Senior Product Development Manager

PLS•Chicago, IL

14h•$145,000 - $157,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Product Development Manager is responsible for identifying, evaluating, developing, and launching new product opportunities that drive strategic growth for the organization. As a member of the Product organization, this role leads the early stages of innovation by uncovering customer needs, assessing market opportunities, building business cases, and validating new product concepts before they move into full-scale development and commercialization. This role serves as a catalyst for growth, partnering across our Product, Marketing, Operations, Technology, Finance, and Legal teams to evaluate opportunities through the lenses of desirability, feasibility, and viability. The Senior Product Development Manager will own a portfolio of innovation initiatives and guide concepts from initial idea through launch readiness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required in one of the following preferred disciplines: Business Administration, Marketing, Finance, Engineering, or Computer Science
10+ years of experience managing products, product development, and managing products within financial services
Experience leading product development end to end
Distinctive problem solving, organizational, and analytical skills with the ability to evolve strategy based on research, data, and industry trends
Development of key metrics to analyze product data for revenue analysis and future projections
Exceptional presentation and communication skills
Proven problem-solver with the ability to leverage analytics and consumer knowledge to identify opportunities
Strong critical thinking skills with a deep understanding of customer needs and the market landscape
Exceptional customer focus with the ability to utilize customer insights and feedback to drive decisions
Must be a collaborator who challenges ideas not people
Work well with ambiguity and changing/shifting priorities

Responsibilities

Identify and evaluate new product, service, and customer experience opportunities that align with our strategic business objectives.
Monitor industry trends, market dynamics, competitive activity, emerging technologies, and customer needs to uncover growth opportunities.
Develop and maintain a pipeline of innovation concepts and new product opportunities.
Facilitate ideation sessions and cross-functional workshops to generate and refine new concepts.
Lead customer discovery efforts to understand unmet needs, pain points, and opportunities for differentiation.
Conduct market research, competitive analysis, customer interviews, and concept testing.
Develop customer personas, value propositions, and problem statements to support product development.
Validate assumptions and gather evidence to support investment decisions.
Build comprehensive business cases for new product opportunities, including market sizing, revenue projections, cost estimates, pricing strategies, and profitability analyses.
Assess risks, dependencies, investment requirements, and potential returns.
Develop recommendations and present findings to Product leadership and executive stakeholders.
Establish success metrics and measurement frameworks for proposed initiatives.
Lead the evaluation of new opportunities using a structured innovation framework.
Design and execute pilots, prototypes, proof-of-concepts, and validation activities.
Partner with our Operations, Technology, Legal, Compliance, and Finance teams, as well as other stakeholders to assess implementation requirements and risks
Collaborate with Product Managers and delivery teams to transition validated concepts into development and launch.
Support go-to-market planning, including positioning, pricing, sales enablement, training, and launch readiness activities.
Track product performance post-launch and identify opportunities for optimization and growth.
Ensure learnings are captured and incorporated into future innovation efforts.
Lead and influence cross-functional teams without direct reporting authority.
Drive alignment among stakeholders and facilitate decision-making throughout the product innovation lifecycle.
Promote a customer-centric and data-driven approach to innovation across the organization.
Support the development and continuous improvement of innovation processes, frameworks, and best practices.