Head of Product (unsecured lending/RPoS/Credit)

Product Management / Product Manager / Credit / Unsecured Lending / Consumer Finance / Start-up / Fintech / Banking / Innovation/Hybrid working

EllisKnight Search are currently hiring for an exceptional opportunity to be part of an exciting new start-up Consumer finance business. We are looking for a talented Senior Product Manager / Head of Product to join this global, £1bn + revenue business as they scale at pace. This is an innovative, entrepreneurial ‘start-up’ environment without the uncertainty and risk of going through funding rounds to support it’s growth due to already having the funding agreed for growth through the The Group holding business (Plc).

We are looking for commercially focused, innovative end2end (Full lifecycle) product management specialists with a detailed knowledge around Credit and Unsecured lending (Retail PoS desirable) and a passion for creating customer centric solutions. 

The leadership team is extremely ambitious and has set out a clear strategy to continue to grow the existing highly successful core business, whilst at the same time revolutionizing their approach to the market. This model will significantly reduce operating costs whilst also increasing customer service/experience/success.

The idea and strategy is to create innovative products that are low Risk and simplify the way homeowners can access unsecured lending / credit in a simple to navigate, affordable and innovative way.

The Position

The Senior Product Manager/Head of Product role provides an opportunity to create, build and lead the consumer finance product function in Europe.  Accountable for a portfolio to achieve its consumer finance ambitions. This role will be based in UK but will be responsible for delivering innovative new propositions and business models for consumer finance in European markets and overseeing multiple commercial partner relationships.

Success measures include:

• Performance against commercial targets
• Robust product development and change roadmap
• Strong customer service and satisfaction metrics
• Successful commercial relationships with third parties

The role will initially report to the Global CEO who is an exceptional and supportive leader with a string reputation for creating, building and delivering outstanding financial services/solutions for customers.

Responsibilities:

• Accountable for the European consumer finance product/marketing strategy across the business including product offer, market positioning and customer strategy in each local market
• Develops and delivers innovative new propositions, products, and business models for consumer finance across relevant markets, and that will be successful with partners and channels of distribution to drive rapid growth
• Ownership of commercial targets and accountability for delivering commercial success for consumer finance products across relevant geographic markets and product/line of business markets (including assessing acquisition targets in other regional markets)
• Establish and develop winning partnership relationships (particularly with lenders) to meet aligned stretching commercial ambitions
• Manage end-to-end product lifecycle, including identifying customer needs, product vision and strategy, roadmap creation and communication, release planning, requirements gathering, and developing functional specifications through launch and enhancement phases.
• Work collaboratively with other internal departments to identify product gaps and opportunities and prioritize the development pipeline.
• Develop good working relationship with other product development teams to share, learn and coordinate development projects across the organization.
• Drive customer insight into the proposition, using tools such as focus groups and qualitative and quantitative research.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field or equivalent. An MBA would be desirable
• Well-rounded business leader with a proven track record of developing a strategic vision and executing tactical plans necessary to deliver successful products.
• Deep consumer finance product expertise, best practice, and external perspectives across a spectrum of credit products
• Strong commercial, problem solving and agile thinking skills.
• Ability to set direction and make decisions in a matrixed organizational structure, creating a clear path, supporting plans and projects in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment (with high degrees of ambiguity).
• Natural self-starter with strong written and verbal communication and influencing skills at all levels including C-level and including the ability to operate in an entrepreneurial environment.
• Adept at working as a collaborative team member within the consumer finance team
• Preferred experience would include work at both large/medium and smaller high growth businesses with a consumer finance focus.
• Early experience in consulting would be a plus but is not required.