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Director, Product Innovation

Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft
Toronto, CAN
Full Time
Director
Hybrid
2 days ago
Product InnovationStrategic PlanningMarket ResearchBusiness Case DevelopmentCross functional LeadershipInsurance Product Knowledge
Free

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Product InnovationStrategic PlanningMarket Research
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Primary Objectives

  • Director, Product Innovation acts as a strategic catalyst and internal innovation & strategy consultant—turning market signals, data, and emerging risks into new insurance products/coverages and tech enabled risk solutions/services for Canada.
  • This leadership position carries enterprise wide responsibilities and direct visibility to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team.
  • This role reports to the VP, Strategy & Innovation and sits within the Senior Leadership Team, with 1–2 direct reports.
  • This role will be integral in shaping our bold 2030 ambition by accelerating innovation outcomes, strengthening innovation governance, and launching 1–2 new products to market.

Enterprise product innovation strategy & pipeline

  • Build and maintain an enterprise innovation roadmap across multiple lines, translating strategy into a prioritized portfolio of product and service opportunities.
  • Lead structured market and customer discovery—synthesizing broker/customer insights, competitor intelligence, market research, and emerging risk trends into clear product hypotheses and recommendations.
  • Develop executive ready business cases and investment recommendations, managing research and insights budget.

IoT Solution Strategy

  • Define the IoT solution strategy for Canada: priority use cases, target segments, value proposition, required data/telemetry, and partner ecosystem.
  • Shape bundled offerings that combine insurance with technology and value add services (prevention, monitoring, response).

Incubation Operating Model

  • Run a hypothesis driven test & learn approach—designing low risk experiments to validate desirability, viability, and feasibility before scaling.
  • Build and own a repeatable incubation playbook (problem framing, customer discovery, prototype, P&L, underwriting/claims/legal review, pilot, launch), reinforcing speed with discipline.

Innovation Governance & Decision Velocity

  • Steward and continuously improve the established innovation governance process—intake criteria, prioritization, stage gates, and transparent decision documentation—to drive throughput and quality.
  • Establish meaningful metrics and dashboards for pipeline health, launch progress, and measurable outcomes.

End to End Product Launch

  • Lead cross functional delivery of 1–2 new products per year from concept to launch: coverage design/wording, underwriting appetite, pricing approach, operational readiness, and go to market enablement.
  • Define product KPIs and performance monitoring plans and translate insights into iteration post launch.

Product Mechanics: Rigor & Credibility

  • Partner with Underwriting, Actuarial, Claims, Legal/Compliance, and Technology to ensure new and evolving products are implementable, governed, and aligned with underwriting intent and risk appetite.
  • Bring structured thinking to profitability and sustainability—supporting segmentation, rate adequacy discussions, and portfolio insights as needed.

Executive Advisory & Stakeholder Influence

  • Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders—framing decisions, facilitating alignment, and telling a clear story from data to recommendation.
  • Manage complex senior stakeholder dynamics across the business and with global partners.
  • Leading, coaching, and developing team of Product Innovation Strategists.
  • Establishing team operating rhythms and removing delivery blockers.

Qualifications

  • University level education in finance, business administration, economics, risk management, or equivalent professional experience; MBA or equivalent graduate degree an asset.
  • 8–12 years demonstrated experience in strategy, innovation, or product roles; insurance or broader financial services.
  • Structured, hypothesis driven problem solving: ability to frame ambiguity, develop options, assess trade offs, and drive to clear decisions.
  • Strong analytical capability: extracting insights from data and market research and translate them into strategy and action.
  • Multi workstream leadership: proven ability to manage multiple initiatives in parallel while maintaining quality, pace, and stakeholder alignment.
  • People leadership experience (formal or informal): ability to coach talent, delegate effectively, and drive accountability in a small, high performing team.
  • Executive communication: ability to produce crisp, compelling materials and present complex topics simply and persuasively to senior audiences.
  • Strong P&C insurance (or broader financial services) product knowledge—coverage/wordings, underwriting appetite, pricing fundamentals, and regulatory considerations is an asset.
  • Prior strategy consulting experience (e.g., strategy consulting Engagement Manager/Senior Manager level) or equivalent internal strategy/innovation consulting experience is an asset.
  • Experience building ecosystems/partnerships (vendors, data providers, technology partners) to enable product and service innovation is an asset.

Company Benefits

  • An engaging and collaborative environment that promotes continuous learning and development.
  • A hybrid work environment that combines weekly in office and remote days.
  • A great compensation package including an annual company bonus.
  • Competitive company paid flexible health and dental benefits, starting on your first day.
  • Flexible dollars provided by the company to put towards a Health Spending Account and/or Wellness Spending Account.
  • Wellness program with tools and resources supporting your mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
  • Participation in the DC Pension Plan with progressive employer contribution scale starting at 4%, plus optional company match in the RRSP plan.
  • Generous time off including vacation, personal days, unplanned time, Statutory Holidays and company wide early closure half days.
  • Learning and development programs and resources, including unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning, Education Assistance Program, and reimbursement for professional fees.
  • Employee Referral Program and Recognition Program.

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