Manager, Product Development - Delta Dental of MA

About Us:

At Delta Dental of MA, our mission is to advance oral health for a healthier tomorrow. We envision a future where optimal oral health is the cornerstone of overall well-being. We push boundaries, embrace new opportunities, and work to create an environment that empowers greater access to more patient-centric, equitable outcomes, and value.

Delta Dental of MA advances oral health for a healthier tomorrow. Our vision is to enable a future where optimal oral health is the cornerstone of overall well-being. We strive to create optimal oral health experience for our members and providers, and to lead the market in health outcomes and plan value. 

Manager, Product Development is primarily responsible for developing and bringing new products and solutions to market to advance Delta Dental of MA’s business and mission. The Manager regularly designs and assesses new product concepts against customer needs creating a robust product development pipeline, and supports sales and business development to grow Delta Dental of MA’s business, elevate member and provider outcomes, and achieve desired financial goals. The Manager plans and leads near-in, adjacent, and transformational innovation and product development efforts for new and existing markets by performing the following duties personally or through subordinates, vendors, or cross-functional project teams.

PRIMARY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

Develop New Solutions 

• Lead new product design, development, testing, launch, and improvement by harnessing internal and external resources to establish Delta Dental of MA as an oral health market leader.
• Collaborate across diverse internal and external stakeholders to ensure completed products achieve desired customer results, meet Delta Dental of MA’s business, financial, and cost objectives, enhance Delta Dental of MA brand, and mitigate market and other risks. 
• Leverage dashboards, project plans, risk management tools, communications plans, and budgets to launch new products within budget and timing constraints.
• Inspire, educate, and train impacted stakeholders and users to maximize product understanding, adoption, usage, and growth.

Assess New Product Concepts

• Identify and assess the needs of specific market segments and synthesize customer needs into product descriptions with clear value propositions, product features, technical requirements, customer experience, and ROI analysis.
• Facilitate cross-functional input across Sales, Underwriting, Provider Relations, Clinical, Operations, Marketing, and Technology areas to assess and down-select highest value offerings for future development.
• Present new product recommendations to ELT/SLT to secure go/no-go decisions, funding, resourcing, and timing commitments. 
• Conduct regular reviews of new ideas brought to the organization to ensure appropriate input is obtained.

Support Sales and Business Development

• Participate in client acquisition and retention-related activities, such as RFPs, Sales meetings, broker education, and industry conferences, by positioning and deploying innovations that meet client-specific needs.
• Represent Delta Dental of MA in meetings with existing and potential partners to advance company, business, and product development goals and capabilities.

Assist Business Strategy

• Research, analyze, and monitor technology, clinical, market, industry, and competitive trends to create first-to-market opportunities.
• Partner with internal cross-functional teams to assess industry trends, customer needs, competitive threats, expansion opportunities, and internal performance to identify product gaps and opportunities.
• Contribute strategic insights about near-in, adjacent, and transformational innovation opportunities that can help to realize the Enterprise Business Strategy, achieve Sales and Retention results, elevate the Delta Dental of MA brand, and create positive culture change. 
• Support VP, Product Strategy and Transformation, to develop an annual Product Development Plan, which identifies priority product development opportunities against market segment and key stakeholder-specific goals and needs, using sound market research, ROI analysis, and cross-functional input.

General / Management

• Manage and report on the new product development portfolio projects across the lifecycle. 
• Lead and collaborate with a matrixed environment to ensure buy-in and support from key stakeholders, and to provide value-added product and innovation input to other functional areas and initiatives. 

JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

Required: