Specialty Insurance Product Owner (Consultant)
Nationwide (US) · Remote · United States · 1d ago
The Specialty Insurance Product Owner, Management Liability Specialty Operations, is accountable for maximizing the value of products and capabilities supporting MLS operations and related specialty insurance areas. The role may span MLS, including Surety Bonds, Credit and Political Risk, and other related product areas.
The Product Owner partners with business leaders, operations teams, broker/agent partners, customers, underwriters, technology, data, compliance, and other stakeholders to translate business needs into a prioritized roadmap, quality releases, and measurable business outcomes. This role is comfortable creating clarity from ambiguity, making informed decisions with incomplete information, and balancing customer value, operational effectiveness, risk, compliance, budget, and technical feasibility.
Key Responsibilities
Product strategy, roadmap ownership, and market awareness
- Define and maintain the product vision, roadmap, priorities, and desired outcomes for assigned capabilities.
- Develop a strong understanding of MLS Operations, related product areas, users, workflows, pain points, market needs, and applicable regulatory or control considerations.
- Engage business stakeholders, operations teams, customers, broker/agent partners, and other users to validate problems, gather feedback, and define measurable outcomes.
- Monitor competitors, market trends, and evolving capabilities to help MLS remain relevant and keep pace in the marketplace.
- Identify opportunities to improve customer experience, operational effectiveness, decision support, automation, data quality, and controls.
Backlog, delivery, and distribution partnership
- Own and prioritize the product backlog in JIRA, including epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, dependencies, risks, and release targets.
- Translate complex business processes and rules into clear requirements that delivery teams can execute.
- Partner with technology, architecture, engineering, QA, data, security, operations, and vendors through refinement, development, testing, release, adoption, and production support.
- Provide timely decisions, clarifications, and trade-off recommendations to maintain delivery momentum and avoid rework.
- Confirm that completed work meets acceptance criteria, intended outcomes, and release-readiness expectations.
- Use AI tools responsibly to accelerate discovery, analysis, documentation, story development, test design, and other product activities while protecting confidential information.
- Use prototypes, workflow mockups, wireframes, process concepts, and rapid experimentation to validate ideas before significant delivery investment.
- Build effective relationships with distribution partners and involve them early in discovery to validate proposed workflows and capabilities.
- Design and coordinate pilot testing with selected distribution partners when appropriate; establish clear objectives and success criteria, gather structured feedback, and incorporate feasible enhancements before broader release.
Business cases, budget, and outcomes
- Identify opportunities and develop business cases for review and submission, clearly describing the problem or opportunity, recommended approach, expected value, measurable benefits, investment and resource needs, costs, risks, dependencies, and implementation considerations.
- Partner closely with the Project Manager, SEPM, and Agile Leader to maintain accurate forecasts, monitor expenditures against approved maintenance funding and business-case budgets, address variances, and escalate risks or required decisions promptly.
- Define success measures, baselines, key performance indicators, adoption measures, and benefits-realization plans for projects and initiatives.
- Showcase and demonstrate measurable outcomes through product demonstrations, stakeholder readouts, dashboards, status reporting, or other appropriate forums.
Risk, governance and continuous improvement
- Ensure product decisions and delivery practices account for regulatory obligations, privacy, security, auditability, records, data governance, and enterprise policies.
- Partner with compliance, legal, risk, security, architecture, and governance functions to identify and address risks early.
- Maintain clear documentation of product decisions, business rules, assumptions, controls, integrations, data flows, business cases, budget status, and outcome results.
- Monitor product performance, adoption, customer feedback, defects, operational results, and financial performance; use those insights to guide prioritization and improvement.
- Make timely, well-reasoned decisions through ambiguity and escalate material risks while retaining ownership of recommendations and next steps
What you bring
- Experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager, Business Analyst, Application Owner, or similar role in a complex business environment.
- Experience working in insurance, financial services, specialty products, operations, underwriting, risk management, or a related domain.
- Experience managing a product backlog in JIRA or a comparable Agile delivery tool and writing actionable stories and acceptance criteria.
- Experience partnering with technology teams and distribution partners through discovery, delivery, testing, pilot activities, release, adoption, and production support.
- Experience developing business cases, defining success measures, tracking budgets, and demonstrating measurable outcomes.
- Comfort using AI tools and rapid prototyping techniques with sound judgment regarding accuracy, confidentiality, security, and responsible use.
- Ability to make decisions and move work forward through ambiguity, evolving requirements, competing priorities, and imperfect information.
- Strong analytical, facilitation, communication, organization, and stakeholder-influence skills.
- Ability to balance customer experience, business value, operational practicality, risk, compliance, budget, and technical feasibility.
- Ability to influence outcomes without direct authority in a matrixed environment.
- Bachelor’s degree in business, information technology, computer science, insurance, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with specialty insurance, enterprise platforms, workflow automation, APIs, integrations, decision-support tools, or data-intensive applications.
- Experience with Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, product discovery, design thinking, or hybrid delivery models.
- Experience with customer research, usability testing, service design, journey mapping, or process improvement.
- Experience defining product metrics, dashboards, adoption measures, service-level measures, or business cases.
- Familiarity with AI-enabled workflows, responsible AI practices, rapid prototyping tools, or automation concepts.
Measures of Success
- The roadmap and backlog reflect clear business outcomes, customer needs, market awareness, risk considerations, dependencies, and measurable value.
- Delivery teams have the clarity, context, decisions, acceptance criteria, and stakeholder access needed to deliver quality outcomes.
- Releases are appropriately tested, piloted when warranted, informed by distribution-partner feedback, and ready for adoption and production support.
- Approved maintenance and business-case budgets are accurately forecasted, actively monitored, and managed within approved funding.
- Product performance, adoption, customer feedback, defects, and business outcomes are measured and used to guide investment and prioritization decisions.
- Project and initiative goals are demonstrated through measurable results, stakeholder reporting, and benefits-realization evidence.
- Product decisions are timely, transparent, evidence-informed, and appropriately documented.
- AI, prototyping, and continuous improvement practices accelerate learning while managing confidentiality, security, compliance, and operational risk.
Role Expectations
A successful Product Owner is curious about the business, close to users, comfortable with technology, and accountable for outcomes beyond delivery alone. They bring structure without unnecessary bureaucracy, communicate directly, test assumptions, collaborate effectively with distribution partners and delivery teams, and know when to decide, experiment, seek input, or escalate.
*This role does not qualify for employer-sponsored work authorization. Nationwide does not participate in the Stem OPT Extension program.*
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Job Description Summary
We are a versatile group of individuals, working together to meet the needs of our customers. We value knowledge, strong business savvy and contributing to a stellar team dynamic. If you thrive in a busy, engaging work environment, we want to know more about you!As a Consultant, you'll act independently or as a member of a team responsible for establishing a common understanding of the business environment in which a project must be defined, designed, created, deployed, used and supported. You will participate in major process modeling, analysis and design efforts providing business performance management, organizational design and business risk management capabilities to formulate pragmatic, forward facing and impactful business transformation plans.
Job Description
Key Responsibilities:
Partners with senior leaders to transform their businesses through the strategic application of people, processes and technology. Participates in the planning process by identifying complexities, dependencies and duplications.
Demonstrates expertise in leading business process analysis/design, organizational analysis, needs assessments and cost/benefit analysis to align solutions with business strategies and direction. Consults with functional groups within Nationwide Technology and internal business clients to develop short- and long-term business transformation plans.
Serves as process management contributor and consultant between business customers and systems area for development and implementation of business processes and procedures. Responsible for communicating to customers, management and external sources.
Identifies critical elements of a business process that need to be managed. Defines criteria of performance success. Reports performance in a cohesive manner.
As a team member, participates in analysis and design of organizational structures, roles, responsibilities, governance, staffing and sourcing to support business goals, strategies and process architecture. Provides significant contribution in executing business unit level change.
Conducts and leads training of customers on business, technological, societal and environmental trends to support strategies for improving business performance.
Facilitates evaluation and research of new and existing products, procedures and/or workflow needs associated with business systems for the company. Evaluates new technological developments and evolving business requirements, and recommends appropriate systems alternatives and/or enhancements.
Develops compelling business cases, including gaining senior management input, to accomplish business objectives. Identifies, assesses and mitigates business risks associated with current operating model and/or desired target state operating models.
May provide direction, training and guidance for less experienced staff. May assign responsibility for tasks, sets clear objectives and monitors progress and results. May monitors project schedules and costs. May develops project plans, work breakdown structures and desired outcomes for overall solution delivery.
Performs other responsibilities as assigned.
Reporting Relationships: Reports to Director. This is an individual contributor role and does not have direct reports; may have opportunity to lead projects or teams.
Typical Skills and Experiences:
Education: Undergraduate studies in computer science, management information, business, mathematics or related field desired. Graduate studies are preferred.
Experience: Eight plus years of dynamic experience in planning, designing and implementing company-wide business transformation initiatives. Extensive experience in functional, process, information and data modeling, data management and warehousing and applications integration. In-depth experience with process redesign methods and tools. Three years of experience in project management is preferred.
Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Demonstrated knowledge of standards, methodologies and frameworks, business process management and technology. Sound knowledge of a variety of tools, concepts and techniques. Understanding of new technologies and developments in the technology industry. Detailed knowledge of the system development life cycle. Knowledge of project management concepts and techniques are required. Thorough knowledge of facilitation, performance management, organizational design and managing organization change. Ability to lead large or sophisticated projects. Effective communication skills and ability to deal with ambiguity.
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 the Nationwide Values.
Job Conditions:
Overtime Eligibility: Exempt (Not eligible)
Working Conditions: Normal office environment. Extended work hours may be required based on workload. May require occasional 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
We currently anticipate accepting applications until 10/16/2026. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.Benefits
We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more. To learn more about the benefits we offer, click here.
Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.
This position could be filled within any of the lower 48 U.S. states.Smoke-Free Iowa Statement: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries comply with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas on or around company premises as well as company issued vehicles. The company offers designated smoking areas in which smoking is permitted at each individual location. The Act prohibits retaliation for reporting complaints or violations. For more information on the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, individuals may contact the Smokefree Air Act Helpline at 888-944-2247.For NY residents please review the following state law information: Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations LS740 (ny.gov) https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/02/ls740_1.pdf
NOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:
We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.
Nationwide pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range. Note on Compensation for Part-Time Roles: Please be aware that the salary ranges listed below reflect full-time compensation. Actual compensation may be prorated based on the number of hours worked relative to a full-time schedule.The national salary range for Consultant, Business Consulting : $97,000.00-$180,000.00The expected starting salary range for Consultant, Business Consulting : $97,000.00 - $145,000.00