Senior Associate, Integrated Absence Product Manager
About The Position
The Senior Associate, Integrated Absence Product Manager advances the strategy, design, and execution of New York Life Group Insurance’s integrated absence and accommodations solutions. The role partners with Operations, Digital, Technology, Clinical, Compliance, Distribution, and Implementation teams to deliver leave, disability, and ADA experiences for employers and employees. The position recommends future-state product capabilities, identifies operational efficiencies, translates business needs into product requirements, and supports scalable solutions that improve customer experience, operational effectiveness, and market competitiveness. It independently leads an assigned integrated absence product roadmap and cross-functional initiatives, using market trends, customer feedback, broker insights, analytics, and business priorities to guide product decisions and investment recommendations. The role gathers and documents business requirements, works with technology teams to develop user stories and functional specifications, and facilitates product discovery, design, testing, and implementation. It also drives operational improvement, scalable workflows, digital self-service and portal experiences, and AI and automation initiatives. The position coordinates working groups and small-to-medium projects from concept through implementation, and prepares executive communications, presentations, and recommendations.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent experience.
- At least 5 years of experience in one or more of the following: Product Management, Absence Management, Disability Insurance, Leave Administration, ADA Accommodations, Employee Benefits, Business Analysis, or Process Improvement.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Experience translating business needs into requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders.
- Strong communication and presentation skills.
- Customer-centric approach, including the ability to identify opportunities, anticipate evolving customer needs, and translate insights into long-term business solutions.
- Data-driven and execution-focused approach, using analytics and sound judgment to make recommendations and deliver initiatives in a dynamic environment.
- Collaborative continuous-improvement approach, with curiosity and a focus on improving processes, experiences, and organizational performance.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in Group Benefits, Leave Management, Disability, or ADA.
- Knowledge of FMLA, ADA, Paid Family & Medical Leave programs, or state disability programs.
- Experience with digital product development and customer-facing technologies.
- Experience working in Agile environments.
- Familiarity with absence administration platforms such as FINEOS, Workday, Dayforce, or similar systems.
Responsibilities
- Independently lead the development and execution of an assigned integrated absence product roadmap, evaluating business priorities, customer needs, operational requirements, and dependencies.
- Analyze market trends, customer feedback, broker insights, and the competitive landscape to identify opportunities for innovation.
- Evaluate product enhancement opportunities, recommend investment priorities, and make product design and implementation decisions affecting multiple business functions.
- Apply subject matter expertise in leave of absence, disability, paid family and medical leave, ADA accommodations, and related business processes to address product and operational challenges.
- Lead cross-functional product initiatives, resolve competing priorities, influence stakeholders, align teams on product decisions, and help develop business cases and recommendations for strategic investments.
- Gather and document business requirements for initiatives and enhancements, including operational capabilities.
- Partner with technology teams to translate business requirements into user stories and functional specifications.
- Facilitate product discovery, design, testing, and implementation activities.
- Provide data-driven recommendations for prioritization based on customer value, operational impact, risk reduction, and strategic objectives.
- Coordinate user acceptance testing and implementation readiness across functions.
- Partner with Operations to identify process improvement opportunities and assess operational impacts of new product capabilities and service model changes.
- Design scalable workflows that improve consistency, efficiency, and customer outcomes.
- Represent Product and provide advanced expertise in initiatives involving ADA specialization, proactive employee engagement, digital transparency, and process optimization.
- Collaborate with Digital and Technology partners to enhance self-service capabilities and employer and employee portal experiences.
- Provide product expertise and best practices for AI and automation initiatives that improve customer and operational outcomes.
- Build relationships across Product, Operations, Technology, Compliance, Legal, Clinical, and Distribution teams, and provide input to support stakeholder alignment and decision-making.
- Prepare executive communications, presentations, and recommendations.
- Lead coordination of working groups and deliverables across small-to-medium-sized projects and workstreams from concept through implementation.
Benefits
- Full package of employee benefits.
- Leave programs.
- Adoption assistance.
- Student loan repayment programs.
- Annual discretionary bonus eligibility.
- May be eligible to participate in an incentive program.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
