PO282 – Product Manager (NPD Focus)

at  Saffron Building Society

TO BE SUCCESSFUL YOU WILL HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF:

• The mortgage market and lending practice – this may come from previous product management roles, or experience gained as an underwriter, business development manager or mortgage adviser.
• Risk considerations for NPD within a regulated financial services environment
• Commercial awareness and ability to quantify a commercial benefit (e.g., business cases)
• Influencing and negotiation skills, supported by excellent written and verbal communication
• Project management and ability to manage multiple projects at the same time.
• Sources of customer insight & data, with ability to analyse numerical data.

ABOUT US:

We all know happiness comes from within. And it’s no different with Money Happiness. It starts right here! At Saffron BS we’re ready to build it, inspire it and celebrate it with our members, people and communities.
So, bring you! Your energy, an abundance of team spirit and your hunger to help. Together we are building happy.
At Saffron, we are committed to building happy; for our communities, members, and each other. We do this through attracting and building a diverse group of talent and encouraging an inclusive environment which fosters a sense of belonging for all. We hire the best people and have a collaborative culture where everybody’s uniqueness is celebrated and respected. We recognise the strength in having a diverse workforce, adding different perspectives, ideas and values. We are inspired to leave a legacy for our communities and each other.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE:

Excited by the thought of leading New Product Development (NPD) at an award-winning building society? Saffron is looking for an exceptional Product Manager to deliver commercial growth and ensure we meet complex customer needs through NPD. In this role you’ll help set the vision and lead the delivery of new mortgage and savings products, including policy and criteria enhancements.
The role covers mortgages and savings, with the priority focus on mortgages. We’re open to applicants with varied experience, but you’ll need detailed knowledge of the mortgage market. Experience in complex income mortgage lending is a significant advantage.

THE DAY TO DAY ROLE:

• Be the go-to person for NPD within the Society by demonstrating brilliant strategic thinking, project management, execution and evaluation from end-to-end.
• Own & develop Own & develop the NPD strategy and roadmap, involving multiple new product launches a year and a rolling series of lending policy & criteria enhancements.
• Work with colleagues across the Society to identify the customer need, size the business opportunity, assess the risk, design the solution and deliver it to market.
• Maintain excellent awareness of regulatory, political and economic developments to identify, support and recommend enhancements to our existing range and to identify new opportunities & threats.
• Build excellent working relationships with internal partners to deliver NPD smoothly, on-time and on-budget. This includes working with Change, IT, Risk, Retail, Business Development & Marketing Teams.
• Build good relationships with external partners, such as sourcing systems and data insight providers, to enhance the Society’s customer understanding and ability to identify market opportunities.
• Manage the approval of all NPD through key committees and implementation groups, ensuring all proposals are supported by full commercial analysis and operational evaluation (preparing and circulating decks where necessary).
• Ensure all new products land perfectly for our members by:
• Identifying and prioritising new product solutions that meet customer needs across mortgages and savings, ensuring the Society has a relevant and competitive NPD roadmap.
• Project managing all NPD launches and lending policy/criteria enhancements through the Society’s processes.
• Ensuring all relevant staff are fully briefed on product details and changes in a timely & accurate manner.
• Liaise with Marketing and Business Development colleagues to ensure appropriate launch and promotion of products, including providing accurate product specifications for literature and website, along with relevant sign off ensuring what is on sale is accurate.
• Providing expert consultancy to other teams (e.g., operations, sales) when necessary
• Ensuring all product information is correct and any queries from stakeholders are answered quickly & accurately.
• Being the first point of contact for all sourcing systems, taking ownership of the product information they hold
• Demonstrating proactive and customer-focused problem resolution for products (e.g., complaints, conduct risk)
• Understand Saffron’s technology and associated processes in order to trade & service products successfully, including taking responsibility for maintaining an accurate log of workarounds for each product to take account of operational impact.
  ………. and more!