Head of Digital Product

Job description / Role

This position is responsible for product management of key elements of the RBWM MENAT proposition in order to deliver distinctive value to Digital Channels using current and future digital capabilities.

The role holder is responsible for the RBWM customer features that constitute the Digital element of the proposition in question (which may change from time to time as features are completed and as priorities evolve). These capabilities are wide ranging and are based on top of core banking. They include Customer Experience for digital channels and in collaboration with the specific proposition owner, include:

• Leveraging customer propositions and consumer insights (from Customer Value Management, product, competitor review etc) to increase customer engagement across Digital channels to generate additional revenue and lower the cost to serve for the specific proposition.
• Engage with Software Delivery to construct quality customer experience at improved cost and time to market.
• Working closely with Digital colleagues and Software Delivery teams to improve the delivery effectiveness through available digital channels for customers.
• Liaise with Regions and Marketing to promote usage and increase activation of customers.
• Apply data, metrics and test results from customer reactions to tailor content, digital marketing and customer interactions to improve ROI and customer returns for the proposition.
• The role holder has primary responsibility for ensuring the proposition features are best in class, simple, easy to use and differentiating.
• The role holder will also be responsible for championing the executive approval of projects to deliver proposition functionality.
• The role holder will act as executive sponsor for the development of digital capabilities and functionality.
• The role will have influence over Software Delivery budgets and be expected to produce returns substantially in excess of group targets.

Principal Accountabilities:

Business Impact
• Accountable for the end-to-end customer experience of the Digital Retail and Wealth management products across the MENAT region.
• Lead, inspire and develop a team of digital product managers across customer segments and products.
• Drive Digital transformational change across the MENAT region, demonstrating financial value of the Direct Channels.
• Leadership for the strategic direction of Digital Product Management across mobile, online and self-serve terminal channels to increase transaction migration from branches and to improve digital sales conversions.
• Lead and define functional and deployment requirements, in conjunction with Software Delivery, Change Delivery, Marketing and other stakeholders to facilitate improved customer engagement.
• Refine customer experience for new capabilities in partnership with Sales & Distribution, Marketing, Product & Propositions, COO and other key stakeholders.
• Lead and mentor local and in country teams and provide guidance and support to achieve business targets.

Competive assessments: research new technologies and services, assess competitors/new entrants, review regulations for Digital requirements.

• Digital channel shadow P&L
• % Revenue contribution from the channels
• % of sales requiring no manual fufilment
• % Digitally registered, active and engaged customers
• % Migration to channels
• Launch milestones for each new digital product and feature
• Incremental spend
• Customer retention
• Cost reduction

Customers / Stakeholders
Build strong relationships, adopting a joined up approach to execute change at pace with minimum conflict.

Stakeholders include, but not limited to the following:

• RBWM Customers
• HSBC RBWM customer-facing colleagues
• Group and regional Digital teams
• IT and Software Delivery
• Transformation and Change Delivery
• HSBC MENAT ExCo
• RBWM Heads across the region
• Group and Regional CVM and RBWM product groups
• Legal/Risk/Compliance/Financial Crime/Fraud
• Marketing
• HR
• Training

• Ensuring new inclusions to RBWM mobile and tablet offerings meet internal control standards and external regulatory framework
• Positive feedback from all stakeholders
• Delivery of transformation objectives on plan

Leadership & Teamwork

• Be an effective team player through communication, performance management, development plans and reward/recognition practices.
• Cultivate an environment that supports diversity and reflects the HSBC brand.
• Build a culture of continuous improvement in customer experience and functionality deployment
• Drive collaboration within the Regional and Global Product & Propositions, Digital, Marketing and Onmi-channel teams.
• Seeks opportunities to integrate, simplify and streamline activity through involvement of teams in the geographic and functional matrix.
• Works in a facilitative manner to build capability in progressing objectives, but does not lose sight of the profitability and productivity outcomes.
• Actively engages external organisations to understand market trends and seek opportunities for improvement through own team and matrix.
• Acts in a manner that transparently promotes the organisations values and delivers in an aligned manner.
• Cultivate an environment that supports diversity and reflects the HSBC brand.

Operational Effectiveness & Control
• Consistent, open communication between members of Digital and other key contacts
• A common shared plan and approach
• Outcome of navigation and integration between channels, regions and markets that delivers tangible and metric driven scorecard results
• Degree of understanding at various levels of the organisation on Digital Products and application
• Internal organisational and external market awareness as regards market conditions and trends and competitor activity
• Regular review to identify key risks, issues and interdependencies. Determine and apply approporiate mitigation strategies.
• Ensure an equal and balanced focus is maintained on operating and regulatory risks and ensure the Virtual Management Team positively identifies and mitigates these in a manner that protects the Brand.
• Ensure regular and positive engagement with key support functions such as Risk, Compliance and HR to ensure alignment of policies and plans necessary to deliver a demanding transformation benefit target.
• Implementation of Global Standards, Financial Crime Compliance and Risk considerations in an aligned manner within the context of the RBWM strategy through operational practice and planned activity.
• Successful execution of the plan
• Operational Losses related to channel errors
• Regrettable attrition
• Adherence to Risk, Compliance, Global Standard and FCC requirements

Major Challenges (The challenges inherent in the role that require a continual test of the role holder’s abilities)

• Working under pressure, flexibility to redesign solutions in the face of ongoing change and iterative development, coordination of a diverse suite of stakeholders, optimization of resources against complex technical deployments.
• HSBC has evolved over its 140 year history and its adoption of electronic channels can be seen as important as the development of the business in emerging countries. Achieving a leading position in this aspect of Financial Services will take a number of years requiring the development of new capabilities and competencies with which the Mgmt. of the bank and the current culture is largely unfamiliar.
• Ensuring that all HSBC RBWM services offer outstanding Digital customer experience and fully deliver on the brand promise and a coherent Digital Strategy.
• Provide market-leading, compelling Digital product experiences that can leverage the global scale and distribution network. With increased connections between businesses around the world, the aim is to take HSBC from a collection of locally orientated digital experiences to one global set across RBWM.
• The journey to create sustainable cost savings and operational efficiencies is being driven by standardising systems, processes and products on a global scale. To create savings we need to drive out waste and duplication, streamline processes and take out paper where we can. Digital channels will be a major facilitator of achieving these objectives.
• The job holder must ensure the creation of one, modern bank, by supporting the creation of one IT infrastructure, refining and removing redundant processes and automating others to ensure we deliver the best possible customer experience.

Role Context (The environment and operating conditions of the role including the extent of guidance and authority)
• The role will sit within the HSBC Middle East, North Africa and Turkey Regional Digital team, based in Dubai. Key objectives and governance of the deliverables in this role will be agreed by the Head of Digital MENAT and the MENAT ExCo.
• This role holder will be expected to lead the development, deployment and management of the initiatives within their remit. Responsibilities will include direct management and oversight of several cross-functional working group teams in parallel.
• This role will have direct reports – Digital Product Managers.

Management of Risk (Operational Risk / FIM requirements)

The jobholder will ensure the fair treatment of all customers is at the heart of everything we do, both personally and as an organisation. This will be achieved by consistently displaying the behaviours required to support the Best Place to Bank principles as in the UK and other market equivalents of Make Better Products, Sell Them Properly and Keep Them Sold.

The jobholder will also continually reassess the operational risks associated with the role and inherent in the business, taking account of changing economic or market conditions, legal and regulatory requirements, operating procedures and practices, management restructurings, and the impact of new technology.

This will be achieved by ensuring all actions take account of the likelihood of operational risk occurring.

Also by addressing any areas of concern in conjunction with line management and/or the appropriate department.

Observation of Internal Controls (Compliance Policy / FIM requirements)

The jobholder will also adhere to and be able to demonstrate adherence to internal controls. This will be achieved by adherence to all relevant procedures, keeping appropriate records and, where appropriate, by the timely implementation of internal and external audit points, including issues raised by external regulators.

The jobholder will implement the Group compliance policy by containing compliance risk in liaison with Global Head of Compliance, Global Compliance Officer, Area Compliance Officer or Local Compliance Officer. The term ‘compliance’ embraces all relevant financial services laws, rules and codes with which the business has to comply.

This will be achieved by adhering to all relevant processes/procedures and by liaising with Compliance department about new business initiatives at the earliest opportunity. Also and when applicable, by ensuring adequate resources are in place and training is provided, fostering a compliance culture and optimising relations with regulators.

Role Dimensions (e.g. balance sheet size, lending/expenditure limits, size/volume of transactions, budget. in USD’000)

The role holder will have
• Influence over budget responsibility for deploying investment in the digital channel and realising incremental revenue by 2018 through positively impacting RBWM sales.
• The opportunity to pitch for appropriate investment and ongoing resources, which will vary from small user experience changes to proposed partnerships and acquisitions.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of Digital business, while experience with travel, lifestyle, and/or other consumer product development is a strong advantage. Ideally, past work experience with digital companies (e.g. Expedia, Google, Apple, Fintech style companies etc.)
• Financial services industry experience (ideally with a large corporate, within retail banking products).
• Customer focussed, results based approach, able to deliver to deadlines.
• Global markets experience.
• Extensive experience with the range of product development and deployment activities including identifying opportunities and developing business cases, defining product or service requirements, engaging a wide range of functional experts to agree deployment approach, project execution, launch, and post launch performance measurement and management.
• Experience in a global or regional roles, working effectively to deliver targets across diverse cultures.
• Comfort with technology including ability to translate business and customer need to business requirements, customer journey mapping, technical assessments, organisational buy-in, launch, and ongoing management.
• Exposure to projects that touch a range of technical platforms (digital, mainframe, server based etc).
• Strong thought leadership and creativity to proactively propose new business opportunities and resolve issues
• Strong communication skills for navigating through business requirenents, differences of opinion on approach. Experience in developing and executing customer facing and staff facing communications an advantage.
• Strong competency with professional project planning, and other project management skills. Functional Design experience to map customer processes an advantage.
• Demonstrates flexibly when addressing shifting or competing priorities.
• Proven ability to build strong relationsips across stakeholder groups.
• Proven ability to influence large teams without direct leadership authority.
• Proven ability to manage third party partners both in partnership development when required, and ongoing partner management.
• Able to share responsibility for key decision making with a team, while accepting responsibility to drive internal decision-making processes. Ability to effectively influence and communicate across various business lines and units and at senior levels within the organisation.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent preferable.
• Strong Analytical and Presentation skills.
• Energetic, positive attitude and team player.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills.
• A flexible approach to work and working hours.

About the Company

Founded in 1865 to finance trade between Asia and the West, today HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations serving around 38 million customers worldwide. Our aim is to be acknowledged as the world's leading and most respected international bank.

HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. We serve around 37 million customers through four global businesses:

• Commercial Banking
• Retail Banking and Wealth Management
• Global Banking and Markets
• Global Private Banking

Our network covers 67 countries and territories in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and Latin America.