AVP Product Manager, Life Claims & Participant Admin. Service

Product Manager, Life Claims & Participant Admin. Service (AVP Level)

Job Location: NJ

Summary: This role is for the Product Manager (PM) of the Life Claims & Participant Admin. Service Agile Release Train (ART) within the U.S. Group Benefits Employee Service Value Stream. This role will be accountable for delivering back end group administration capabilities that enable Operations to implement and service our group customers. This role will support Agile Delivery of these capabilities on the platforms and applications within the Life Claims & Participant Admin. Service areas. The Product Manager (PM) is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Agile Release Train. As the Product Manager, you will work with the business owner to help set vision, drive strategy by understanding the customer needs, the product, and the overall market. Individuals in this role are responsible for defining Epics and Features, creating medium and longer-term roadmaps that prioritize achieving customer and business value with technology solutions. You coach the Product Owners to effectively prioritize Team Backlogs to streamline program priorities and execution. You create shared understanding and clarity to reduce operational friction and provide the team with a clear view of their environment. This is a leadership role with accountability to build and manage relationships with product teams, sales and market leadership, and technology partners to identify areas of opportunity for customer experience enhancements. PMs work closely with Release Train Engineers (RTE), Customers, Business Owners, team members and other stakeholders to create viable and sustainable roadmaps and execution plans, based on Minimum Viable Product (MVP) definitions. You are ultimately responsible for the delivery across all teams within the ART, ensuring completeness and timely execution. PMs are accountable for delivery outcomes and decisions that solve product related problems. Gaining direct feedback from Business Owners, you lead the process to identify key pain points in the customer journey, partnering on practical solutions that can demonstrate customer and business value throughout the development and release process. Working with Product Owners, you will decompose epics into features, prioritizing delivery based on set objectives and key results. PMs are effective at holding the ART accountable to deliver outcomes by: working with others to actively explore solution options, ensuring decisions are taken by those with accountability for delivering outcomes, and dedicating their effort to delivering value, that meet the needs of MetLife’s customers and our business goals.

A PM is:

· The voice of the customer and business needs at the program level

· A leader that prioritizes, defines, and shapes the roadmap for the agile release train

· Assigns business value proposed and achieved during product increments

· A person able to understand business needs and identify applicable technology solutions

· A person who ensures we are delivering business value through tracking of metrics and outcomes

Accountable for execution and delivery across all teams

A Product Manager’s focus on value is evident when we see them…

· Constantly reviewing and understanding customer feedback, turning pain points into opportunities.

· Ensuring teams are optimizing and prioritizing work, to achieve ART and portfolio OKRs.

· Regularly re-examining our priorities to optimize the ART’s alignment with stakeholder and business demands.

· Ensuring that features are delivered completely and on-time, according to the plans set forth

A Product Manager’s fixation on clarity is evident when they:

· Seek first to understand – our customers, stakeholders, and team members – and then to be understood.

· Make each team’s work visible, through demos, metrics and transparent processes.

· Provide clarity on the business objectives and key results the ART and teams will be measured by.

· A Product Manager continuously employs agile practices that will sustain flow when they:

· Maintain a backlog of well-refined epics and features for the team.

· Continuously identify dependencies across the ART, and proactively seek ways to resolve them.

· Respect the team’s need for focus by leveraging regularly scheduled, time-boxed meetings and minimizing ad-hoc demands. A Product Manager champions Lean and reduces waste when they: · Empower the teams to design and deliver valuable solutions instead of inserting approval states · Educate themselves, the teams, and others on how to recognize waste, streamlining processes and interactions to be as efficient and effective as possible. · Make continuous improvement a foundation of all our processes. · Recognize that time is our most precious resource, and they protect it vigorously. A Product Manager leads by example when they: · Act as a Mentor and Coach for their teams, building trust and providing guidance. · Act as a Negotiator to help analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each possibility and evaluate which trade-offs to make. · Identify areas of opportunity for cultural change and lead by example, showcasing respect for others and empathy for our customers · Use real-time feedback to coach Product Owners and team members on key behaviors and ways to display the work done. Celebrates wins across the teams and foster ways to let the team members demo their work proudly to leadership audiences.

Key Responsibilities:

The Work:

1. Partner with Business Owners to identify pain points throughout the customer journey, creating epics and features as a result

2. Ensure each Program Increment focuses on features with a maximum value, aligned with product strategy, roadmap, and key milestones

3. Help refine, prioritize, and accept the work delivered across the agile release train to ensure the outcomes meet the defined customer and business needs

4. Ensure all features are delivered whole, and released to customers as a product to be proud of

5. Develop program level Objectives and Key Results that align business goals with prioritized epics and features, tracking progress throughout

6. Make decisions to solve product related problems, trade-off discussions, to stay on track to committed outcomes. (Acceptance, prioritizing, making trade-offs, etc.)

The Interactions:

1. Lead Product Owners and teams to create viable and sustainable plans that align to business expectations

2. Set and manage stakeholders’ expectations through regular discussions about future needs and iterative demonstrations of completed work

3. Identify methods for gathering and incorporating feedback from multiple sources to better define solutions

4. Active interaction with Business Owners and other partners to protect the integrity of the deliverables

5. Work with Product Owners to ensure alignment of team’s vision

6. Work with RTE to coordinate and facilitate key meetings

7. Work with system architect to understand what is possible and maintain the architectural runway

Key Behaviors:

Driven and motivated by our customers and the business to focus on the right outcomes – Deliver Results

Able to identify, access and connect among key stakeholders and experts - Seek Diverse Perspectives

Able to make decisions on information that is available at that time. Be comfortable with progressive elaboration and discovery (Progress over perfection) – Manages Ambiguity

Take ownership, influence at all levels, access all stakeholders equally (don’t ask for permission) – Seize Opportunity

Able to take all forms of input and synthesize (not influenced by “hierarchy”) – Seek Diverse Perspectives

Willing to observe, analyze, and make recommendations - Seek Diverse Perspectives

Communicate factually. Navigate conversations to align on a set of data inputs that drive identification and prioritization of work and provide the clarity needed to accomplish it – Deliver what matters.

Maintain stability throughout the iterations and add appropriate feedback as needed – Enable Solutions

While PMs may have Product Owners as direct reports, Product Managers are leaders not managers. PMs see themselves as a member of the team and are able to adapt their leadership approach to enable and empower the team to solve problems and deliver outcomes – Empowerment & Collaboration

Grade:

14M

Recruiter-Bernadette Jones- bernadette.jones@metlife.com

At MetLife, we’re leading the global transformation of an industry we’ve long defined. United in purpose, diverse in perspective, we’re dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our customers.”

MetLife:

MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

We are one of the largest institutional investors in the U.S. with $642.4 billion of total assets under management as of March 31, 2021. We are ranked #46 on the Fortune 500 list for 2021. In 2020, we were named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for the fifth year in a row. DJSI is a global index to track the leading sustainability-driven companies. We are proud to have been named to Fortune magazine’s 2021 list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies.”      

MetLife is committed to building a purpose-driven and inclusive culture that energizes our people. Our employees work every day to help build a more confident future for people around the world.

The wage range for applicants for this position is $154,000-$206,300. This role is also eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. MetLife offers a comprehensive benefits program, including healthcare benefits, life insurance, retirement benefits, parental leave, legal plan services and paid time off. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.

We want to make it simple for all interested and qualified candidates to apply for employment opportunities with MetLife.  For further information about how to request a reasonable accommodation, please click on the Disability Accommodations link below.

MetLife is a proud Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer dedicated to attracting, retaining, and developing a diverse and inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment at MetLife without regards to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, national origin, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status, uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.