Director, Agile Product Manager

About the position

We're determined to make a difference and are proud to be an insurance company that goes well beyond coverages and policies. Working here means having every opportunity to achieve your goals - and to help others accomplish theirs, too. Join our team as we help shape the future. The Hartford is seeking a dynamic and experienced Director, Agile Product Manager (APM) to lead the Digital team assigned to the Employee Benefit claimant value stream. This role is responsible for driving the strategic vision of a multi-million-dollar portfolio and execution of multiyear roadmap to improve the employee benefit claim experience.

Responsibilities

• Develop and drive a comprehensive set of recommendations to guide the strategy for the customer communications solution team focusing on innovation, customer experience, and efficiency.
• Align initiatives with business goals such as premium/growth or expense/efficiency and other KPIs as well as ensure seamless execution of a large scope of work.
• Identify and implement cutting-edge solutions to enhance the customer communication experience.
• Lead efforts to elevate the interactions across the customer communication solution team through use of customer feedback, analytics, A/B, multivariate, and usability testing.
• Partner with leaders across the enterprise in Marketing, IT, Operations, Claims, Customer Experience and other areas to ensure cohesive and integrated experiences.
• Oversee the planning and execution of a large-scale team, ensuring timely and on-budget delivery of new capabilities.
• Establish and track key performance indicators (OKR's/KPIs) to measure the success of initiatives.
• Develop the product vision and capabilities needed to achieve best-in-class customer communication solutions and capabilities.
• Uncover opportunities to reuse technologies, processes, best practices, and ways of working with other members of the digital organization.
• Synthesize communication analytics, marketing, call, and voice of customer insights, competitive research, and usability testing results.
• Stay current on internal, competitive, and industry technology trends to be a subject matter expert.
• Drive change management plans for all key stakeholders and impacted users.

Requirements

• 10+ years in agile product management and optimizing large-scale initiatives.
• Proven leadership in digital/publishing transformation and process improvements.
• Strong ability to influence senior leadership and secure executive buy-in.
• Expertise in creating high-performing, collaborative teams focused on business value.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills for managing cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment.
• Self-motivated with experience in managing expectations and achieving objectives.
• Effective decision-maker with experience in change management frameworks (e.g., ADKAR, RAPID).
• Technical and/or working knowledge of application programming interfaces (APIs) strongly desired.
• In-depth knowledge of agile methodologies (SAFe certification) and experience with agile lifecycle management tools (e.g., Rally, JIRA).
• Experience coaching and mentoring product owners.
• Proficient in web analytics and performance monitoring tools (e.g., Google Analytics).
• Strong analytical skills and ability to handle multiple high-priority demands.
• Experience in process optimization (e.g., Six Sigma), leading customer research efforts, A/B testing, and analytics strategies.
• Familiarity with The Hartford's system interfaces and platforms is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.

Benefits

• Short-term or annual bonuses
• Long-term incentives
• On-the-spot recognition