Technical Product Development Manager (Web)
Location: GR, I, Athens
Employment type: Full-time
Required experience: Mid-Senior level
Required education: Bachelor's Degree
Industry: Insurance
Function: Information Technology
Company profile: Hellas Direct is a new insurance company founded in 2011 with the view of changing the way car insurance companies service their clients. We embrace transparency in everything we do and we believe that the Greek consumer deserves a better customer experience.The phrase 'Rethink Insurance' captures the essence of why we exist as a company. Our mission is to change the Greek insurance market, one policy at a time. To do so, we must challenge all assumptions and revisit the way things are currently being done. We are starting with a blank piece of paper and - with the help and support of our strategic partners - we want to redefine what customer service really means. We invite you to join us in our journey and to get to know us along the way.Hellas Direct is the trade name of HD Insurance Ltd, a Cyprus non-life insurance company. HD Insurance Ltd is regulated by the Cyprus Superintendent of Insurance and authorised by the Bank of Greece to carry out insurance business in the Hellenic Republic.
Description: Role ContextHellas Direct (HD) is a well-funded insurance start-up that is replicating the direct-to-consumer motor insurance model in Greece.Having analysed and evaluated 65+ off-the-shelf software systems, HD has decided that the best systems procurement strategy is to develop its own systems in-house.HD already has an excellent in-house development team and the systems needed to support HD’s innovative product offering and customer service have already been up and running (with all the basics that were needed to launch a direct-to-consumer on-line motor insurance sales website) since the 6th August 2012 with 99.97% availability.HD now requires an experienced and knowledgeable Product Development Manager (“Product Owner” in Agile terminology) to lead the on-going HD product development and enhancement process.Role DetailThe Product Development Manager will join the Technology Team and will work closely with the development team (which follows the SCRUM agile development methodology) to ensure that all new requirements and functional enhancements requested by the business are delivered into production within the required timescales with a continuing high level of quality (i.e. very few minor design/functionality defects and few re-works).  The Product Development Manager is expected to work within the SCRUM agile development environment as the rest of the technology team.Some of the activities that will need to be performed and/or managed include (but not limited to):Provide input into the strategy for evolution of the existing productInitiating appropriate consultation sessions with stakeholders to determine their explicit and implicit requirements;Analysing the business processes being automated to ensure the requested functional changes will truly deliver the desired business objectives;Becoming an “expert resource” on the current state and future directions of the Greek motor insurance industry;Becoming an “expert resource” on the current state and future direction of HD’s product offering;Observing existing business processes and proposing new requirements to automate and optimise them.New product or new release co-ordination & process managementThe Product Development Manager will be responsible for managing a range of processes related to a new product or new release of an existing product design and development, specifically:Overall cross-team release co-ordinationCo-ordinating interactions among the Application Development team and all other stakeholders (e.g. customer service team, finance team, claims team, marketing team, senior management) to agree the timing and content of releases.External and internal communicationsAgreeing suitable mechanisms and documentation with the rest of the business to communicate the contents of forthcoming releases to third parties and internally;Drafting and sending updates on the timing and content of releases, and any subsequent material changes to that timing or content;Being the central point of content for internal and external enquiries relating to forthcoming releases, functionality or product requirements;Ensuring that requirements are delivered as specified (“ownership of requirements”);Ensuring the timely delivery of specification documentation to the software designers and Application Development team;Ensuring the appropriate involvement of other teams within the business in the appropriate release-related processes;Managing the review process of high-level design for a product release (outside of the development team);Specifying and managing the User Verification Testing (UVT) testing of a new product/release.Requirements management & specificationAs well as being responsible for the process of producing high quality specification documentation, the Product Development Manager is also responsible for:Analysis of issues raised and identification of new requirements;Gathering of issues and business requirements from third parties and internal teams;Managing the issue analysis, requirements identification & requirements gathering;Management and evolution of the product backlog;Requirements Specification;Managing the process of drafting, reviewing and signing-off of stories within Jira;Directly drafting stories within Jira;Where others have specific relevant expertise, or time is limited, delegating the drafting of stories to others in the company;Ensuring all specification documentation (stories) are produced to a high quality by managing the thorough review of all stories by appropriate stakeholders;Reviewing and signing-off the technical “high level design” documentation that the software designers subsequently produce, and ensuring these accurately capture the relevant product requirements;Managing the process of scoping and base-lining product releases;Ownership of the process by which requirements are prioritised and packaged into releases;Managing the process by which requirements are prioritised and packaged into releases and presenting recommendations to the management team for decision (if necessary).Participation in specific product & release-related processesBoth during the process of scoping, drafting and developing a release, the product development manager will need to participate in several product-related processes:Assisting with the process of specifying and evaluating the urgency of change requests;Assisting with the process of specifying and evaluating the urgency of defects;Assisting with UVT;Participating in stand-ups and status update meetings.
Requirements: Education and Work ExperienceAt a minimum an excellent (2:1 or higher) undergraduate degree.  A technical BEng/BSc/BA degree in a Computing or Engineering based discipline is preferred but not required if substantial experience in the activities described in Role Detail above can be demonstrated;A minimum of 5 years of hands-on experience in acting as the Product Development Manager (“Product Owner”).Essential skills and hands-on experienceFluent in spoken and written Greek and English;Self-starter, with demonstrable ability to take initiative and work without detailed guidance;Structured problem-solving and analysis;Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to identify and challenge assumptions intelligently and critically without causing offence;Basic understanding of fundamental web-based application concepts (e.g. browsers, 2/3-tier architectures, databases, etc.);Demonstrable experience in all the processes described above.Desired (but not required) skills and hands-on experiencePrevious “Product Owner” experience within an Agile environment would be a distinct advantage.
Benefits: Very competitive salary depending on skill level and experience.As this is very much a “start-up environment”, it provides an opportunity for successful applicants to be more directly involved in the general shaping and direction of the product of the company, to experience a well-structured agile development environment, pick up some useful general business skills and to interact with end-users directly.
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