaints analysis and reporting.
-    Product risk identification and mitigation
-    Regulatory and compliance reporting.
-    Access accreditation of relevant products for group reporting (FSC scorecard).
-    Product governance and control matrix design.

Stakeholder relations
-    Identifying relevant stakeholders, establishing and maintaining stakeholder relationships.
-    Supporting stakeholder relationships and engagement of team.

Other
-    Product due diligence in support of acquisition strategies.

What will make you successful in this role?

QUALIFICATIONS
-    B-degree or similar tertiary qualification.
-    Minimum of 360 credits at NQF level 7.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
-    Minimum 5 years’ experience in product development / implementation within a financial services environment
-    Minimum 2 years' experience in leading a product / analytical team
-    

SKILLS
-    Finding innovative and practical solutions to complex challenges.
-    Short-term insurance technical proficiency.
-    Policy wording draft and interpretation.
-    Identifying and capitalising on business development opportunities.
-    Business requirements and system specifications.

COMPETENCIES
-    Systems thinking.
-    Data analysis.
-    Initiative-taking and results oriented.
-    Organised and efficient.
-    Excellent ability to manage stakeholder relationships.
-    Effective communication skills (written and verbal).
-    Product lifecycle management
 

Our commitment to transformation