Executive Director, Product Strategy and Execution

Trustmark’s mission is to improve wellbeing – for everyone. It is a mission grounded in a belief in equality and born from our caring culture. It is a culture we can only realize by building trust. Trust established by ensuring associates feel respected, valued and heard. At Trustmark, you’ll work collaboratively to transform lives and help people, communities and businesses thrive. Flourish in a culture of diversity and inclusion where appreciation, mutual respect and trust are constants, not just for our customers but for ourselves. At Trustmark, we have a commitment to welcoming people, no matter their background, identity or experience, to a workplace where they feel safe being their whole, authentic selves. A workplace made up of diverse, empowered individuals that allows ideas to thrive and enables us to bring the best to our colleagues, clients and communities.

About the role

We are looking for an Executive Director, Product Strategy and Execution at Trustmark.

Responsible for driving new product development through deep market research, trend analysis, and customer insight to establish and sustain competitive advantage. Identifies emerging market opportunities and translates data-driven insights into a clear product vision and prioritized roadmap aligned with business strategy and will drive the continued enhancement of accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity products. By leveraging continuous discovery and validation, ensures products solve meaningful customer problems while minimizing risk and accelerating time to market. Partners cross-functionally to align innovation efforts with long-term growth objectives and operational execution. Builds repeatable systems for market intelligence, feedback, and performance measurement to support ongoing optimization. Through disciplined governance and outcome-driven decision-making, enables scalable innovation and long-term health product portfolio success.

Key Accountabilities:

Product Development & Leadership

• Ensures the health product portfolio is top tier in market; proactively identifies portfolio gaps and leads product prioritization and development to ensure the right offerings are available to sell.

• Strong knowledge and insight into the voluntary benefits marketplace, building relationships throughout the voluntary market and deepening understanding of evolving trends.

• Primary storyteller in supporting field partners, making sure products are effectively sold, understood, and communicated across teams and channels.

• Leads all facets of the product development process including research, product design, sales strategy, market analysis, documentation of product requirements, cost benefit analysis and implementation.

• Leads risk analysis on key issues including internal and external resources and capabilities needed to bring new products successfully to market.

• Establishes and manages budgets, operational plans for products under development and management.

• Leads development of health product claims strategy, including claims integration solutions, as well as ongoing customer experience opportunities.

• Responsible for overall value-add/care delivery strategies relative to supplemental health products; manages relationships with external vendors and partners; responsible for RFP/finalist process in partner selection, leading overall process and collaborating internally to identify best options.

• Owns product strategy from concept to market by leveraging deep market and competitive analysis to define, position, and champion new product offerings that strengthen the company’s product and business position

Product Execution

• Collaboratively works with underwriting, sales and marketing teams to competitively position and build awareness of new products with producers.

• Leads as the central point of expertise on product knowledge and market needs, enabling associates to successfully sell and administer the product.

Product Management

• Accountable for ensuring all product line initiatives achieve targeted return on investment goals, being adaptive and nimble to drive expected results.

• Coaches direct reports on how to maintain product health across the organization; ultimately responsible for success, prioritization, and driving initiatives with internal technology and project partners.

• Develops and owns KPIs that measure the success of new product initiatives, providing actionable insights that enable data‑driven decisions and rapid course correction throughout the product lifecycle.

• Ensures all products are compliant and timely action is taken to address regulatory changes.

Other duties as needed/assigned.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree.

• 7-10 years of experience in industry with some experience across product development, product management and implementation.

• Experience developing or managing voluntary health products.

• Ability to lead/influence without direct oversight.

• Proven ability to develop and revise strategy and tactics to propel business growth.

• Ability to analyze and interpret challenging concepts and resolve complex issues.

• Ability to inspire, lead, and coach both leaders and employees.

• Experience working collaboratively across the organization to build consensus and synergies that support attainment of division goals, handle conflicts, negotiate, and promote team spirit.

• Must be innovative and creative in looking for ways to improve current processes.

• Integrity and strength of character.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred:

• Deep broker/market connections in voluntary benefits and adjacent markets.

• Sales-related experience, including any client-facing roles – technology, partnerships, account executive/account management, or similar.

• Expertise in leading research projects and synthesizing consumer insights.

The compensation range for this role is (based on the corporate location in Lake Forest, Illinois):

$136,933 - $204,463 per year

The final salary offer will be determined based on factors such as location, qualifications, experience, skill set, and other relevant factors. This position may also be eligible for bonus. We understand that compensation is an important factor when considering a new opportunity, and we strive to provide a competitive salary within the market.

Brand: Trustmark

In addition to compensation, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes: Health/dental/vision, life insurance, FSA and HSA, 401(k) plan, Employee Assistant Program, Back-up Care for Children, Adults and Elders and many health and wellness initiatives. We also offer a Wellness program that enables employees to participate in health initiatives to reduce their insurance premiums.  For questions about compensation and benefits, please speak to the Recruiter if you decide to apply and are selected for an interview.

Trustmark is committed to leveraging the talent of a diverse workforce to create great opportunities for our people and our business.  We are an equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veteran status.