The Associate Director, Product Management for ftwilliam.com provides strategic and operational leadership for technology enabled products in a SaaS environment. This role serves as a key connector across Product, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Support, and external partners. The Associate Director leads and coaches teams responsible for product strategy, customer engagement, partnerships/integrations, and quality execution—ensuring alignment to customer needs, business priorities, and go to market readiness.
Reporting & Leadership Scope
Manages the Product Owner Manager, who oversees Product Owners and Document Drafters
Manages Product Manager/Custom Development Project Manager
Oversees Subject Matter Experts, including an Actuary and ERISA Attorney
Oversees the Quality Control team
Works closely with Marketing, internal Product Management, Sales, Support, and external partner organizations
Product Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
Drive product direction and prioritization in partnership with internal Product Management and key stakeholders.
Identify and evaluate new product and development opportunities based on customer needs, business goals, and market signals.
Ensure product strategy translates into clear execution plans and measurable outcomes across teams.
Partnerships & Third-party Integrations
Identify, assess, and advance new partnership opportunities that support strategic growth and customer value.
Lead discussions and ongoing collaboration with third-party providers regarding integrations, requirements, and positioning.
Partner with Engineering team to ensure integration initiatives are aligned, feasible, and well supported.
Customer Advisory Board & Institutional Customer Engagement
Own and run the Customer Advisory Board (CAB): planning agendas, facilitating sessions, capturing insights, and driving follow through.
Facilitate product updates and roadmap discussions with institutional customers to build trust, adoption, and alignment.
Translate customer feedback into actionable roadmap items, product improvements, and partnership opportunities.
Cross Functional Enablement (Marketing, Sales, Support)
Provide ongoing product updates and insights to Marketing to enable creation of collateral, messaging, and campaign planning.
Support Sales with product positioning, competitive differentiation, talking points, and training content.
Facilitate regular product updates for the Support team to improve readiness, consistency, and customer outcomes.
Facilitate regular product updates for Sales to ensure field alignment on roadmap, releases, and customer relevant value.
Team Leadership, Coaching & Change Management
Lead with strong ownership and accountability to push initiatives through complexity and ambiguity.
Coach managers and team members to embrace change, scale effective processes, and continuously improve delivery.
Provide guidance to ensure SMEs (Actuary/ERISA Attorney) are integrated effectively into product definition, decisions, and quality outcomes.
Oversee quality control practices to ensure high standards for accuracy, compliance, and customer experience.
Customer Discovery, Focus Groups & Competitive Research Coaching
Coach and support the team in planning and facilitating focus groups, customer interviews, and feedback sessions.
Ensure teams apply structured synthesis methods (themes, patterns, and actionable insights) that feed the roadmap and story development.
Coach the team through ongoing competitor research and market analysis to inform positioning, differentiation, and prioritization.
Promote consistent discovery and research practices that strengthen customer centric decision making.
Required Qualifications
7+ years of Product Management experience in a SaaS company
Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, marketing, software development, or a related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Demonstrated experience leading cross functional work in a matrix environment.
Experience working with external partners and third-party integrations.
Required Skills & Leadership Characteristics
Strong leadership presence with the ability to drive large, complex initiatives to completion.
Ability to inspire and motivate teams, creating clarity, focus, and accountability.
Proven ability to coach teams through change, helping others adopt new processes and ways of working.
Exceptional communication skills (written, verbal, and facilitation), including executive level and customer-facing communication.
Customer centric mindset with strong instincts for customer value, usability, and outcomes.
Strong judgment, prioritization, and stakeholder management skills in a matrixed organization.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in the employee benefits industry.
Experience partnering with Marketing on go to market launches and campaign strategy.
To maintain a fair and genuine hiring process, we kindly ask that all candidates participate in interviews without the assistance of AI tools or external prompts. Our interview process is designed to assess your individual skills, experiences, and communication style. We value authenticity and want to ensure we’re getting to know you—not a digital assistant. To help maintain this integrity, we ask to remove virtual backgrounds and include in-person interviews in our hiring process. Please note that use of AI-generated responses or third-party support during interviews will be grounds for disqualification from the recruitment process.
Applicants may be required to appear onsite at a Wolters Kluwer office as part of the recruitment process.
Compensation:
$133,400.00 - $238,400.00 USDThis role is eligible for Bonus.
Compensation range listed is based on primary location of the position. Actual base salary offer is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skills, experience and actual hiring location. Your recruiter can share more information about the specific offer for the job location during the hiring process.
Additional Information:Wolters Kluwer offers a wide variety of competitive benefits and programs to help meet your needs and balance your work and personal life, including but not limited to: Medical, Dental, & Vision Plans, 401(k), FSA/HSA, Commuter Benefits, Tuition Assistance Plan, Vacation and Sick Time, and Paid Parental Leave. Full details of our benefits are available upon request.
Top Skills
Wolters Kluwer Riverwoods, Illinois, USA Office
2700 Lake Cook Rd, Riverwoods, IL, United States, 60015
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