SUMMARY The Product Manager – Core and Digital (PM-CD) is the product owner for our core system and its digital content and interfaces and is responsible for decision making concerning prioritization of product initiatives with an outside-in approach. The PM-CD has a strong background in the Property and Casualty insurance industry, is highly familiar with insurance technology, has extensive knowledge of Guidewire’s InsuranceNow platform, and a proven record of effective vendor management. The PM-CD is responsible for determining the capacity needs to ensure sustainable implementation, maintenance, and operations of the core and digital products, assigns the correct people to the correct product initiatives and is responsible for these teams’ success. The PM-CD keeps the product’s projects on time and within budget, tracks progress and communicates status to all stakeholders regularly.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES Delivery:
Deliver core and digital software products using Agile delivery frameworks.
Follow and promote IT practices and guiding principles.
Work with the Technology Leadership Council (TLC) to align the Core/Digital team functions with governance controls.
Prioritize development initiatives for the Core/Digital products using the outside-in approach and taking dependencies into account.
Ensure delivered solutions are architecturally sound.
Continually strive for process improvement.
Establish delivery management controls to deliver according to business objectives, including time and budget.
Organize and lead status and work meetings with internal and external core and digital teams.
Devise and activate contingency plans as necessary to avoid crises.
Oversee the coordination of the work between the Core/Digital, business, and vended teams.
Stay well-informed of current and future insurance technologies, identifying potential solutions to business problems and enhancements to increase market share.
Participate in and support internal and external application security compliance audits.
Relationship management:
Work collaboratively with all areas of the business such as the TLC, the Agency Council, business stakeholders and other Company product managers to deliver cohesive solutions.
Work effectively with the core and digital system vendors to communicate and manage vendor performance expectations and cost.
Establish connections with peer Guidewire InsuranceNow customers, peers in the P&C industry, and potential new core and digital system vendors.
Communicate with business leaders on implementation plans, resource needs, and status updates.
Leadership:
Communicate Company mission, strategy and commitments.
Continually strive for organizational improvement.
Be responsible for the management and development of the Core/Digital team.
Maintain information regarding the skillsets and allocation of Core/Digital resources.
Actively monitor and assess changing conditions to effectively manage resources.
Communication:
Create 18-month (or longer) roadmaps of planned deliveries with drill down capabilities to details.
Establish vendor scorecards to track and communicate vendor performance.
Develop appropriate progress reporting and presentations to communicate status of Core/Digital initiatives to various audiences, such as Company Staff, Product Teams, Management Team, Technology Leadership Council, Agency Council, Board of Directors.
Other duties as assigned. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES Oversee the work of the Core/Digital team through team leaders.
QUALIFICATIONS
Outstanding leadership competency with 10+ years of professional management experience in IT related areas with ability to lead, mentor, support and motivate others to be high performers.
At least 5+ years’ experience working in the finance services industry with strong preference toward Property & Casualty insurance.
Experience working collaboratively with all areas of business to successfully deliver solutions.
Experience working with Agile delivery frameworks.
