AVP, Product – Life

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company; Columbus (OH); Remote; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking an AVP to drive the strategic direction for their Life product line. The ideal candidate will excel in communication, relationship building, and execution of innovative product strategies. This role involves collaboration across teams to ensure product relevance and marketability, requiring a sophisticated understanding of the insurance landscape and strong leadership capabilities.

Benefits

Medical/Dental/Vision

Life Insurance

Short and Long Term Disability Coverage

Paid Time Off

401(k) with Company Match

Company-Paid Pension Plan

Business Casual Attire

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of life insurance product/business development experience.
• Demonstrated leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver product strategy for designated Life Product Line.
• Lead research and development of product design strategies.
• Manage product launches and revisions.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Negotiation

Strategic Thinking

Problem Solving

Education

Undergraduate degree in business or related field

Graduate degree/MBA

Job description

Are you passionate about being part of a team that delivers extraordinary care to help individuals and businesses prepare for and protect their retirement? If so, then Nationwide Financial could be the place for you! At Nationwide, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

Addendum: This key executive position will be tasked with creating and evolving our product advance sales market strategy for Premium Finance, Multi Life, Private Placement, Workplace Benefits & Qualified Plans. A successful candidate will thrive at communication, setting strategy, building relationships and execution.

Please Note: This role is open to working remotely in the United States.

Job Description Summary

Our work is essential to helping Nationwide build future capability to serve customer needs. Keeping existing products relevant and marketable and building new products takes research, critical thinking, practicality and collaboration. If you enjoy gathering input and information and creating innovative solutions for customers, we want to know more about you!

As the AVP, you'll establish, sell and execute the strategic direction for the designated Life product line. You'll be responsible for product and strategy execution including product launches, product revisions and product innovations.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

1. Responsible for defining and delivering product strategy, product design and development for designated Life Product Line.
2. Provides Industry Thought Leadership. Leads research, development and competitive intelligence of specific product design strategies and requirements. Maintains in-depth knowledge of industry trends, business drivers, market challenges and consumer preferences.
3. Develops, produces and maintains ad hoc and custom sales report analysis. Independently collects voice of the customer in various ways, including developing and maintaining networks of life insurance product experts and influencers from our distribution partners.
4. Identifies, analyzes and recommends new opportunities. Drives incremental and adjacent innovation to differentiate products and solutions in the marketplace. Identifies new market opportunities for existing life insurance products.
5. Directs the development and maintenance, including features/capabilities of products from beginning to end with direct responsibility for the products managed from both a growth and profitability perspective. Accountable for all dimensions across the value chain required to successfully launch a new product and be operationally ready to support it (e.g., technology, distribution strategy, pricing and design, marketing, new business and post-issue operations, etc.).
6. Facilitates client understanding of various product options and helps to prioritize options. Works with Product Risk Committee to gain approval of design and pricing.
7. Participates in the pricing process, monitoring product statistics and system integrations for assigned product(s). Maintains a detailed understanding of pricing, client needs, market needs, and sales positioning.
8. Partners to determine product development design requirements in partnership with sales and finance.
9. Leads all aspects of product and service delivery. Champions the process to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and consistency of execution.
10. Performs periodic analysis of in-force blocks of business to ensure performance is within acceptable profitability and customer experience standards.
11. Develops, administers and monitors resource plans and budgets for designated product line(s). Responsible for all related expense planning and reconciliation.
12. Leads a team of associates to deliver results by crafting team objectives tied to business objectives. Facilitates team culture and engagement. Responsible for the management of associates including, performance management, salary planning and administration, development, workflow and organizational planning, hiring and placement.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships:

Reports to VP.

Typical Skills and Experiences:

Education: Undergraduate degree in business or related field. Graduate degree/MBA preferred.

License/Certification/Designation: Insurance and/or professional designations such as Chartered Financial Consultant, Chartered Life Underwriter, CPCU, Project Management designations, actuarial designations (FSA, MAAA).

Experience: 7-10 years of life insurance product/business development experience. Demonstrated leadership experience.

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Sophisticated understanding of products, regulatory framework governing such products and organization knowledge. Strong technical/industry knowledge. Ability to build relationships and lead with influence across organizational boundaries, effectively communicate and present complex information and effectively execute and drive projects to completion. Ability to drive for results, deal with ambiguity and to understand strategic objectives. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Demonstrates sophisticated negotiation skills. Ability to lead a highly technical staff. Ability to devise business solutions to complex problems, implement the most appropriate and monitor effectiveness. Ability to make decisions on highly sophisticated issues and work with minimal direction.

Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.

Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and Human Resources Business Partner.

Values:

Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions:

Overtime Eligibility: Exempt (not eligible)

Working Conditions: Normal office environment.

Application Deadline:

We currently anticipate accepting applications until 06/05/2025. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.

Benefits

We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.