Manager, Product Development - Sun Life, Toronto

AI Summary

This Manager, Product Development role at Sun Life in Toronto, Ontario, focuses on enhancing retail life and health insurance products. Key duties involve executing product development initiatives from concept to implementation. Top requirements include at least two years of financial services experience, ideally in product management, alongside strong analytical and communication skills.

About the Opportunity

Sun Life, a leading Canadian financial institution, is seeking a Manager, Product Development to join its Retail Advice & Solutions team in Toronto. This pivotal role is within Insurance Solutions, a group dedicated to designing and distributing leading-edge life and health insurance products to over two million individual retail clients across Canada. Reporting to the Director, Product Development, the successful candidate will be instrumental in executing initiatives that drive new product enhancements and innovations within our retail insurance new business portfolio. This involves supporting the delivery of product development initiatives across both our life insurance (term, participating whole life, UL, perm whole life) and health insurance (critical illness, long-term care, personal health insurance) portfolios. We are committed to making life brighter for our clients, and this role offers the opportunity to contribute to the best solutions in the market. Your experience will be valued as you help shape the future of our insurance offerings.

Key Responsibilities and Impact

As a Manager, Product Development, you will execute comprehensive product development initiatives from concept through to implementation. This includes conducting thorough client and advisor research, developing and validating new concepts, and overseeing the build and go-to-market strategies to ensure value realization. You will leverage and champion design-thinking best practices to build creative solutions, always with an empathy-driven, human-centred design approach to deliver the best possible client experience. Data-driven analysis will be a core part of your role, where you will analyze both internal and external data to identify market trends and opportunities. This analysis will inform innovative enhancements aimed at increasing revenue, improving operational efficiencies, and significantly enhancing the client and advisor experience. Furthermore, you will demonstrate strong project management skills, facilitating and leading cross-functional teams with conviction and discipline. Your strong communication skills will be essential in synthesizing and presenting findings in a compelling manner, adapting presentations to meet the unique needs of diverse audiences across the organization.

What You Need to Succeed

To succeed in this Manager, Product Development role, candidates should possess a minimum of two years of related experience within the financial services industry, with a preference for backgrounds in product management and/or strategy. A solid understanding of the Canadian retail insurance landscape is a significant asset, alongside proven experience with financial and product performance analysis. You will thrive in a fast-paced, challenging, and dynamic business environment, demonstrating a 'get stuff done' mentality. Strong quantitative skills, including data interpretation and information visualization, are essential, as are strong critical thinking and problem-solving abilities with keen attention to detail. A track record of working directly with senior leadership, coupled with strong presentation and written communication skills, is required. The ideal candidate is self-motivated, capable of working both autonomously and collaboratively within multi-functional teams, adept at managing diverse and evolving priorities. Experience with client research methodologies, including design thinking, survey design and execution, and focus-group facilitation, is also highly valued. Strong relationship management skills are crucial for partnering effectively with key stakeholders and functional areas across the organization. Finally, a robust understanding of compliance and risk management is necessary to identify potential risk exposure in product design and ensure adherence to Sun Life's framework and tolerance. This role requires an agent of change, someone who can embrace, adapt, and drive development as required to meet business objectives.