Product Strategist - Innovation

Northwestern Mutual; New York (NY); Vor Ort; USD 136.800 - 205.200; Vollzeit

Zusammenfassung

Northwestern Mutual is seeking an Innovation Strategist to lead product vision at the intersection of strategy and execution in a Fortune 100 company. You will work with engineers, designers, data scientists and financial experts to define product vision and deliver experiences that help clients thrive.

Lead cross-functional teams to socialize roadmaps, measure success with KPIs, and validate solutions through research and experimentation.

Qualifikationen

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 5+ years in Product Management or innovation consulting.
• Experience with agile teams and executive communication.
• Strong storytelling for senior leadership.

Aufgaben

• Set product vision for innovation experiments and new solutions grounded in strategy and customer insight.
• Develop and socialize a program roadmap reflecting priorities and value.
• Define and track KPIs to validate direction and inform go/no-go decisions.
• Lead discovery to validate the right solution before building.
• Gather and synthesize requirements across cross-functional teams.
• Build executive relationships and present strategic recommendations.
• Anchor program decisions in qualitative and quantitative research and insights.
• Facilitate ceremonies and continuously improve team processes.
• Evaluate AI and emerging technologies for enterprise applicability.

Kenntnisse

Cross-Functional Partnering & Planning

Strategic Thinking

Attention to Detail

Adaptive Communication

Analytical Thinking

Customer Centricity

Ausbildung

Bachelor's degree

Jobbeschreibung

About The Job

Variable is an innovation team within a Fortune 100 company. Our mission is to experiment with new technologies and ideas to understand the future. We are committed to encouraging a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where innovation thrives. We drive impact at scale. The Innovation Strategist is an entrepreneurial who leads work at the intersection of strategy and execution. Build the tools and experiences that empower our company, advisors, and help our clients thrive. Work with a talented team of engineers, designers, data scientists and financial experts to define product vision, strategy and deliver experiences to enable clients to achieve financial security.

What You’ll Do

• Set Product Vision: Collaboratively define and communicate a clear vision for innovation experiments and new solutions, grounded in business strategy, customer insight, and emerging technology opportunity.
• Develop Roadmap: Lead the development and socialization of a program roadmap that reflects stakeholder priorities, strategic bets, and a realistic path to value.
• Define and Track KPIs: Establish measures of success for innovation experiments and use outcome data to validate strategic direction and inform go or no‑go decisions.
• Validate the Right Solution: Drive the discovery and definition phase of innovation programs, using research, stakeholder input, and experimentation to validate that proposed solutions address the right problems before committing to build.
• Gather and Synthesize Requirements: Lead cross‑functional work to identify, pressure‑test, and prioritize requirements, translating ambiguous opportunity spaces into well‑scoped program definitions.
• Stakeholdering: Build and manage relationships with executive partners, business leaders, and technology stakeholders, proactively bringing strategic recommendations and leading conversations that shape program direction.
• Executive Communication: Develop and deliver executive‑ready briefings, narratives, and decision‑support materials that make complex innovation work accessible and actionable for senior audiences.
• User Insights: Anchor program decisions in qualitative and quantitative research, customer insight, and experimentation results, and synthesize findings into a clear strategic point of view and working with design partners to ensure concepts are grounded in this insight.
• Facilitate Ceremonies: Facilitate daily scrums, sprint planning sessions, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, continuously improving how the team operates.
• Emerging Technology: Evaluate AI and other emerging technologies for strategic fit and enterprise applicability, leveraging a working knowledge of how these capabilities are evolving and where the technology is heading.

What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor's degree.
• 5+ years of prior experience with at least 4 years working in a Product Management Role or innovation consulting, with agile team experience.
• Knowledge of formal business analysis, engineering or testing, and the financial services industry, comfortable working in ambiguity, pressure‑testing assumptions, and validating the right solution before committing to build.
• Strong executive communication and storytelling skills, with experience developing materials for and presenting to senior leadership.
• Working knowledge of AI and its practical enterprise applications, with an understanding of how capabilities are evolving and where the technology is heading.
• Demonstrated cross‑functional work in previous experience along with strong communication skills, time management, project management skills, business acumen and high self‑awareness/EQ.
• Demonstrated previous research experience, influence skills, initial leadership exposure, ability to translate product requirements into technical requirements, and work in ambiguity and solutioning.
• Ability to solve complex problems; take a new perspective on existing solutions; exercise judgment based on the analysis of multiple sources of information.

Skills You Have

• Cross‑Functional Partnering & Planning – Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.
• Strategic Thinking – Uses critical thinking and knowledge of business demand to plan, design, prioritize and execute high‑impact initiatives and programs.
• Attention to Detail – Focuses on specific details to spot and correct errors in advance of them being found and surpass quality expectations. Performs work with thorough proofreading for presentation, content, accuracy, and overall quality.
• Adaptive Communication – Formulates strategies to be used to convey complex information about services, products, systems, or processes to targeted audiences; communicates and liaises between technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Analytical Thinking – Organizes and compares various aspects of a situation to comprehend and identify key or underlying complex issues through the use of quantitative data and analysis; leverages strong business acumen, problem solving, and interpersonal skills to think critically about situations from multiple perspectives and consistently seeks ways to improve processes.
• Customer Centricity – Applies a customer‑first mindset to design and continuously improve solutions, systems, processes, and services that support enterprise strategy, impact critical business outcomes, and drive organizational success.

Compensation Range

Pay Range – Start: $136,800.00 | End: $205,200.00
Geographic Specific Pay Structure:
Structure 110: $130,880.00 USD – $196,320.00 USD
Structure 115: $136,800.00 USD – $205,200.00 USD

Northwestern Mutual is an equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds. We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.