Director of Product Strategy

OVERVIEW

At First United Bank, our purpose is to inspire and empower others to Spend Life Wisely.
The Director of Product Strategy brings this purpose to life by designing, building, and scaling holistic, customer-centric product solutions that expand relationships, deepen trust, and deliver the financial tools our communities need to thrive.

This leader plays a central role in advancing our purpose by architecting Spend Life Wisely-aligned bundles, solutions, and digital experiences that meet a spectrum of customer needs. From business owners running complex operations to families working toward stability, growth, and long-term well-being.

Grounded in Speed, Simplicity, and Trust, this role blends strategic vision with executional discipline. Turning insight into action and action into measurable impact.

FUNCTION

This person leads the team that drives product bundling strategies, cross-functional alignment, and financial performance, ensuring every product/service bundle aligns with GTM strategy and opportunities and brings our purpose and values to life. This role blends strategic vision with executional ownership, building and managing a high-performing team, collaborating with technology and business partners, and delivering solutions that make customer financial success easy, intuitive, and meaningful.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Innovation & Development

• Grow our community banks through creation and management of retail and business banking solutions that go beyond basic product combinations and align with the business and consumer lifecycle (Financial Wellbeing Journey).
• Create customer-centered solutions that meet segment needs and create value as they travel from the beginnings of their journey through growth and to maturity. Both industry segments in the commercial banking channel and also consumer segments in the retail banking channel.
• Align offerings with the business and consumer lifecycle (Financial Wellbeing Journey). Create value as they travel from the beginnings of their journey through growth and to maturity.
• Gather and translate market opportunity insight, company goals, customer insights, market trends, and internal feedback into new solution bundles and enhancements.
• Own the lifecycle of the offerings and know when to update or replace products or features: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Strategic Bundling & Cross-Solution Thinking

• Create bundle structures that serve customers holistically across both their personal and business lives (e.g., owner-operator bundle, business + wealth integrations).
• Incorporate both customer segment and lifecycle progression into a structured product design matrix that guides feature development and bundling decisions.
• Design product bundles that work seamlessly together. Link across checking, savings, lending, payments, and advisory to simplify life for our customers.
• Champion value-added features such as financial literacy, fraud protection, and rewards that align with customer aspirations and that reward customers for making progress toward their life goals.
• Be innovative and "think outside the bank" by aligning offers, incentives, and fee forgiveness with customer empowerment.
• Create product bundles that make it simple for bankers to match bundles with customer needs.

Team & Stakeholder Leadership

• Build and lead a team of product strategy managers and analysts focused on execution, innovation, and collaboration with internal partners.
• Work cross-functionally with Community Banks, LOB Leaders, Digital Banking, IT, Marketing, Operations, and Sales to deliver product success.
• Partner with frontline leaders to ensure products are clearly positioned, understood, and adopted. Actively gather feedback post product launch.
• Maintain Zero Distance from the Customer. Embedding banker insights, customer interviews, industry research, and frontline feedback into product iterations.

Technology & Platform Enablement

• Define product requirements and user stories for technology teams.
• Partner with Digital and IT teams to bring digital-first and mobile-optimized solutions to market.
• Evaluate third-party vendors and platforms that enable innovation and speed-to-market.

Pricing & Profitability

• Develop and manage pricing strategies that are competitive, compelling, and profitable.
• Monitor product performance, including adoption, usage, revenue contribution, and margin.
• Deliver quarterly product performance reports and strategic recommendations to executive leadership.

METRICS

The performance measurements will generally fall within the space of Customer Lifetime Value. Contributing metrics will come from Acquisition performance and include New product uptake, Product mix, Initial balances (Less) acquisition cost. And also Share of Wallet: Cross-inform, Activation, Balance retention & growth, Longevity/retention.

SKILLS

We need someone who brings the following qualities and skills:

Holistic Product Design

Support enterprise growth by identifying needs and opportunities and creating product bundles that meet the core financial growth needs of key strategic segments: commercial, consumer and non-profit.

Customer Insight

The team will own the creation and maintenance of customer personas and translate that into a deep understanding of customer journeys-especially for companies, individuals and families striving to achieve stability, growth, and purpose. Understand the customer's life and meet them where they are - wherever they are.

Purpose-Driven Mindset

Motivated by more than revenue-driven to uplift people's lives through tools, knowledge, and financial confidence.

Ability to Execute

Innovations don't add value unless they function. The product strategy and management team will be accountable for the product construction process: R&D, concept, build, QA, piloting, launch, track & measure, iterate, etc. This will likely involve dotted-line relationships.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Collaborate with community banks, lines of business, marketing, compliance, technology, and data. Inspires internal teams around bold product ideas, aligning execution with the bank's mission of helping people Spend Life Wisely.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Strategy, Marketing, or related field
• 7+ years in product strategy, product management, commercial banking, or consumer banking
• Deep understanding of both business and consumer banking needs: loans, working capital, operational accounts, treasury management, and insurance.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams
  Demonstrated ability to turn insight into execution and measurable outcomes

Preferred

• Familiarity with digital banking platforms and fintech ecosystems
• Understanding of regulatory expectations for both consumer and business products
• Background in human-centered design or journey mapping
• MBA

NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as assigned by supervisor to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

If any applicant is unable to complete an application or respond to a job opening because of a disability, please email us at HR@firstunitedbank.com for assistance.