Senior Manager, Digital Product Specialist.Digital Banking Products - MBP.Retail Banking Group

The Digital Product Specialist plays a critical role in overseeing the full lifecycle of commercial products, services, channel strategies, and processes within one or more market segments. This position ensures a seamless and optimized customer experience by managing product development, harmonization, and phase-out activities. Working closely within a squad in Mashreq’s Digital Studio, the specialist collaborates with marketing, product management, and channel experts to fulfill the squad’s mission. They may also act as a Proxy Product Owner, sharing responsibility for defining user stories, prioritizing backlogs, and maintaining the technical and conceptual integrity of features.

Key Responsibilities

- Develop and maintain compelling, compliant product and service value propositions that deliver excellence to customers.
- Manage customer processes related to products and services, including sales activities, and address urgent incidents or improvement needs promptly.
- Propose and implement structural improvements to workflows based on feedback from customer touchpoints.
- Actively participate in all sprint events such as planning, refinement, retrospectives, and demos, leveraging technical expertise.
- Monitor and analyze market and competitive trends including pricing, market share, legislation, technology, and distribution methods.
- Evaluate the development of new products and services against potential procurement of sub-products.
- Initiate customer research to inform product and process strategies.
- Design strategies covering products, channels, promotion, pricing, and quality aligned with Mashreq’s brand and customer journey goals.
- Translate strategic plans into actionable policies considering assortment, IT architecture, regulatory compliance, and process efficiency.
- Lead the implementation of strategies, track squad progress, and adjust plans as a product owner.
- Prioritize backlog items based on strategy, customer needs, and feasibility, in consultation with the Digital Studio lead.
- Oversee planning, budgeting, and sprint completion to meet squad objectives.
- Balance margin, volume, and market share targets while prioritizing customer interests.
- Design, map, and enhance customer journeys by leveraging CX data, UX insights, and IT landscapes.
- Apply marketing and communication best practices to optimize digital channel and segment performance.
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of business domains, application architecture, and IT technologies to translate business needs into software solutions.
- Provide product information to internal and external stakeholders including media, regulatory bodies, suppliers, and industry groups.

Required Qualifications

- Minimum 3-4 years of experience in banking or related project work demonstrating strong industry understanding.
- At least 3 years of experience in gathering and translating requirements, data engineering, data science, or software engineering.
- Proven background in engineering, technology, or user experience (UX) is preferred.
- Experience as a Product Manager for software products with strong knowledge of the software development lifecycle.
- Proficiency in Agile methodologies.
- Excellent negotiation, leadership, communication, and presentation skills, comfortable engaging with senior leadership.
- Strong collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively both independently and within teams.
- Analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to think strategically and tactically.
- High energy, passion for innovation, and a positive “can do” attitude.
- Ability to build trust and rapport, fostering a productive and comfortable work environment.

Preferred Qualifications and Benefits

- Experience working in a digital or agile product environment within the banking sector.
- Passion for driving innovation and continuous improvement.
- Ability to influence and inspire others while maintaining a customer-centric mindset.

This role offers the opportunity to contribute significantly to Mashreq’s digital transformation by shaping products and customer journeys that meet evolving market demands and regulatory requirements.