Senior Lead Product Manager – Data

William Blair•Chicago, IL

6h•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Senior Lead Product Manager – Data to define and drive the vision, strategy, and operating model for data across Private Wealth Management (PWM). This role focuses on defining what trusted data products exist, how they are governed, how they deliver value to business users, platforms, analytics and emerging AI-enabled use cases. This position sits within the Product Management team and partners closely with business, operations, technology and compliance teams. The Senior Lead Product Manager – Data focuses on product direction, alignment, and outcomes – ensuring that data products are clearly owned, consistently defined, and broadly consumable. The ideal candidate brings strong data product management, technical fluency, the ability to translate between business and technology stakeholders, and the credibility to influence senior leaders while building trust across business, operations, and technology teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree required.
8-12 years of relevant experience in product management, data strategy, business analysis, internal strategy or a related field within financial services.
Proven ability to lead and deliver enterprise-level data or platform products.
Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives with enterprise-wide impact.
Deep expertise in data product management, including data domains, data mesh principles, data quality frameworks, governance, analytics and data enablement.
Experience establishing or operating data governance and ownership models in financial services.
Strong understanding of modern data architecture and tooling – including cloud data platforms (e.g. Azure), data modeling concepts, data governance tools, and the modern data stack (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, BI platforms) – with the ability to collaborate effectively with technical teams.
Advanced knowledge of the product development life cycle, design, and data analytics.
Analytical mindset with the ability to interpret data, define metrics, and drive informed decisions.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence at senior leadership levels.
Experience mentoring junior team members and leading through influence rather than authority.
Proficiency with product management and collaboration tools (e.g., Smartsheet) and Microsoft Office.

Nice To Haves

Experience within wealth management, asset management, or financial services.
Familiarity with financial services data domains such as client, account, portfolio, market and regulatory data.
Familiarity with data mesh, event-driven architecture, or API-first data product design patterns.
Experience standing up data management practices or data product operating models.
Exposure to analytics platforms, reporting solutions, or AI-enabled solutions in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

Own the data product strategy for PWM, defining a clear portfolio of data products with well-understood purpose, consumers, and success measures.
Translate platform and business needs into clear product roadmaps and priorities, balancing near-term delivery with long-term data sustainability.
Establish and maintain a practical data governance framework that clarifies data ownership, decision rights, and accountability, embedding governance into everyday product and delivery workflows.
Define shared, business-aligned data definitions and quality expectations to ensure data is consistent, reliable, and fit for purpose across platforms and vendors.
Guide the design of data products using modern architectural patterns—including domain-oriented ownership and AI/ML-ready engineering—by partnering closely with data engineering and analytics teams
Oversee data integration strategy with third-party wealth management platforms, custodians, and vendors, including API contracts and data quality SLAs.
Partner closely with business, operations, technology, risk, and compliance teams to align priorities, resolve data-related tradeoffs, and drive adoption of data products.
Work with analytics and AI partners to ensure data products are designed for reliable downstream consumption, insight generation, and automation.
Define and track data product KPIs including data quality metrics, adoption rates and measurable business outcomes.
Track adoption and performance of data products and refine strategy based on outcomes and feedback.
Champion a data product mindset across the organization by promoting data literacy, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and embedding data-driven thinking into business and technology processes.