AVP Product Manager - Operations & Process Optimization

UNUM Group•Chattanooga, TN

27d

About The Position

When you join the team at Unum, you become part of an organization committed to helping you thrive. Here, we work to provide the employee benefits and service solutions that enable employees at our client companies to thrive throughout life's moments. And this starts with ensuring that every one of our team members enjoys opportunities to succeed both professionally and personally. To enable this, we provide: Award-winning culture Inclusion and diversity as a priority Performance Based Incentive Plans Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!) Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution Mental health support Career advancement opportunities Student loan repayment options Tuition reimbursement Flexible work environments All the benefits listed above are subject to the terms of their individual Plans. And that's just the beginning… With 10,000 employees helping more than 39 million people worldwide, every role at Unum is meaningful and impacts the lives of our customers. Whether you're directly supporting a growing family, or developing online tools to help navigate a difficult loss, customers are counting on the combined talents of our entire team. Help us help others, and join Team Unum today! General Summary: The Product Manager serves as a business owner across all platforms/clients for one customer value stream (e.g. Policyholder, Plan Administrator and Field/Broker)/Business Delivery Highway (BDH). They are accountable for achieving select business, operational, usage and financial goals for their value stream/BDH and lead Product Owners, Process Improvement resources and Agile Teams to deliver customer delight. Product Managers obsess over their value stream and are thought leaders who influence the organization. They represent customers and own the major product backlogs, defining scope (epics), success criteria, strategy and prioritization of key initiatives to achieve business output goals. They play a central leadership role in the strategic imperative of enabling our business transformation through the development and delivery of market leading products and services in our chosen categories. They have end-to-end responsibility delivering aggressive business objectives by applying Scaled Agile methodology e.g. design and implement of (continuous) changes within the area of responsibility in line with the change agenda (within budget, timelines and quality standards) considering the overall strategy of Operations, Technology and UUS/Colonial Life.

Requirements

Requires Bachelor's degree. Masters preferred.
Exhibits strong leadership skills, including the ability to effectively partner, problem solve, and influence others.
Unique combination of problem solving, analytical and strong project management skills across business and IT
Must be a strategic thinker but able to execute at a tactical level
Product ownership, Technology Acumen and Change experience of 10+ years required.
Proven ability to understand and balance distribution needs and considerations with risk management considerations to achieve desired objectives.
Strong customer focus, with a track record of using customer insights to shape product strategy and drive detailed tradeoffs.
Adept at analyzing competitive and adjacent products and using those insights to improve the product and anticipate competitive threats before they happen.
Ability to prioritize competing opportunities, balance market needs with business priorities, manage conflict and articulate the rationale behind decisions.
Successful at leading complex projects across a matrixed organization and demonstrated ability as a thought leader.
Makes decisions confidently and wisely, adequately considering alternatives.
Demonstrates high levels of judgment, ownership and accountability.
High energy and the willingness to work in a fast-paced environment.
Vocally self-critical and focused on continuous improvement of self, team and product.
Creative thinker and problem solver who can confidently express complex ideas in an articulate, concise manner.
Strong technology acumen and seeks to understand emerging technologies in partnership with IT
Proven abilities regarding talent development, inclusive of attracting, developing and retaining talent.
Proficient in cultivating a strong personal network across the organization
Develops other product owners to demonstrate similar skills and qualifications
Demonstrated results against Our Value principles
Some travel may be required

Nice To Haves

Masters preferred.

Responsibilities

Proven track record in leading business and technology transformations with successful outcomes
Responsible for (long term) planning and directing an organization's strategic agenda including long range goals within the customer values streams
End to end business and IT planning and prioritization to deliver value stream/BDH goals and align teams with the highest business value
Implement and manage Lean Management system in partnership with Customer Experience and Process experts to:
Focus on changing culture & behavior for sustainable growth;
Adding strong end-to-end focus on process improvement;
Enable faster benefit realization through the agile use of technology;
Continue tracking, huddles, side by sides, & Process standardization;
Setting up and managing the Scaled Agile Framework for a Customer Value Stream/BDH including Agile Release Train and Value Stream and Program ceremonies
Initiate and proposes strategies within focus on delivering a simple, modern and personal customer experience
Initiate and execute Portfolio Assessments that leverage economic modeling; accountable to deliver a high return portfolio of Epics
Define new products, processes and propositions based on Portfolio Assessments;
Contribute in the development of the change agenda: propose designs, course and prioritization in partnership with Business Leadership based on change agenda setting and manage change project Portfolio;
In charge on design and implementation of the change agenda within the area of responsibility by consulting, pro-active informing, monitoring and steering;
Supervises on innovation, standardization and optimization of products and processes regarding functionalities and applicable technology within the framework and standards;
Contribute to knowledge management and skills development within the area of responsibility including steering on standardization and simplification of activities
Will be the primary contact for the decision maker for the customer value stream/BDH
Effectively collaborate with and influence a variety of internal business partners (e.g. Global Services (IT), members of the sales organization, administration, marketing, claims and underwriting) in ensuring the design and development of our offerings align with our strategic intent and the evolving market opportunities
Collaborate across all functional areas to ensure the right resources are allocated to Product and change initiatives
Manage cross initiative decisions / tradeoff evaluations