Product Management Associate

Description and Requirements
Summary:
The Product Management Associate is responsible for the elaboration of features and user stories to align with business and operations expectations. You support and act on behalf of the Product Manager and Product Owner by breaking down the vision and high-level ideas/epics into features and, at times, underlying user stories. You refine the descriptions and benefit hypothesis to ensure the proposed outcomes align with the customer strategy and user experience. The Product Management Associate gathers the customer needs and how they interact with MetLife's product and market vision, facilitating the extraction of details from higher level ideas into specific and defined solutions.
The Product Management Associate is a strategic thinker with business and operational knowledge, and the ability to interpret this knowledge into features and stories. Through consultative interactions, you understand the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) that the business is trying to accomplish and ensure the features and stories you write will achieve those targeted results. Leveraging project management and relationship management skills, you bring the right partners to the table from technology, product, business, operations, and other areas, and ensure the timelines for gathering and delivery of the details are met. Being more of a specialist or technical expert, you might also complete configurations within different applications to enable new products, customer setups, and other changes.
As an Agile Business Analyst, you partner directly with the Product Manager, agile team, gaining a deep understanding of the vertical end-to-end solution and the horizontal implications across the full experience. You proactively identify and address risks, being empowered to drive the right conversations and the right work.
A PMA is:
• Detail oriented, gathering the appropriate level of feature and user story descriptions and benefit hypothesis
• Looking across the solution with a strategic mindset, always driving what is best for the customer
• Supporting the Product Manager and Product Owner, as they build out a healthy backlog for each capability area
• Challenging the status quo - leading to a better experience of tomorrow
Able to build strong working relationships across business and technology to drive coordination and collaboration
A Product Management Associate 's focus on value is evident when we see them...
• Constantly reinforcing the customer experience and business value over just "getting it out"
• Focus on the highest priority items first, including clear benefit hypothesis throughout
A PMA's fixation on clarity is evident when they:
• Focus on a consultative interaction around the problems being solved, the analysis and cause of issues, and providing options to the business
• Groom and arrange features and stories into iterations, helping to write clear objectives and outcomes
• Ensure proper operational readiness, including any detailed user guides, prior to feature release
A Product Management Associate continuously employs agile practices that will sustain flow when they:
• Fill in gaps with testing, project management, and facilitation of operational readiness when needed to ensure holistic solutions are delivered on time
• Ensure the team has a healthy backlog of features to work on, and understands the priority order
A Product Management Associate Champions Lean and reduces waste when they:
• Advocate for the business, reducing the amount of time required from the business SMEs
• Raise risks and dependencies that may create impediments down the line, solutioning next steps to overcome
A Product Management Associate leads by example when they:
• Act and think strategically, presenting themselves as a talent pool for new Product Owners
• Coach more junior Agile Business Analysts to grow in their skillsets, providing resources and partners to help in the learning process
Key Responsibilities:
The Work:
1. Gather and document the details of presented ideas/epics, distilling them down into actionable features and user stories
2. Act as a secondary check on the user experience, refining the user stories and ensuring the end solution will align with intended customer experience
3. Liaise with the agile team members, acting as the business advocate with technology partners
4. Ensure proper documentation is gathered and provided to partner teams in preparation for commercial and operational readiness
5. Provide details around business rules that need to be in place when developing and delivering features
The Interactions:
1. Assist and support the Product Manager and Product Owner as you build out the backlog and details of each feature and user story
2. Partner with Business Owners and their team members to ensure descriptions align with the customer and market needs
3. Manage expectations with partners, and ensure timely delivery of all artifacts required
4. Provide feature and story details to the agile technology team
What does the Job Require?
• 5+ Years of Salesforce.com development and/or administrative experience. Certifications are a plus
• Detail oriented, gathering the appropriate level of feature and user story descriptions and benefit hypothesis.
• Looking across the solution with a strategic mindset, always driving what is best for the customer.
• Seize Opportunity - Think critically and challenge assumptions, identifying areas of improvement and continuously driving the best solutions.
• Seek Diverse Perspectives - Be consultative around the problems being solved, sourcing ideas and feedback from multiple people and areas.
• Deliver what Matters - Practice keen negotiation skills, driving and prioritizing the best customer experience even if that doesn't directly tie to the original requirements.
• Create Alignment - Build partnerships and bring the right people to the table to resolve issues and reduce risk -
• Act with Urgency - Ensure features are delivered quickly and completely, understanding that every release is a chance to improve the customer experience -
• Take Responsibility - Be accountable for the subject matter and accurate delivery of business documentation, knowing that details matter -
• Preferred: Experience with SAFe Agile framework desired. Knowledge of group benefits products, operational processes and systems is also a benefit.
The salary range for applicants for this position is $80,000-130,000.
Benefits We Offer
Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no-cost short- and long-term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more!
About MetLife
Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the 2024 "World's Most Admired Companies", Fortune World's 25 Best Workplaces™ for 2024, as well as the 2024 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For ®, MetLife , through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by empathy, we're inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it's #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!
Equal Employment Opportunity/Disability/Veterans
If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [email protected]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process.
MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.
$80,000-130,000