AVP - Product Development - Life Insurance

Role : AVP - Product Development ( Life Insurance)

Location : Mumbai / Maharashtra

Job Profile :

Drive New Product Development from conceptualization to launch, through market study/ intelligence and discussions with other concerned stakeholders such as sales, ensuring regulatory compliance, documentation and filing as per guidelines, and supporting internal teams on product related content for consumption in sales, marketing, advertising, solicitation etc. Also responsible for managing complexities/ changes in the product through its lifecycle.

1. Idea Generation and Product Planning

- Collate product ideas on an ongoing basis from multiple sources such as discussions with teams like sales, operations, training, actuarial etc., from customer feedback and from competition/ market analysis

- Based on Annual Operating Plan (AOP) themes, identify product ideas from the idea pool generated, also incorporating product suggestions from senior stakeholders such as CEO, for further evaluation

- Drive and review feasibility analysis for product ideas (along the lines of regulatory, pricing, risk management), coordinating with respective teams for guidance

- Conduct discussions with sales channel heads and senior stakeholders such as the CEO, along-with the Appointed Actuary to further receive feedback on product ideas and shortlist/ finalize product ideas for the year

- Through discussions, finalize product launch timelines & develop a product plan, which is tracked through the year

2. Product Development Process

- Review the master document of product specifications prepared by the team for idea flow, product construct, specifications etc.

- Coordinate and conduct discussions with the pricing team on product specifications, to arrive at a common platform on product

- Review market pricing as obtained by the team, evaluate market price vs. pricing modeled by the pricing team and reevaluate product feature-set as required

- Review the sales literature and benefit illustrations documents prepared by the team in line with regulatory requirements, and obtain specific inputs from the pricing team as required

- Ensure inputs are provided to the Operations team on application/ proposal form document

- Post filing by pricing team, address the regulator queries on documents filed, and initiate changes to product specifications and associated communications as required

- Ensure development meetings across functions such as Sales, IT, Finance, Operations are held by team, and timelines are set and communicated to respective functions

- Ensure all checklists from product development team's end for system preparedness of the product

3. Product Lifecycle Management

- Ensure product queries/ issues pertaining to older products are interpreted appropriately and resolved

- Coordinate with pricing or legal teams as required, to obtain support in interpretation or resolution of queries

4. Product communications and stakeholder management

- Review training content prepared for the product, by the team, and engage with the legal and training teams for communications around content launch

- Review all content areas such as PR, website, advertising etc. prepared by the team, ensuring regulatory requirements are adhered to

- Engage with multiple stakeholders across the product development process, setting and managing stakeholder expectations and resolving issues

5. Major Challenges

- Bring multiple stakeholders together, each requiring different interpretation/ adaptation of the product and manage product development timelines

- Be the face of all product related queries, especially for old products that may require complex interpretation

6. Decision Making

Following decisions are taken by the role :

- Product feature exclusions

- Cross-functional team discussions

- Product interpretations

- Communication and content

Education, Qualifications & Work Experience:

- Post-Graduation/ MBA (In Finance/ Marketing)

- Overall 10+ years of experience, with minimum 4 years in Product Development

- Mix of experience in Product Development and Insurance sales ( world be added advantage)