Product Manager - Insurance (Finchoice) at Weaver Fintech Ltd

Role Overview

• FinChoice is expanding its insurance offering as part of a broader strategy to provide embedded, accessible financial products to our customers. As we scale, our insurance product capability is central to delivering meaningful protection to customers while operating within a complex regulatory and actuarial environment.
• We're looking for a Product Manager to own and drive the roadmap for our insurance products. This role spans credit life, funeral cover, and value-added insurance products — focusing on how insurance is designed, priced, embedded, and delivered across our customer journeys.
• You'll lead product strategy and delivery across policy issuance, underwriting integrations, claims workflows, and customer-facing insurance touchpoints — with a strong bias toward measurable outcomes: improved take-up rates, claims efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer trust.
• This role works closely with Engineering, Actuarial, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and Commercial teams.

What you'll be responsible for:

Product strategy & road map

• Own the product vision and roadmap for Insurance products at FinChoice.
• Define clear product outcomes aligned to business goals such as customer protection, revenue contribution, regulatory compliance, and claims experience.
• Identify and prioritise opportunities across policy design, underwriting automation, claims handling, and embedded insurance journeys.
• Balance tactical improvements with longer-term capability investments — including real-time decisioning and product personalisation.

Discovery & Problem Definition:

• Build a deep understanding of customer insurance needs, pain points across the claims journey, and drop-off points in policy onboarding.
• Engage with Actuarial, Compliance, and Risk teams to understand product constraints, regulatory obligations, and pricing frameworks.
• Use data and qualitative insights to identify drivers of low take-up, high lapse rates, and claims friction.
• Frame problems clearly and validate product solutions before committing to build — particularly in highly regulated contexts.

Delivery and Execution:

• Lead cross-functional delivery squads from problem definition through to launch and post-launch optimisation.
• Produce high-quality product briefs, PRDs, and outcome-focused backlogs that reflect actuarial and compliance constraints.
• Partner closely with Engineering to design scalable integrations with insurers, underwriters, and third-party administrators (TPAs).
• Manage dependencies across internal platforms, external partners, and regulatory approvals.

Stakeholder collaboration:

• Act as the primary product partner for Actuarial, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Commercial stakeholders in the insurance domain.
• Communicate trade-offs, regulatory constraints, and product progress clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Align cross-functional teams around shared insurance product outcomes in a highly regulated operating environment.
• Build trust by delivering improvements that materially improve customer protection and operational efficiency.

Measurement and Continuous Improvement:

• Define and track success metrics including:
• Policy take-up and activation rates
• Claims approval rate and turnaround time
• Lapse and cancellation rates
• Straight-through processing (STP) rate for claims and policy issuance
• Loss ratio and product profitability
• Customer satisfaction across the claims journey
• Use data to evaluate outcomes post-launch and iterate continuously.
• Champion continuous improvement across underwriting automation and digital claims handling.

First 90 days - what success looks like

First 30 days - Understand and connect:

• Build strong relationships with Actuarial, Risk, Compliance, Engineering, and Commercial stakeholders.
• Get hands-on with existing insurance products, policy journeys, claims workflows, and partner integrations.
• Review current roadmap, regulatory obligations, and in-flight initiatives.
• Develop a clear view of key product metrics and baseline performance across the insurance portfolio.

Days 31 - 60: Shape and Prioritise:

• Clearly articulate the problem space — where customers are underserved, where claims friction exists, and where automation can improve throughput.
• Validate and refine the roadmap with actuarial and commercial stakeholders based on impact, feasibility, and compliance requirements.
• Define measurable outcomes and success metrics for priority initiatives.
• Identify quick wins (e.g. claims process improvements) and longer-term capability investments (e.g. real-time underwriting).
• Align delivery teams around a shared plan and priorities.

Days 61 - 90: Deliver & Lead:

• Drive delivery of at least one meaningful improvement — such as a reduction in claims turnaround time or improvement in STP rate — into production.
• Demonstrate early impact through data and customer and operational feedback.
• Establish a strong operating rhythm with Engineering, Actuarial, and Compliance partners.
• Clearly communicate progress, learnings, and next priorities to senior stakeholders.
• Be recognised as the go-to product owner for Insurance at FinChoice.

What we're looking for

Experience:

• 5+ years' experience as a Product Manager in complex, regulated environments.
• Proven track record owning and delivering outcomes in insurance, embedded insurance, or financial services product areas.
• Experience working with insurance systems, policy administration platforms, underwriting engines, or TPA integrations.
• Familiarity with credit life, funeral cover, or short-term insurance products is a strong advantage.
• Comfortable navigating regulatory frameworks such as FSCA, FAIS, or similar financial services regulation (South African experience a plus).

Skills & Strengths:

• Strong problem-solver who can translate actuarial and compliance complexity into clear product direction.
• Excellent prioritisation skills with a focus on business outcomes, customer value, and regulatory adherence.
• Data-driven decision-maker who understands insurance-specific metrics including loss ratios, lapse rates, and STP rates.
• Confident communicator who can engage frontline teams, actuaries, and senior leaders alike.
• Able to influence without authority and navigate competing stakeholder priorities.

Mindset:

• Customer-obsessed, with genuine empathy for customers seeking protection products that are simple, fair, and accessible.
• Pragmatic and delivery-focused — you know when progress beats perfection, and when compliance requires patience.
• Curious about automation, AI, and how technology can meaningfully reduce friction in underwriting and claims.
• Comfortable operating in fast-moving, evolving environments where regulatory requirements shape product decisions.