Vice President, Product

The Organization:

LGM is a national leader in providing warranty, finance and insurance services to the Canadian automotive industry. Since 1998, LGM has been successfully supplying quality products to Canadian dealerships. Dealer partnerships are complemented with the strong backing and support of their automotive manufacturing brands, which include BMW/MINI, Kia, Mazda, , Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Range Rover and Mitsubishi Motors.

The VP, Product is a product visionary that oversees the entire product lifecycle—from ideation to execution—driving product growth, customer satisfaction, and market competitiveness. Your strategic insights will shape data-driven decision-making and leverage our cutting-edge technical capabilities to enhance our product offerings. The role requires a deep understanding of the warranty/insurance industry, including underwriting, claims, distribution, and regulatory compliance. The VP of Product will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including sales, legal, finance, actuarial, marketing, technology, and our insurance partners, to develop highly competitive products that meet the evolving needs of our customers (OEMs, Dealers, and Consumers) while positively contributing to LGM’s strategic growth goals. The VP, Product leads a team of product managers, fostering a culture of innovation, service excellence, and rigorous execution to deliver on successful product releases. This is a pivotal role in driving LGM’s strategic vision. The VP, Product (VP) provides profitable product innovation and market strategies that are essential for advancing LGM’s strategic goals. In response to the company’s continued growth, transformation and success, the VP needs to engage in multi-directional dialogue with OEMs from time to time, form deep connections with insurance partners, the market and consumers to lead the management, development and enhancement of existing and new product lines. He/she ensures product managers/specialists on the team work effectively across functions, collaborating with marketing, sales, operations and external stakeholders to achieve rapid product releases.

The Work:

Product Strategy & Leadership

• Lead and define the product strategy for warranty and insurance products (60+ product variations), ensuring alignment with business objectives, regulatory compliance and market demands. Oversee the entire product lifecycle, from ideation and development to execution, to deliver innovative products that drive business growth and meet customer needs. Oversee and drive the establishment of a product roadmap and strategic marketing plans for each product line.
• Spearhead the development of new products and optimize existing offerings. Establish and communicate product strategies throughout the organization and with key partners, ensuring products remain competitive, compliant and aligned with market needs.
• Support pricing strategies and competitive positioning for products. Lead product development and support go-to-market initiatives to drive revenue growth, market competitiveness, and customer satisfaction.
• Foster a culture of innovation and excellence within the product team, managing and mentoring a high-performing team of product managers (5-10 employees), establishing best practices in product management, encouraging growth and creating an environment of continuous improvement. Is passionate about satisfying customers by building world-class teams, products and processes.
  
  

Cross-functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including sales performance, legal, finance, actuarial, marketing, technology, and CX/Claims, to ensure seamless product development and rapid releases. Maintain strong relationships with key external stakeholders, such as, insurance partners, OEMs, dealers and industry experts, to gather insights and guide product development.
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders to align products with market trends, customer expectations, and regulatory compliance. Establish service level agreements (SLAs) for execution and monitor service delivery to meet agreed-upon targets.
• Work closely with the project management office to coordinate and prioritize product releases, navigate cross-departmental resource conflicts and ensure timely execution.
  
  

Market Insights & Competitive Intelligence

• Analyze market trends, customer insights, and competitive intelligence to inform product decisions. Gather and analyze data on industry trends, OEMs, Dealers, consumers, and other new marketing approaches to ensure sales enablement and product-market fit.
• Continuously evaluate the market, consumer needs, and emerging trends, ensuring the company stays ahead in terms of risk, technology, and innovation.
  
  

Product Lifecycle Management & Process Improvement

• Manage the product lifecycle from concept to phase-out, overseeing product portfolio assessments, including evaluating market share and identifying opportunities for new products. Prioritize program initiatives to ensure LGM’s leadership in the market.
• Implement processes, policies, and standards for product lifecycle management and execution ensuring regulatory compliance and risk management across all products.
• Utilizes project management practices to ensure successful launches of new products.
  
  

Team Development & Performance Metrics

• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure product success and iterate based on feedback. Establish metrics for the effectiveness of product programs and make data-driven decisions to enhance product offerings.
• Lead, mentor, and build a high-engagement team, fostering a culture of innovation, excellence, and customer satisfaction. Career path and develop team members.
  
  

Financial & Budget Management

• Develop and manage operating budgets related to product management, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and measurable value. Monitor and adjust budgets as needed to optimize product success and company growth.
  
  

Customer & Partner Engagement

• Obtain “Voice of the Consumer” insights and provide executive leadership with updates on emerging trends. Meet regularly with OEMs, dealers, and insurance providers to understand market needs and drive product innovation.
  
  

Leadership Competencies:

An expert divisional leader that drives organization wide change, performance, and standards through creating commitment towards the vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, and creating the structure, people, processes and tools to execute it.

• Self-Management - Politically astute and can read and successfully interact throughout a wide range of emotional states, in individuals and groups, detecting and influencing crucial social networks and key influencers. Regulates and mediates emotionally charged relationships or group dynamics to successful conclusions.
• Results Focused - Uses industry insights, environmental factors and past performance to set aggressive yet attainable organizational objectives, accomplish measurable results, and achieve excellence in organizational performance by setting and surpassing competitive standards. Accountable for, and achieves shared goals that require coordination and implementation across multiple departments.
• Effective Communicator - Expertly facilitates group discussions that are inclusive, uncover root issues, and building consensus to take action. Communicates difficult topics with respect, professionalism, and positivity, demonstrating mastery in the area of candor and readily invoking two way communications to gain support to move forward in the best interests of the organization.
• Empowers and Coaches Others - Actively practices the right leadership approach for the right situation, knowing when to support, coach, direct, and delegate as required. Teaches other leaders to be great coaches.
• Collaboration and Influence - Works effectively with, and influences those outside of the organization, for positive impact on business performance. A connector that actively identifies and facilitates the creation of effective working teams inside and outside the organization for long term strategic value.
• Builds Teams - Coaches other leaders on how to build hi-performing teams and perpetually identifies and develops high potential leaders by placing them in team leadership opportunities that will stretch and enable them to grow as leaders..
• Innovation and Change Leadership - Creates coordinated change across an entire complex organization. An early adopter of innovation and change leadership that readily articulates the `why` for change in order to successfully enroll their constituencies. Encourages, coaches and supports others throughout the organization to innovate and pursue opportunities.
• Strategic Orientation - Uses planning methods to assess opportunities and barriers, creating strategies and plans that integrate numerous business issues, functions and resources for effective action. Exercises sound judgment and makes timely, quality decisions, taking a broad range of issues and strategic factors into consideration while executing plans. Readjusts plans on the fly as needed to achieve strategic objectives.
  
  

Required Skills:

• Proven track record of success in product management and strategy within the insurance and financial services industry, including strong experience with P&C, life, health, and specialty lines.
• Expertise in underwriting, claims, distribution, regulatory compliance, and digital transformation within the insurance space, including Insurtech and data-driven decision-making.
• A strategic leader with a strong background in launching and scaling successful insurance products, driving revenue growth and market share. Skilled in balancing short-term product development with long-term business goals, and capable of leading cross-functional teams to achieve objectives.
• Demonstrated success in managing multiple high-priority projects, meeting product release deadlines, and implementing process improvements. Expert Project Management Skills.
• Experienced in driving collaboration across diverse teams, with the ability to influence stakeholders and build strong relationships both internally and externally. Strong leadership, coaching, and team-building abilities, with a focus on high performance and development. Proficient in using technology to innovate products, with excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
  
  

Education & Experience:

• University degree, preferably MBA, Marketing, Commerce, Design or related discipline.
• 10+ years’ experience in product development, risk and underwriting. 5+ years as a senior leader
• 5+ years’ experience in Insurance and/or financial industry; automotive industry is an asset.
• Chartered Insurance Professional (CIP) designation or comparable insurance licensing.
  
  

Compensation: $160,000 to 195,000

• We offer a competitive compensation package including comprehensive health benefits plan, Group RRSP, performance bonus, health and wellness benefit, education sponsorship, and four paid days when “giving back” to the community. We also offer your birthday off and a vehicle rebate program of up to $400 per month.
• This is a hybrid role.
  
  

Required Skills

Required Experience