Product Manager, Specialist

Core Responsibilities:

Product Strategy & Vision

• Owns and evolves the product vision and roadmap for internal process‑enablement platforms, aligning near‑term delivery with longer‑term strategic outcomes.
• Partners with business leaders to identify, frame, and prioritize problems worth solving, with a focus on reducing manual work, operational risk, and client friction.
• Ensures product decisions are grounded in user needs, business value, and feasibility, not just delivery demand.

Backlog & Delivery Ownership

• Serves as the single point of accountability for the product backlog across one or more development teams.
• Translates business needs into clear epics, features, and user stories, with well‑defined acceptance criteria.
• Balances competing priorities across run, grow, and transform work, making explicit trade‑offs when capacity is constrained.
• Partners closely with delivery leads and engineers to ensure predictable, high‑quality delivery.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Acts as a trusted product partner to stakeholders across operations, technology, risk, and client experience.
• Facilitates alignment across teams with differing incentives, surfacing dependencies and risks early.
• Communicates product direction, progress, and decisions clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

Outcomes, Metrics & Product Health

• Defines and tracks outcome‑based metrics (e.g., cycle time reduction, adoption, risk reduction, crew effort saved).
• Monitors product health, including usability, performance, and operational stability.
• Uses data and feedback to inform prioritization and continuous improvement.

Leadership & Role Modeling

• Operates independently with minimal direction, navigating ambiguity with confidence.
• Coaches and mentors more junior product owners or partners through strong product practices.
• Elevates issues appropriately and influences beyond direct authority.
• Models enterprise product behaviors and contributes to broader product‑management maturity.

Scope & Complexity

• Owns multiple workflows or applications that support critical internal processes.
• Operates in a high‑dependency environment involving multiple business areas and technology teams.
• Manages competing priorities across short‑term delivery needs and longer‑term platform evolution.

Experience & Capabilities

• Demonstrated experience owning digital products or platforms in a complex enterprise environment.
• Strong background in process optimization, workflow automation, or internal platforms.
• Proven ability to work effectively with engineering teams, UX, and business stakeholders.
• Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and adjusting as new insights emerge.
• Strong communication, prioritization, and systems‑thinking skills.

Qualifications:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent combination of training and experience required. Graduate degree preferred.
• Minimum of five years related work experience.
• Two years of leading large cross-functional teams on major organizational projects preferred.
• Possess a deep understanding of digital product(s), workflow tools (such as Appian) & process automation technologies required.

Special Factors

Sponsorship

About Vanguard

At Vanguard, we don't just have a mission—we're on a mission.

To work for the long-term financial wellbeing of our clients. To lead through product and services that transform our clients' lives. To learn and develop our skills as individuals and as a team. From Malvern to Melbourne, our mission drives us forward and inspires us to be our best.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.