Director, Product Strategy & Innovation

We are currently seeking a Director Product Strategy & Innovation to join our team.

The Director, Product Strategy & Innovation drives product development, innovation and management for First West Credit Union including deposits, lending and ancillary revenue generation for all lines of business. This role is accountable for product roadmap development and management as well as the growth of key product portfolios including core deposits, lending and third-party products. The Director is responsible for all product management activities including product compliance in line with all applicable provincial and federal regulatory guidelines.

Accountabilities

• Leadership: Builds and leads high-performing product teams. Champions a culture of innovation, agility, and accountability. Influences senior leadership and cross-functional partners to drive product excellence and member value. Provides ongoing coaching and support for all team members; conducts performance reviews and establishes performance goals for direct reports.
• Product Strategy: Strategy: Owns the end-to-end product development process, ensuring alignment with strategic goals, regulatory requirements, and member needs. Facilitates quarterly roadmap reviews with executive stakeholders to assess progress, reprioritize initiatives, and resolve cross-functional dependencies. Leads the development of multi-year strategic product plans aligned with enterprise objectives. Synthesizes internal performance data, competitive intelligence, and member insights to define long-term product priorities and investment strategies. Collaborates closely with stakeholders in Strategy, Finance, IT, Member Experience, Marketing, Risk and Regulatory Compliance to identify key constraints and opportunities critical to advancing our goals. Prepares business plans for the approval of key initiatives critical to advancing the product strategy.
• Product Management: Responsible for product lifecycle management of the products at FW across all brands for business and retail lines of business. Accountable for the financial and operational performance of the product portfolio. Establishes performance targets, monitors KPIs, and leads corrective action planning to ensure products meet growth, profitability, and member engagement goals. Reports regularly to executive leadership on performance outcomes and strategic pivots. Responsible for the growth of product portfolio’s and takes intervening measures (. marketing campaigns, team member training, . to ensure product portfolios achieve targets.
• Market Intelligence: Keeps up-to-date with industry trends, competitors’ products, economic conditions, demographics and socioeconomic trends to enhance and evolve First West’s product strategy to ensure our business remains competitive and meets the evolving needs of our members.
• Product Governance & Compliance: Ensures all products comply with guidelines of federal and provincial regulators as applicable. Establishes and maintains internal governance process for product development/ modification.

Required Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, finance or economics required; MBA preferred
• 8-9 years product management experience with 3-5 years in a leadership role required
• Experience working in a federally regulated financial institution preferred
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional collaboration to advance strategic priorities
• Demonstrated ability to transform market and member insights into a clear and compelling product strategy that meets the needs of our current and future members
• Demonstrated ability to build and coach a high-performing team of product managers and analysts
• Detail oriented, analytically curious with strong numeracy, logical thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Demonstrated organizational, leadership, planning and communication skills
• Advanced data analysis skills and basic financial modeling
• Advanced business writing and presentation skills and ability to influence ideas to senior leaders and stakeholders
• Strong business acumen with a deep understanding of product development within financial services
• Displays an understanding of risk and risk ownership by being able to demonstrate adherence to policies and procedures.