Product Manager

Let's Write Africa's Story Together!

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

Role Summary

The successful incumbent will have specialist knowledge on a particular area of expertise such as product set, financial soundness, product development, investment mandating, or actuarial/investment product valuations. May have a subordinate, dependent on the managerial skills development of the incumbent.

Key responsibilities:

• Converts complex concepts into client/user-friendly format/terminology.
• Reviews/performs technical analyses, draws conclusions from the analyses and makes recommendations.
• Provides investment and product input to special project teams, ad-hoc investigations or external clients.
• Often operates and liaises across business units.
• Gains and applies investment and product expertise on pricing.
• Has a good grasp of data requirements and data integrity requirements.
• Customises solutions to client requirements.
• Maintaining Institutional and Retail product ranges – launching and closing of solutions
• Repricing of the products
• Looking after the profitability of the product
• Optimizing operational processes particularly in the performance space
• Being involved in all supporting processes for the product development committee such as competitor comparisons, setting parameters for the investment team, etc.

Qualification, Skill and Experience:

• B. Com / Bus, Science degree, Qualified actuary, CFA or other investment diploma preferable with min. 6 years’ experience.
• Knowledge of technical and operational requirements of Manco Operations together with working knowledge of CISCA, Long-term Insurance Act and the Pension Funds Act.
• Strong work ethic, initiative-taking and demonstrable high standards of achievement.
• Strong people skills and ability to work in diverse teams, independently and across teams and functions.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, with multiple priorities

Manage the product development function to develop new products that meet commercial specifications. Manages a team of product developers.

ResponsibilitiesFunctional Strategy Formation

Contribute to the formation of a key element of functional strategy through specialist expertise and insights, to ensure that the strategy meets business needs.

Product and Solution Development

Analyze and evaluate the feasibility and relevance of proposed complex products and services and develop and amend, as necessary, with guidance from senior colleagues. May also be responsible for supervising activities performed by a product development or specialist team.

Innovation Strategy, Pipeline, and Road Map

Champion an innovation stream within the innovation road map, ensuring the right resources are in place to execute on the strategy.

Business Planning

Contribute to the development of annual and longer-term business plans; forecast performance against business key performance indicators (KPIs); develop business cases for key activities/projects; and estimate the financial and human resources required to deliver performance targets.

Culture of Innovation

Drive a culture of innovation by creating multistakeholder solutions that boost creativity, innovation, and collaboration across business units, such as idea generation platforms, jam sessions, and hackathons.

Stakeholder Engagement

Develop stakeholder engagement by identifying stakeholders; by finding out their needs, issues, and concerns; and by reacting to these needs, issues, and concerns to support the communication of business information and decisions.

Business Case

Develop straightforward business cases or lead feasibility and assessment work for proposed and current projects to support the development and continuous review of business cases.

Leadership and Direction

Communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the team; explain the relationship to the broader organization's mission, vision, and values; motivate people to commit to these and to do extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.

Budgeting

Develop and/or deliver budget plans with guidance from senior colleagues.

Organizational Capability Building

Use the organization's formal development framework to identify the team's individual development needs. Plan and implement actions, including continuing professional development specified by professional or regulatory institutions, to build their professional capabilities. Provide informal training or coaching to others throughout the organization in own area of expertise to enable others to improve performance and fulfill personal potential.

Performance Management

Manage and report on the performance of a substantial, diverse team; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project/account team members and hold individuals accountable for achieving them; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of team/personal objectives.

Intellectual Property (IP) Protection

Manage and file intellectual property applications for patents to protect own research work.

Financial Products Development

Analyze and evaluate the feasibility and relevance of proposed complex financial products, and develop and amend as necessary with guidance from senior colleagues. May also be responsible for supervising activities performed by a financial product development or specialist team.

Skills

Action Planning, Adaptive Thinking, Business Case Development, Business Requirements Analysis, Change Management, Commercial Acumen, Current State Assessment, Data Compilation, Employee Engagement Strategies, Executing Plans, Identifying Customer Needs, Knowledge Management, Oral Communications, Presenting Solutions

Competencies

Balances StakeholdersBusiness InsightCultivates InnovationDrives EngagementEnsures AccountabilityFinancial AcumenInterpersonal SavvyManages Complexity

Education

NQF Level 9 – Masters

Closing Date

20 May 2025 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

The Old Mutual Story!