Head of Consumer Product Development recruitment

Head of Consumer Product Development
London

Salary £75,000-80,000 plus excellent benefits

Santander Cards is part of the Global Santander Cards division which operates in 11 countries and has a combined portfolio of over 16 million credit cards and 33 million debit cards around the globe.

Santander Cards began its UK operations issuing the Abbey branded credit card (now re-branded under the Santander umbrella) in June 2007 and in July of the same year completed the successful migration of over 200,000 accounts from MBNA, Abbey's previous card provider. Since the launch in 2007, the business has experienced very strong growth and in 2011 the business recruited 550,000 new customers, expanding the number of Santander credit card in issue to 1.5 million.

The company has made a commitment to continue to grow the Cards business and significantly increase market share and profitability during 2012 and 2013. The Products and Marketing function is central to the delivery of this growth through the development and management of market leading products and value propositions.

We have an opportunity for a highly talented individual to join the team as Head of Consumer Product Development to be responsible for developing and delivering the product roadmap for Consumer Cards and, through effective leadership, ensuring propositions are developed in order to deliver target market share, profit, income growth and margin in line with the Cards strategy. You will be responsible for the end to end product development from inception through to launch for new products and proposition enhancements for Santander and Co-brand cards.

As Head of Consumer Product Development your key accountabilities will be:-

* Marketing Strategy - Contribute to the development of the marketing strategy for a broad range of products which will deliver business targets
* Resource Management - Effectively manage a wide range of resources - people, processes, systems and channels. Make recommendations on resources requirements and prioritises as required to deliver against business objectives
* People management - Responsible for the development of individual's skills and abilities so they can fulfil current or future job responsibilities more effectively. Responsible for recruitment and selection, training and development, coaching, performance management
* Proposition development - Develop innovative and creative propositions, processes, approaches and incentives to ensure profitable achievement of targets and significant increase in market share. Proactively manage products in the external environment and ensure products appear regularly e.g. on best buy tables and media coverage. Identify potential opportunities by channel
* Campaign execution - Support development of an integrated and fully supported campaign programme. Manage the interlock process for area, ensuring all campaigns are well challenged, thought through, tracked and measured. Ensure leading propositions are effectively delivered and learning is utilised for continuous improvement Ensure effective internal communications on campaigns to ensure clear sight of campaigns, achievements and learning
* Information analysis and understanding Develop team to ensure real insights are utilised to develop propositions. Use a range of financial data/techniques (statistical modelling, propensity models, forecasting, pricing) in proposition development
* Risk management - Ensure risks are effectively managed.

Functional responsibilities of the role:

* Develop proposition strategies for acquisition and existing portfolios which are compliant, commercially viable and attractive to customers
* Develop the 3 year product roadmap for Cards to deliver against business plan objectives to increase penetration of the Santander UK customer base and grow Cards market share
* Develop and deliver joined up propositions for Cards in conjunction with other Santander retail products to optimise cross-sell opportunities for Cards
* In conjunction with the Co-brands team, develop a cohesive Co-brands product strategy to improve new account profitability and existing portfolio engagement and utilisation
* In partnership with Product and Portfolio Management, track and manage new products during the post-launch period to ensure business case KPIs are achieved and optimise product performance

As Head of Consumer Product Development your skills and experience will include:-

* In depth knowledge of the UK Financial Services marketplace, ideally with specific expertise in Cards (customer needs, pricing, product innovation, product management, regulation, TCs, competitor activity, market developments and trends.)
* Strong commercial acumen and understanding of Cards PL drivers
* Highly defined communication and influencing skills and experience of working with and influencing senior stakeholders
* Extensive skills and knowledge in Product Marketing/development gained through experience in the FS industry and (preferably) experience of developing and launching new products and value propositions from concept development through to implementation
* Strong team management and leadership skills