Product Manager at MicroEnsure

Summary:

MicroEnsure Labs is a division of MicroEnsure and acts at the Research & Development department for the organisation. Much of Labs work focuses on testing new product concepts and distribution channels, and establishing processes for eventual handover to MicroEnsure’s existing operations teams.

The MicroEnsure Labs Product Manager will act as the General Manager for each of the products under their responsibility, with full ownership of each product from ideation to operationalization. The Product Manager will be a master of both big picture and detail thinking and management, ultimately responsible for the success of each product they manage. They will act as a statesman within the organization, pulling together people and ideas from many functions and viewpoints toward a common goal of launching and maintaining profitable products and distribution channels.

• Major Job Responsibilities:
• Leadership

• Act as the General Manager with full profit and loss responsibility for all products in their portfolio.

• Own the product through every stage of the product lifecycle.

• Cross functional leadership and advocacy for their product portfolio throughout the organization. Manage cross-functional teams, without direct authority over those teams.

• Drive and report on appropriate metrics and KPIs related to their portfolio.

• Build and train a team of competent staff needed to run each product effectively, if necessary.

• New Product Development

• Project manage their portfolio of products in the product development pipeline.

• Develop and maintain appropriate Gantt charts, data sets, task management, and other documentation required for effective project management.

• Leverage robust market research to act as the voice of the customer in the product development process. The Product Manager should spend 25%+ of their time with customers to make sure that all development activities are relevant with supporting evidence collected from field research and experiments.

• Laterally manage the technology team’s development of the product, where applicable.

• Be fully aware of insurance regulations in the market they operate.

• Operations

• Responsible for transitioning products from hundreds of customers, to thousands, to millions. Actively think about scale with all product development and the processes, staffing, and technology that will enable scale.

• Research and test multiple approaches to achieve operational efficiency and establish and document best practices.

• Own the operationalization of new products as they transition into the existing organization, where appropriate.

• Marketing

• Communications – Use internal and external resources to develop marketing materials and execute marketing campaigns for their portfolio products.

• Research – Identify and manage data collection and analytics for their portfolio products.

• Public Relations – Work with MicroEnsure internal resources to implement PR strategies for portfolio products.

• Determine all customer communications as they interact with our products, including verbiage, channel, and any technology required.

Data Management

• Use data to support decision-making for product features, marketing materials, pricing, and other areas as needed.

• Manage data collection for product tests/experiments and ongoing KPI monitoring

• Conduct basic data analyses to provide supporting evidence for decision-making.

Admin, Legal, Accounting

• Responsible for driving Admin, Legal and Accounting for their product portfolio.

• Provide MicroEnsure’s Legal and Accounting teams with the information and documentation necessary to advance product implementation, tracking all outstanding requests and following up regularly as needed.

• Help determine budget and cashflow estimates for product pilots, including marketing, staffing, technology, and ongoing management budgets.

• Authorise payments to local 3rd party providers and coordinate with local MicroEnsure accounting staff to track expenditures.