Director, Strategic Data Agile Product Management – Employee Benefits

The Hartford•Hartford, CT

21h•Hybrid

About The Position

We’re determined to make a difference and are proud to be an insurance company that goes well beyond coverages and policies. Working here means having every opportunity to achieve your goals – and to help others accomplish theirs, too. Join our team as we help shape the future. The Employee Benefits organization is accelerating its transformation toward a modern, data‑driven, enterprise‑aligned operating model. As the Director, Strategic Data Agile Product Management, you will play a critical leadership role in translating Strategic Data vision into disciplined, value‑driven delivery across the Employee Benefits portfolio. Reporting to the AVP, Strategic Data Transformation within the EB Transformation Office, this leader serves as the voice of the business and primary connector between Strategic Data strategy, Enterprise Data Services, Technology, and Agile delivery teams. The Director is accountable for leading Agile Product Management execution across one or more Agile Release Trains (ARTs), ensuring that data products, platforms, and capabilities are delivered with clarity of purpose, strong backlog health, and measurable business impact. Success in this role requires a strong balance of strategic thinking, agile delivery leadership, and matrixed influence—driving alignment from enterprise data standards through day‑to‑day execution while enabling scalable, trusted, and consumable data products across Employee Benefits. You will lead a team of Agile Product Owners within the Strategic Data Value Stream, ensuring clarity of product strategy, alignment to enterprise priorities, and consistent application of Agile principles across your portfolio.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in data product management, analytics, digital transformation, or related fields; EB experience preferred.
Proven experience leading Agile delivery at the program or ART level, with strong understanding of Agile product management practices (SAFe preferred).
Experience and proficiency with BI and analytics tools such as Tableau, ThoughtSpot, Power BI, or similar platforms.
Strong understanding of data models, data architecture, and modern data technologies, including ingestion, integration, curation, and analytics enablement.
Strong communication, influence, and relationship‑building skills with functional and technical audiences.
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead product execution across Strategic Data ART(s), ensuring delivery aligns to EB data strategy, enterprise data standards, and business priorities.
Translate Strategic Data vision and multi‑year data domain roadmaps into executable Epics, Features, and prioritized backlogs.
Ensure strong backlog health, readiness, and prioritization discipline, partnering with Agile Product Managers (APMs) and Agile Product Owners (APOs) across all Value Stream teams.
Leverage emerging technologies to deliver data capabilities with pace—driving innovation through rapid iteration, automation, and scalable product design.
Guide ARTs in defining PI Objectives and linking delivery commitments to measurable business outcomes.
Develop product KPIs, value metrics, and reporting mechanisms to measure adoption, quality, and business outcomes.
Translate business strategy, customer insights, and operational needs into actionable product strategies.
Lead, develop, and coach a team of Agile Product Owners, and matrixed team members supporting enterprise programs, including data demand(s) from across EB Portfolio.
Own the ART‑level product backlog, prioritize based on value, and serve as escalation point for trade‑offs.
Partner with Release Train Engineers (RTEs), Architects, Tech Leads, and Delivery Leads to ensure solutions align to the intended data product vision.
Promote consistent application of Agile principles, value‑based prioritization, and outcome‑oriented delivery practices.
Create a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and data‑driven decision‑making.
Balance the priorities of data quality, data reliability, and data product delivery to maximize business value.
Model disciplined execution, collaboration, and results‑oriented behaviors across all product teams.
Shape EB’s Line‑of‑Business data strategy and ensure alignment with the Enterprise Data Strategy, platforms, governance, and standards.
Act as a key liaison between Transformation Office, Strategic Data leadership, Enterprise Data Services, Technology, and EB business stakeholders.
Engage leaders across Underwriting, Product, Actuarial, Sales, Operations, Claims, and Priority Business to ensure data products are understood, adopted, and actionable.
Identify emerging business challenges and opportunities by generating data-driven insights and prototyping solutions.
Ensure stakeholder satisfaction through proactive communication, disciplined execution routines, and measurable progress toward outcomes.
Communicate product strategy, roadmap progress, risks, and outcomes through clear, executive‑ready storytelling.
Drive adoption of new data capabilities through communication, training, readiness, and measurement plans.
Ensure data products are trusted, consumable, and actionable for internal and external business users.
Partner with Data Science and EDS to leverage emerging technologies, advanced analytics, and AI/ML.
Provide strategic leadership across the full data lifecycle—including solution design, ingestion and integration, curation, quality and governance, analytics and insights enablement, and data product delivery—to ensure EB data is trusted, scalable, and actionable.