Director of Product Research & Design

The Director, Product Research & Design leads product research, definition, performance evaluation, and continuous improvement. This leader turns emerging or incomplete concepts into clear product requirements and evidence-based recommendations, defining what products should be, how they should work, the value they should create, and how success will be measured.

Primary Responsibilities:

Product Research and Opportunity Assessment

• Lead research on products, services, vendors, and enhancements; assess market need, organizational fit, client/member value, economics, compliance, scalability, and operating requirements.
• Synthesize internal, vendor, broker, client, member, and industry input into decision-ready assessments of options, assumptions, dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs.
• Maintain a Chief Product Officer-approved research agenda and recommend whether opportunities should advance, change, defer, or stop.

Product Definition and Design

• Maintain product-definition and lifecycle standards covering purpose, population, components, eligibility, enrollment, pricing assumptions, vendors, member experience, data, and outcomes.
• Resolve incomplete, conflicting, or outdated information into an approved source of truth that addresses operational, financial, compliance, technology, vendor, and user needs.
• Recommend when products should be introduced, expanded, redesigned, combined, repositioned, paused, or retired.

Product Performance and Optimization

• Set performance measures and coordinate financial and operational reporting with Finance and other data owners.
• Evaluate qualification, enrollment, activation, participation, utilization, retention, cost, value, and vendor performance.
• Identify gaps, adoption barriers, costs, vendor issues, and improvement opportunities; assess significant changes against intended outcomes and present recommendations to leadership.

Cross-Functional Product Leadership

• Translate executive direction into product outcomes and coordinate approved decisions with the Executive Project Manager.
• With the Product Business Analyst, convert definitions into business rules, workflows, data requirements, and acceptance criteria.
• Align feasibility, supportability, financial assumptions, controls, risk, positioning, and vendor decisions with Technology, Operations, Client Services, Finance, Program Compliance, Marketing, and other partners without assuming their execution accountabilities.

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop the Product Business Analyst and Product Intelligence & Optimization Analyst; set quality standards, goals, and development plans.
• Provide strategic oversight to the Product Knowledge & Readiness Specialist and recommend added capacity as workload and complexity require.

Role Boundaries

• Owns: research and opportunity-assessment methods; product-definition, design, and lifecycle standards; performance measurement and analysis; optimization recommendations; and team quality and development.
• Helps shape: portfolio priorities, investments, economics, operating models, vendor decisions, user experiences, technology sequencing, positioning, and product improvement or retirement.
• Does not independently own: final portfolio, investment, pricing, compliance, or vendor approval; roadmaps or project management; architecture or engineering delivery; official financial reporting; marketing production; sales management; client implementation; repository administration; or departmental execution.

Required Experience and Capabilities

• 10+ years of progressive experience in product research, design, strategy, healthcare, employee benefits, insurance, regulated services, analytics, or a comparable field.
• Demonstrated success researching, defining, evaluating, and improving complex service products involving multiple functions, vendors, systems, contracts, or processes.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analysis across product economics, utilization, vendor performance, and outcomes.
• Ability to convert incomplete or conflicting information into clear definitions and executive recommendations.
• Strong executive communication, facilitation, cross-functional influence, and experience leading analysts or product specialists.
• Sound judgment about role-owned recommendations versus decisions requiring executive or functional approval.

Equivalent combinations of relevant education and experience may be considered.

Preferred Experience

Preferred experience includes employer-sponsored healthcare, employee benefits, benefits administration, supplemental insurance, Section 125/payroll structures, HRIS-connected eligibility and enrollment, virtual care, pharmacy, member-facing healthcare applications, product analytics, healthcare economics, vendor-enabled services, or regulated communications.

A bachelor’s degree in business, healthcare administration, product management, finance, information systems, research, or a related field is preferred. Advanced education or credentials are beneficial but do not replace demonstrated operating experience.