The Product Lead is a critical leader within the State Street Alpha business unit, driving the strategy, development, and delivery of OTC derivatives and other complex financial instruments. This role ensures that products align with client needs, regulatory requirements, and the overarching vision of State Street Alpha to deliver front-to-back integrated solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Market Insights

• Conduct market intelligence, competitive analysis, and industry trend research specific to OTC derivatives and complex instruments to identify opportunities for innovation and differentiation.
• Lead client discovery sessions to deeply understand operational challenges, regulatory demands, and market needs across buy-side and sell-side participants.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year strategic roadmap for OTC derivatives and complex instrument product lines, ensuring alignment with client needs, evolving regulations, and State Street Alpha’s strategic vision.

Product Development and Delivery

• Oversee the end-to-end product lifecycle, from ideation and business case development to design, implementation, and delivery.
• Build robust business cases with quantifiable outputs, ensuring a clear ROI and alignment with the business strategy.
• Conduct detailed impact assessments of the product line across State Street Alpha’s e2e systems, ensuring solutions enhance operational efficiencies, mitigate risk, and improve system resilience.
• Embed Agile Practices into product development cycles:
  • Participate in and lead daily standups, retrospectives, and sprint planning sessions to ensure clear progress and resolve blockers.
  • Collaborate with Agile Scrum Masters in IT to drive seamless communication between business and technology teams.
  • Incorporate client feedback iteratively by involving clients in regular demo sessions and milestone reviews, ensuring products meet user expectations.
• Partner with the architecture team to ensure that products are developed in line with modern design principles, supporting scalability and system integration across Alpha’s platforms.
• Collaborate with the development teams to oversee execution, ensuring that timelines, budgets, and quality standards are met.

Client Implementation and Standardization

• Manage the product line’s involvement in client implementations, ensuring seamless delivery and adherence to client-specific requirements for OTC derivatives and complex instruments.
• Actively contribute to Alpha’s Guilds, including financial product-focused groups and client implementation teams, to share knowledge and foster best practices across implementations.
• Use cross-client interactions to establish standards and frameworks that promote consistency in processes, reporting, and product delivery across Alpha’s client base.

Operational and Technical Oversight

• Drive initiatives to improve system redundancies and operational efficiencies within OTC derivatives workflows, ensuring products are robust and future-proof.
• Stay ahead of regulatory changes affecting OTC derivatives (e.g., uncleared margin rules, clearing mandates) and ensure compliance is embedded in product features and delivery models.
• Integrate new technologies like automation, AI, and distributed ledger technology (DLT) where appropriate to enhance operational workflows for complex instruments.

Collaboration and Leadership

• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including engineering, client success, sales, and operations, to ensure cohesive product delivery.
• Represent the product team in executive-level discussions, ensuring alignment with State Street Alpha’s strategic goals and providing input on the broader product portfolio.
• Act as a thought leader within the organization, sharing expertise on OTC derivatives and complex instruments and mentoring junior team members.

Key Competencies and Skills

• Deep Industry Knowledge: Extensive expertise in OTC derivatives and complex instruments, including structured products, swaps, options, and other bespoke financial instruments.
• Regulatory Acumen: Familiarity with global regulatory frameworks impacting OTC derivatives (e.g., Dodd-Frank, EMIR, UMR).
• Technical Understanding: Strong understanding of financial systems architecture, front-to-back workflows, and the integration challenges of complex products.
• Agile Expertise: Proficiency in Agile methodologies, including managing product backlogs, running sprints, and leading iterative development cycles.
• Client Focus: Exceptional ability to build relationships and translate client needs into impactful products.

Success Metrics

• Delivery of OTC derivatives product lines on time, within budget, and meeting quality standards.
• Increased client satisfaction and adoption rates of State Street Alpha’s derivatives solutions.
• Tangible reductions in operational risk, redundancies, and inefficiencies across implemented systems.
• Establishment of best practices and standards for client implementations, improving time-to-market for future projects.

Reporting Structure:
This role reports directly to senior leadership within State Street Alpha’s business unit and works closely with the heads of Engineering, Architecture, Client Success, and Regulatory Compliance teams.