Team Lead - Product Manager at Novella Africa

Job ID: ZR_128_JOB

Job Summary

• As the Team Lead for Product Managers within our financial service organization, you will be responsible for overseeing a team of Product Managers and driving the development, enhancement, and management of our product portfolio.
• This role requires strong leadership skills, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of financial services to ensure the team delivers market-leading solutions.

Responsibilities
Team Leadership and Management:

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of Product Managers.
• Provide guidance and support to team members to ensure alignment with organizational goals and objectives.
• Foster a collaborative team environment focused on innovation and excellence.

Product Strategy and Development:

• Understand and execute the strategic vision for the product portfolio in alignment with organizational goals.
• Conduct market research and competitor analysis to identify opportunities, trends, and potential risks
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including finance, software, and sales, to develop and enhance wealth management products.
• Develop and propose comprehensive product strategies, providing market outcome projections for informed decision-making.

Product Lifecycle Management:

• Oversee the entire product lifecycle from ideation to launch, ensuring products meet and exceed customer expectations.
• Develop and maintain detailed product requirement documents, incorporating feedback and adapting to changing market dynamics.
• Implement effective product launch strategies and coordinate marketing efforts with relevant teams.
• Formulate strategies to package and market products, ensuring differentiation, compelling value propositions, and ease of both selling and buying.

Performance Monitoring and Analysis:

• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for products and regularly assess product performance against set benchmarks.
• Analyze market trends, customer feedback, and performance data to make informed decisions and recommendations for product improvements.
• Monitor market trends, competitor activities, and price movements, providing recommendations for key decision-making.
• Drive consumer intelligence by developing external and internal data sources, improving the business's understanding of the product's market, competitor activities, and consumer behaviors.

Financial Modelling:

• Undertake financial modeling for products or services and target markets, fostering a deep understanding of the relationships between the product and its market.
• Conduct comprehensive financial modeling to analyze and project the financial performance of products and target markets.

Regulatory Compliance:

• Stay abreast of regulatory changes affecting products and ensure compliance with industry standards.
• Work closely with legal and compliance teams to navigate regulatory challenges and maintain a thorough understanding of industry regulations.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Collaborate with the Software team to ensure seamless integration and functionality of product applications.
• Work closely with relationship managers, financial advisors, and other stakeholders to understand client needs and feedback.
• Collaborate with sales and marketing teams to create effective go-to-market strategies, promotional materials, and sales training.
• Foster strong relationships with internal departments to facilitate effective communication and coordination.

Research Tools and Methods:

• Develop and adopt research tools, sources, and methods that contribute to the business's product marketing management intelligence.

Reporting and Recommendations:

• Generate reports and make recommendations to the Product team, serving as guidance for decision-making regarding new and existing products.
• Any other task as assigned by the Line Manager.

Key Performance Indicators

• % Number of products initiated
• Effectiveness of team leadership and management.
• Quality and effectiveness of PRDs
• Achieve a minimum of 70% accuracy in forecasting revenue growth for the product portfolio.
• Exceed a 20% return on investment (ROI) for new product initiatives within the first year of launch.
• Achieve a 70% success rate in aligning scenario planning projections with actual market conditions and outcomes.
• Ensure a 70% alignment between projected and actual financial performance for the product portfolio, facilitating strategic adjustments.
• Attain a 15% reduction in overall product development and marketing costs through strategic optimization.
• KPI: Maintain a sensitivity analysis accuracy rate of 85% in predicting financial outcomes based on changes in keyvariables.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business, or a related field.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., CFA, CFP) is a plus.
• Proven experience (6+ years) in product management within the financial services sector, with knowledge of wealth management products.
• Strong understanding of financial markets, investment products, and regulatory frameworks.
• Excellent analytical, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet tight deadlines.
• Familiarity with agile development methodologies is an advantage.

Skills/Competencies:

• Finance skills: a deep understanding of the financial markets, credit products (loans and leases), lending practices and strategies, loan terms, and credit risk
• Leadership and Team Management
• Analytical skills: ability to analyze customer and market data, conduct quantitative analysis on loan portfolio performance,
  assess product profitability and identify opportunities for product optimization that impact customer acquisition, retention, and lifetime value.
• Product Strategy: Develop and execute product strategies that impact product positioning, differentiation, and competitive
  advantages.
• Communication, stakeholder management, and negotiation skills: ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at
  all levels, present concepts and strategies, and obtain stakeholder buy-in with convincing presentations.
• Risk Management: the ability to understand and mitigate risk factors associated with credit product development, ensuring
  compliance with governing principles on lending activities.
• Product lifecycle management: including new products and features development, prioritization of features and enhancements, and roadmap planning.
• Client engagement: understand target customer segments and define personas, ability to sift through customer feedback to identify pain points, and test assumptions to ensure product-market fit and customer satisfaction.
• Project management skills: the ability to oversee initiatives from ideation to launch, define project timelines, align resource allocations, and coordinate project teams to ensure on-time delivery.
• Spreadsheet skills: proficiency in using spreadsheets for financial modeling and analysis.
• Product design thinking skills: ability to interpret product ideas in wireframe designs that display customer empathy and enhance stakeholder understanding of product concepts.

Job Knowledge:

• Ability to manage stakeholders
• Ability to work independently and effectively in a team environment
• Excellent analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills
• Attention to accuracy and detail required
• Critical thinking and problem-resolution skills
• Must be technologically savvy.
• Excellent organizational, planning, verbal, and written communication skills
• Competence to analyze financial and non-financial data
• Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form
• Ability to effectively exchange information, in verbal or written form, by sharing ideas, reporting facts and other information, responding to questions, and employing active listening techniques
• Excellent knowledge and use of existing software packages (Power BI and Microsoft Excel).