Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer
Department: Operations / Product
Purpose of the Role
The Head of Product & Propositions is responsible for the end-to-end development and delivery of both insurance and non-insurance product propositions for our client. This role drives the product lifecycle from concept to launch, including rate reviews, portfolio management working cross-functionally to align propositions with customer needs, operational capabilities, regulatory requirements, and partner inputs. The role plays a pivotal part in helping our client enhance customer value, streamline operational execution, and scale its market presence across the GCC, driving profitable revenue to meet budget.
The Head of Product & Propositions will act as a key commercial and technical interface across the business and maintain relationships with insurers and reinsurers.
Key Responsibilities
Product & Proposition Management
- Develop and own the product and proposition roadmap in line with operational strategy, business objectives, and budgets.
- Identify emerging customer and distribution partner needs through structured research and internal feedback.
- Lead the development and enhancement of product propositions – from ideation and pricing to operational delivery.
- Maintain and upgrade existing products, ensuring they remain relevant, competitive, and compliant.
- Build custom products and propositions for unique partners, affinity groups or other distribution channels.
Portfolio Management
- Monitor product performance through MI reporting, claims analysis, and portfolio-level insights.
- Identify trends in loss ratios and recommend or implement actions to improve performance.
Partner & Market Engagement
- Maintain strong working relationships with insurance and assistance partners to negotiate and finalise product terms and service delivery standards.
- Serve as the central liaison with insurers and reinsurers across markets to ensure feasibility, sustainability, and regulatory adherence.
- Conduct regular partner and broker visits to identify new business opportunities, promote products, and understand evolving partner needs.
- Deliver training to internal teams and external partners to ensure clarity around product features, claims processes, and underwriting guidelines.
Insights, Compliance & Market Monitoring
- Analyse product performance metrics, claims ratios, and customer feedback to inform iterative improvements.
- Monitor regional market developments, competitor activity, and innovation trends to ensure our client maintains product leadership.
- Ensure all products comply with relevant regulatory frameworks and internal governance standards.
Experience & Qualifications
- 7–10 years’ experience in the insurance industry, ideally with a background in product development, underwriting, or propositions management.
- Strong understanding of insurance product design, pricing, and delivery mechanisms – particularly in the travel, pet, home and lifestyle/consumer segments.
- Experience in building gross rating from first principles and working with reinsurers on pricing and structuring.
- Proven success in delivering market-relevant propositions across the Middle East, especially UAE and GCC markets.
- Strong understanding of operations, with a focus on enhancing customer experience, improving processes and system integrations.
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Insurance, or Actuarial Science; professional qualifications (e.g., ACII) are advantageous.
Key Competencies
- Structured thinker with a pragmatic, execution-focused mindset.
- Strong engagement skills, with the ability to coordinate across technical, commercial and operational teams.
- Excellent analytical skills and ability to interpret performance data.
- Strong underwriting knowledge with the ability to build technical rates and support product profitability.
- Customer-centric approach with experience in digital and assisted distribution channels.
- Effective communicator, fluent in English; Arabic is a plus.
- Comfortable working in a dynamic, growth-oriented environment with evolving priorities.