VP, Transformation & Product Leader

Unum Group•Portland, ME

About The Position

This position is part of the leadership team of Unum’s Transformation Acceleration Office (TAO). It coordinates the Value Stream program end to end, establishes and evolves the Value Stream structure, and partners with Value Stream Owners to align scope, outcomes, priorities, phasing, and asset reuse. The role monitors overall program progress, resolves cross-value stream issues and dependencies, and aligns Value Stream plans with the enterprise roadmap and capability-development priorities. The role is also the accountable owner of the Product Chapter, setting and evolving product standards, playbooks, frameworks, and ways of working to support consistent product practices across the organization. It maintains an enterprise view of the Product talent pipeline and partners with leaders and HR on staffing, coaching, learning, and development. The role establishes feedback mechanisms to continuously improve Product Chapter practices. This position combines program-level strategy and coordination with people and capability leadership. Success requires cross-functional stakeholder management, value-based decision-making, deep product management expertise, and the ability to coach and develop product talent across a distributed, embedded workforce.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, product management, strategy, technology, or a related field.
15+ years of relevant experience.
Significant senior-level product management or product leadership experience in a complex, cross-functional organization.
Proven track record of coaching and developing product managers or Product leaders, with evidence of strengthened capability and career progression.
Experience partnering with senior leaders, HR, and cross-functional disciplines such as customer experience, data, and technology.
Deep knowledge of product management fundamentals, including customer and business outcomes, product strategy, roadmaps, backlog management, requirements, minimum viable product, and value realization.
Strong program and portfolio coordination skills, including roadmap integration, risk management, dependency management, governance, and executive-level escalation.
Ability to establish credible enterprise standards and influence consistent adoption across distributed teams without relying solely on direct authority.
Exceptional stakeholder management and facilitation skills, including aligning Value Stream Owners, sponsors, Product leaders, and cross-functional Chapters.
Strong coaching, talent-development, and capability-building skills, including translating capability gaps into practical learning and development priorities.
Strategic and value-based decision-making skills, including prioritizing investments and resolving tradeoffs across tools, frameworks, standards, and resources.
Ability to synthesize complex information, identify enterprise-level patterns and dependencies, and communicate clear decisions and actions to senior stakeholders.
Demonstrated comfort operating in ambiguity, evolving structures, and transformation environments while maintaining delivery discipline.
Ability to lead through influence, credibility, and enterprise perspective.

Responsibilities

Establish and continuously evolve the end-to-end Value Stream program structure, governance, and coordination mechanisms.
Partner with Value Stream Owners, sponsors, and run-team leaders to align Value Stream scope, intended outcomes, priorities, sequencing, phasing, and reuse of capabilities and assets.
Codify and update best-practice methodology for scaling front-to-back Value Stream delivery.
Ensure Value Stream roadmaps, risk logs, and dependency logs are established, maintained, and used to monitor program progress.
Develop and maintain a decision framework for identifying, escalating, managing, and resolving cross-value stream issues and dependencies.
Monitor cross-value stream risks, issues, capability gaps, and interdependencies, and coordinate timely resolution with accountable leaders.
Align Value Stream plans with the enterprise roadmap and capability-development priorities.
Provide an integrated view of Value Stream progress, dependencies, and areas requiring leadership action to promote transparency and disciplined decision-making.
Own Product Chapter standards, playbooks, methodologies, and ways of working, ensuring they are practical, current, and consistently applied.
Define and evolve backlog, minimum viable product, and value-realization frameworks for embedded Product practitioners.
Assess adherence to Product standards with Value Stream Owners, Product leaders, and run-team leadership; identify improvement opportunities and support adoption.
Represent Product in cross-Chapter and enterprise-level forums, escalating and helping resolve standards, capability, tooling, or resourcing conflicts.
Coach and develop Product practitioners and leaders, strengthening product craft and supporting visible career pathways.
Influence workforce and resourcing decisions to address cross-value stream Product capability gaps and competing priorities.
Drive enterprise-wide adoption of consistent Product standards, backlog hygiene, and minimum viable product and value-realization frameworks.
Establish, track, and improve Product Chapter measures, including standards adoption, retention of key Product talent, and cycle time for product requirements development.
Improve the organization’s ability to identify and resolve cross-value stream Product capability gaps, resource conflicts, risks, and dependencies.
Equip Value Stream Product Managers and Product Owners to leverage emerging technologies, AI, and automation through awareness, training, readiness, and cross-functional partnerships that enable adoption and accelerate value delivery.

Benefits

Health insurance
Vision insurance
Dental insurance
Short- and long-term disability insurance
Performance-based incentive plans
Paid time off, including paid time to volunteer
401(k) retirement plan with employer match up to 5% and an additional 4.5% contribution whether or not the employee contributes
Mental health support
Career advancement opportunities
Student loan repayment options
Tuition reimbursement
Flexible work environments