Product Director

About us

Avencia Consulting are partnered with a leading Specialty Insurer based in the City who are looking for a Product Director to join.

The role

You will be responsible for leading the vision, strategy, and execution of the product development roadmap for one of our key insurance and reinsurance-portfolio analytics software products (FireAnt). This role requires a balance of strategic thinking, leadership, and hands-on execution to drive product innovation, market success, and customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate will work within our analytics team and collaborate closely with IT, Finance, Data, Underwriting, and other key stakeholders to deliver best-in-class software products and data services.

FireAnt will be marketed to a select group of insurance partners in emerging markets such as the Middle East. The Product Director will be instrumental across the life cycle of a partnership, conducting initial market analysis, deal negotiation, implementation planning and ongoing client relations. You must ensure projects deliver on-time and to budget. As a liaison between internal business, external partners and technical functions you will be responsible for ensuring we deliver software services to the highest standards within varied regulated environments.

Key accountabilities

• Product Strategy & Vision: Develop and articulate a compelling product vision and strategy aligned with business goals and market opportunities. This will include close working on bids and pitching to external parties for partnership opportunities in key strategic regions
• Client Relationship Management: Oversee recruitment, onboarding, training and ongoing support of clients throughout their life cycle. This will involve travel to partners' offices across the world, with an initial focus on the Middle East
• Roadmap Development: Define, maintain, and communicate the product roadmap, ensuring alignment with internal and external customer needs, technological advancements, and competitive landscape
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with teams from across the business on requirements capture, design, service management, support and end-users to drive product initiatives from conception to launch
• Customer & Market Insights: Conduct market research, gather internal and customer user feedback, and analyse data to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for product improvement
• Stakeholder Management: Act as a leading advocate for the product internally and externally, engaging with executives, customers, and partners to ensure alignment and adoption
• Performance Measurement: Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress, efficiency of resource use, team productivity, and product success, iterating based on data-driven insights
• Team Leadership & Development: Build and mentor a high-performing client relations team, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, ownership, accountability and customer-centric thinking. Take a leading position in the strategic management of the existing development and support team (~10 people across London, Dublin, Bermuda)
• Collaboration: Work closely with technology teams (internal and external) and business leaders to refine requirements and translate business needs into product-centric solutions and make sure projects are coordinated correctly
• Manage risks, issues, deadlines, dependencies and be able to present up to date status reports at any time.
• Develop a deep understanding of the's business model, products and processes, leveraging this to deliver value-add services and product for its strategic partners.
• Keep stakeholders up to date on all activities that impact project outcomes and be a point contact for work status
• Estimate costs and headcount for projects and tasks, working closely with technical and business teams as needed
• Ensure the quality of any third-party deliveries against requirements, liaising with outsourced partners as necessary
• Act as an authoritative voice-of-customer representative.

Skills & experience

• Bachelor's degree (or higher) in a relevant technology field (i.e. Engineering, Physics, Data Science)
• Minimum 10 years' experience in a technical product manager/product director role in a large enterprise/multinational organisation
• Experience managing and reporting on project and programme budgets
• Strong customer service mentality with the ability to develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders at all levels
• Strong motivational and people skills, helping team members to excel in a culture of collaboration and openness
• Excellent organisation and time-management skills, able to work in a dynamic and fast-paced environment
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written with proven ability to influence change
• Able to deliver objectives assigned to you with a strong sense of urgency
• Drive and support innovation in a pragmatic and effective way to meet the needs of the business
• Industry Knowledge: Strong understanding of software development processes, SaaS business models, and emerging data technology analytics trends. Strong understanding of data analytics systems
• Strategic Thinking: Proven ability to develop and execute a product strategy that drives business growth.
• Technical Acumen: Comfortable working with engineering teams and understanding software architecture, APIs, and modern development practices
• Leadership & Communication: Excellent leadership, collaboration, and communication skills to influence and inspire teams
• Customer-Centric Mindset: Ability to balance business objectives with customer needs, ensuring an exceptional user experience
• Data-Driven Decision-Making: Proficiency in analytics and experience leveraging data to inform product decisions
• Agile & Lean Methodologies: Fluent in Agile, Scrum, and Lean methodologies to drive efficient product development cycles
• Strong interest in AI, leveraging practical applications of AI wrt data analysis, automation of manual processes and data handling