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The Financial Services Product Manager is responsible for leading product strategy, defining business requirements, and prioritizing technology initiatives supporting Tower Loan's consumer lending operations. Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, this position oversees Business Analysts and collaborates with Operations, Compliance, Lending Leadership, and software engineering teams to ensure the company's operating systems and related applications meet business, regulatory, and customer needs. This role will play a key part in the modernization and continued development of Tower Loan's Operating System.
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Lead product strategy, establish priorities, and maintain development roadmaps for lending applications, including the modernization of Tower Loan's Operating System.
- Manage and develop a team of Business Analysts, including assigning responsibilities, reviewing deliverables, providing coaching, and evaluating performance.
- Collaborate with branch and Home Office personnel to identify operational challenges, evaluate existing processes, and determine business requirements.
- Oversee the development of functional requirements, business rules, workflows, user stories, and acceptance criteria to support software development.
- Define system requirements across the lending lifecycle, including customer management, loan applications, underwriting, origination, servicing, payments, renewals, and collections.
- Partner with Compliance and Legal to ensure lending applications support applicable federal and state regulations, internal policies, and reporting requirements.
- Manage and prioritize the product backlog based on business needs, regulatory requirements, operational risks, and available development resources.
- Work closely with software architects, developers, and quality assurance teams to clarify requirements, evaluate solutions, and resolve system functionality questions.
- Participate in development planning, product demonstrations, testing, and release activities to ensure solutions meet established business objectives.
- Coordinate user acceptance testing, validate system functionality, resolve identified issues, and obtain appropriate business approvals before implementation.
- Identify inconsistencies in business processes and lending requirements across branches, departments, and states to support standardized and efficient operations.
- Ensure system functionality supports accurate financial calculations, transaction processing, data integrity, and appropriate internal controls.
- Coordinate business requirements for integrations with credit bureaus, payment processors, document management systems, and other third-party providers.
- Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, automate manual processes, and improve operational efficiency across branches and the Home Office.
- Collaborate with technology and business teams to support the transition from legacy applications, minimize operational disruptions, and maintain essential system functionality.
- Develop and maintain product documentation, business requirements standards, project updates, and records of key system decisions.
- Coordinate with Operations and Training to support system implementations, employee communications, training materials, and post-launch improvements.
- Evaluate product performance using system adoption, operational efficiency, issue trends, and other measurable business outcomes.
- Assess emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, for opportunities to improve lending operations while maintaining appropriate controls.
- Perform all other duties as assigned.
Required Skills/Abilities:
- Strong understanding of consumer lending operations, including loan origination, servicing, payments, and collections.
- Ability to translate complex business processes into clear functional requirements, workflows, and acceptance criteria.
- Experience developing product strategies, managing priorities, and coordinating software development initiatives.
- Knowledge of lending calculations, interest, fees, payment allocation, and financial transaction processing.
- Understanding of consumer financial services regulations, internal controls, and state-specific lending requirements.
- Ability to collaborate with technical teams on system integrations, data requirements, and application functionality.
- Familiarity with Agile development methodologies, software testing, and release management processes.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to accuracy, operational risks, and process improvement.
- Ability to manage competing priorities, evaluate business needs, and make informed decisions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to work effectively across departments and leadership levels.
- Strong leadership and organizational skills with the ability to coach employees, manage assignments, and maintain accountability.
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field preferred; equivalent professional experience considered.
- Five or more years of experience in financial services, preferably consumer finance, installment lending, or loan servicing.
- Three or more years of experience in product management, business systems analysis, or enterprise software delivery leadership.
- Demonstrated experience defining business requirements and supporting the development or implementation of complex operational or financial software systems.
- Previous experience supervising or leading Business Analysts, including reviewing deliverables and coordinating priorities, strongly preferred.
- Experience with loan origination systems, loan management systems, or loan servicing applications strongly preferred.
- Experience supporting multi-state lending operations, legacy system modernization, or enterprise software implementations preferred.
- Familiarity with applicable financial services regulations, including TILA, ECOA, FCRA, FDCPA, and GLBA, preferred.
- Knowledge of SQL, relational databases, APIs, and software integration concepts beneficial.
- Experience using Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, or similar project and requirements management tools preferred.
Physical Requirements:
- Stand, walk, and/or sit for eight (8) hours a day.
- Communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, in person, via telephone, or electronically.
- Lift and maneuver up to 20 lbs.
The above description outlines the most significant job functions performed, but may include other similar functions or assignments not explicitly mentioned.
