Manager, Product

The Manager, Product is a strategic business and technology leader responsible for defining and advancing the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for Application Fulfillment across Life, Health, and Annuity within Thrivent’s Insurance Operations portfolio. This role leads the evolution of the capabilities that enable applications to move efficiently and accurately from submission through processing and issuance, connecting advisor and client experiences with underwriting, operations, and policy administration.

The Manager, Product drives modernization of the applications, workflows, services, and integrations supporting the application fulfillment lifecycle. The role focuses on reducing friction and cycle time, increasing automation and operational productivity, and improving transparency and reliability for advisors, clients, and internal teams.

As a player-coach, the Manager, Product combines hands-on product leadership with responsibility for the performance, development, and growth of three direct reports. This leader establishes effective product management practices, coaches product practitioners, and helps business stakeholders work successfully within the product operating model.

The Manager, Product partners closely with business capability owners, adjacent product teams, engineering, design, analytics, operations, and external technology partners to align priorities, manage cross-domain dependencies, and deliver measurable business outcomes. Success requires connecting end-to-end business needs with product and technology strategy while balancing modernization, operational performance, and investment priorities.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own product strategy and roadmaps. Define and advance the vision, strategy, and roadmaps for Application Fulfillment across Life, Health, and Annuity, aligning business capabilities and product investments with advisor, client, and operational outcomes.
• Lead and develop people. Directly manage three product practitioners, providing clear expectations, coaching, feedback, and development opportunities while fostering a high-performing, collaborative team culture.
• Strengthen product management practices. Coach product practitioners and business stakeholders in applying effective product management practices across discovery, prioritization, delivery, adoption, and measurement.
• Prioritize across a complex portfolio. Lead prioritization and investment trade-offs across multiple products and initiatives, balancing business value, operational needs, modernization priorities, technical dependencies, and available capacity.
• Advance application fulfillment capabilities. Lead the evolution of capabilities supporting application intake, case processing, requirements management, underwriting coordination, and policy issuance. Partner across product domains and with technology providers to simplify workflows, increase automation, and improve integration across the application lifecycle.
• Deliver measurable outcomes. Establish and monitor product health metrics and business KPIs, driving improvements in application cycle time, straight-through processing, operational productivity, and advisor and client experiences.
• Lead customer and user discovery. Engage advisors, clients, and internal users to understand needs, identify friction and opportunities, validate hypotheses, and inform product strategy and prioritization.
• Build cross-functional alignment. Partner with business capability owners, adjacent product teams, engineering, design, analytics, and operations to establish shared outcomes, clarify ownership and dependencies, and coordinate solutions across interconnected business capabilities.
• Manage product investment. Apply financial management principles to…