Senior Product Manager (Technical)

Zinnia; Greenwich, Short Hills (CT, NJ); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health/dental insurance

Parental leave

401(k)

Incentive/bonus opportunity

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Zinnia is seeking a Senior Technical Product Manager to lead the API build, client onboarding, and implementation from kickoff through production go-live. You will partner with Sales and Pre-Sales to win API-led opportunities, own API specifications, data models, and event-driven integration design, and drive architecture decisions with engineers and executives.

This high-impact, hands-on role requires deep technical depth, strong communication, and the ability to translate client needs into

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technical product management or solutions architecture.
• Experience owning the SDLC end-to-end for enterprise APIs.
• Experience leading enterprise onboarding from kickoff through production go-live.
• Experience with REST API design, OpenAPI, OAuth 2.0, API gateways, rate limiting.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases and writing SQL.
• Experience with event-driven architectures including Kafka and webhooks.

Responsibilities

• Write clear, testable product requirements, API specifications (OpenAPI), and acceptance criteria.
• Own and execute client onboarding and implementation end to end, from kickoff to go-live.
• Serve as the senior technical SME and point of contact for client engineering, architecture, and security teams.
• Partner with Sales and Pre-Sales as the technical lead on API-led opportunities and demos.
• Define data models and canonical schemas across APIs, events, and persistence layers.
• Define requirements for event-driven integrations and API traffic management policies.
• Produce reference data structures and integration plans with document management systems.
• Drive release readiness reviews and go/no-go gates to ensure smooth deployments.

Skills

API design

OpenAPI

REST APIs

OAuth 2.0

Data modeling

Client onboarding

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or related field

Tools

Kong

Apigee

AWS API Gateway

Datadog

Job description

Greenwich, CT - Hybrid; Short Hills, NJ - Hybrid

WHO WE ARE:

Zinnia is the leading technology platform for accelerating life and annuities growth. With innovative enterprise solutions and data insights, Zinnia simplifies the experience of buying, selling, and administering insurance products. All of which enables more people to protect their financial futures. Our success is driven by a commitment to three core values: be bold, team up, deliver value – and that we do. Zinnia has over $180 billion in assets under administration, serves 100+ carrier clients, 2500 distributors and partners, and over 2 million policyholders.

WHO YOU ARE:

We are hiring a Senior Technical Product Manager for a highly visible, client-facing role. You'll lead the API build and client onboarding and implementation, from technical kickoff through production go-live, and partner with Sales and Pre-Sales to win and launch business.

This is a high-impact role for a hands‑on product manager. You'll define and own the technical requirements, including API design, data models, event‑driven integrations, and traffic management policies such as rate limiting and throttling. You'll bring the technical depth to shape architecture decisions with specificity, not just business cases. When integrations break, you'll dive deep with engineering to find the root cause and drive the fix.

You’ll serve as the technical voice our clients can trust. You'll lead integration design sessions with client architects and technology leaders, turn their requirements into plans your engineering teams can execute, and see those plans through production. You'll write concisely and present complex technical topics with equal clarity to engineers and senior executives.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Write clear, testable product requirements, API specifications (OpenAPI), and acceptance criteria. Drive the SDLC across design, build, test, release, and post-release validation.
• Own and execute client onboarding and implementation end to end, from technical kickoff and integration design through UAT, production readiness, and go-live.
• Serve as the senior technical subject matter expert and point of contact for client engineering, architecture, and security teams. Lead integration design sessions and translate client needs into executable plans.
• Partner with Sales and Pre-Sales as the technical lead on API‑led opportunities, including discovery, solution design, live demos, and RFP and security questionnaire responses.
• Partner with architects and engineering leads on platform architecture, service boundaries, and scalability trade‑offs. Define and review data models and canonical schemas across APIs, events, and persistence layers.
• Define requirements for event‑driven integrations, including Kafka topic and event schema design and webhook payloads, retries, and signing.
• Define API traffic management and access policies, including rate limiting, throttling, quotas, IP whitelisting, and OAuth 2.0 and API key provisioning.
• Own requirements for reference data structures, the reference data engine (RDE), and integrations with document management systems.
• Dive deep with engineering on production issues and client escalations to identify root cause, drive resolution, and keep clients informed.
• Drive execution across large, geographically distributed engineering and QA teams. Establish mechanisms such as release readiness reviews and go/no‑go gates, and report on release predictability, quality, and SLA adherence.
• Build a repeatable onboarding playbook and continuously reduce time to go-live by turning recurring integration friction into product requirements and documentation.
• Bring structured client and field feedback to product leadership to inform roadmap priorities.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• 8+ years of technical product management, solutions architecture, or technical implementation experience, including 4+ years on API or platform products
• Experience writing detailed product requirements and owning the SDLC end to end for enterprise APIs
• Experience in a client‑facing role leading enterprise onboarding and implementations from kickoff through production go‑live
• Experience with REST API design, OpenAPI, OAuth 2.0, API gateways, rate limiting, throttling, and IP whitelisting
• Experience with software architecture and data modeling for distributed systems
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, MongoDB, DynamoDB), including writing SQL
• Experience with event‑driven architectures including Kafka and webhooks
• Experience with reference data structures and document management systems
• Experience driving execution with large, geographically distributed engineering teams
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience

BONUS POINTS:

• Experience in life insurance, annuities, or financial services
• Familiarity with insurance data standards such as ACORD
• Experience with API gateways and developer portals (e.g., Kong, Apigee, AWS API Gateway) and observability tools (e.g., Datadog)
• Experience with schema registries, Avro or JSON Schema, and change data capture (CDC)
• Experience with AWS‑based architectures
• Prior hands‑on software engineering or architecture experience
• Ability to write concisely and present complex technical topics to both engineers and senior executives

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

Zinnia offers excellent career progression and competitive compensation with the goal of retaining and growing talented team members. The salary range for this role is a good faith estimate, it is estimated based on what a successful candidate might be paid in certain Company locations. The salary range for this position is $115,000.00-$155,000. All offers presented to candidates are carefully reviewed to ensure fair, equitable pay by offering competitive salaries that align with the individual’s skills, education, experience, training, and geographic location. The range may vary above or below the stated amounts. We offer great benefits, including health/dental insurance, parental leave,401(k), incentive/bonus opportunity, tuition reimbursement, and so much more. We’re looking for the best and brightest innovators in the industry to join our team. At Zinnia, you collaborate with smart, creative professionals who are dedicated to delivering cutting‑edge technologies, deeper data insights, and enhanced services to transform how insurance is done.

Visit our website at www.zinnia.com for more information.

We are an Equal Opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability.

Notice for California residents: Information about how we collect and use your personal information can be found here. If you are resident in California, the CCPA applies to you, find the link to the appropriate privacy notice here stating how we collect and use your data in line with CCPA.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self‑identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Zinnia’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.