Job Description Summary

Our work is essential to helping Nationwide build future capabilities 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, working independently and on a team and creating innovative solutions for customers, we want to know more about you!

As a Technical Director, you'll provide expertise leading across functional team(s) responsible for product creation and innovation. You'll lead key initiatives to address product strategy and profitability objectives and communicate product/solution strategic direction.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

• Leads development and maintenance, including crafting and modeling the features/capabilities of products from beginning to end, with direct responsibility for the products managed from a growth, profitability, capital, and risk perspective.

• Partners with sales leadership and finance to provide cost impact solutions and/or opportunities related to product design options. Develops business cases that support customer acquisition initiatives. Generates multiple solutions that address client/customer needs based on an assessment of the situation. 

• Drives incremental and adjacent innovation to differentiate products and solutions in the marketplace in partnership with cross functional teams.

• Proactively identifies new market and business opportunities. Reacts appropriately to competitive landscape and market conditions.

• Provides support and leadership to promote product/solution strategy, design, and management.

• Serves as liaison, advising across the organization to implement new products and solutions. Looks for alignments or added value from developments across business areas and multiple fields. Facilitates problem resolution across the business.

• Builds strategic relationships to support product delivery, including vendor and partner alliances.

• Assures performance results and expectations as related to the product/solution implementation and business model.

• Develops, produces, and maintains ad hoc and custom sales report analysis. Consults with leadership regarding product trends, provides recommendations regarding sales analysis opportunities.

• Leads key project initiatives for the business in support of initial product offerings, product re-designs or tangential applications such as commissions, new business processing or policy administration.

• Facilitates client understanding of various product options and helps to prioritize options. 

• Maintains a detailed understanding of pricing, client needs, market needs and sales positioning.

May perform other responsibilities as assigned.

Reporting Relationships: Reports to leader; may lead cross-department project teams and up to 3 product professionals. 

Typical Skills and Experiences:

Education: Undergraduate degree in finance, economics, marketing, or related field preferred. MBA degree desired.  

Experience: Typically, ten years of relevant experience in a related industry with at least four years in product specific role. 

Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Solid understanding of product design, regulatory framework governing such products and organization knowledge. Demonstrated strategic decision making. Proven ability in the use of analytic tools, plans pricing and products. Demonstrated ability to drive results, navigate ambiguity and to understand strategic objectives. Ability to lead high profile projects. Ability to creatively present ideas in written form and through presentations. Effective verbal and written communication skills. Proven team building and leadership skills. Ability to influence without authority. 

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 HR Business Partner.

Values:  Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.

Job Conditions:

Overtime Eligibility: Not Eligible (Exempt)

Working Conditions: May require moderate travel.

ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.