Product Manager- New & Strategic Initiatives

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Product Manager - New & Strategic Initiatives based in South Africa. As a Product Manager, you will drive the development of innovative products and strategic features that unlock new revenue streams, expand market opportunities, and create new ways for customers to use business data. Working in a fast-paced, remote SaaS environment, you will own initiatives from initial discovery and validation through development, launch, and adoption. You will collaborate closely with engineering, commercial teams, and customers to transform complex problems into practical, scalable solutions. The role offers significant autonomy over your roadmap, backlog, and product decisions. You will also champion AI-native product development, using modern tools to prototype ideas, accelerate research, and improve delivery. This is an opportunity to shape the future of business verification and compliance technology while helping a growing product organization move quickly and strategically. Accountabilities: • Lead new product initiatives: Own the discovery, definition, development, and delivery of new products and strategic features from concept to launch. • Translate insights into product requirements: Turn customer feedback, market trends, and commercial opportunities into clear problem statements, product requirements documents (PRDs), and well-scoped releases. • Validate ideas quickly: Develop prototypes, conduct customer conversations, and organize early-access launches to test assumptions before committing significant engineering resources. • Drive product adoption: Monitor usage data and customer feedback after launch, then refine features to improve engagement, performance, and business outcomes. • Own the roadmap and backlog: Set priorities, justify roadmap decisions, and balance commercial requests, customer needs, technical debt, and strategic investments. • Collaborate with engineering: Work closely with front-end, back-end, and API engineers throughout refinement, sprint planning, development, reviews, and release cycles. • Define implementation requirements: Write precise specifications and acceptance criteria that enable engineers to deliver solutions efficiently and with minimal ambiguity. • Understand technical architecture: Develop a working understanding of APIs, data models, and corporate registry integrations to make informed scoping and prioritization decisions. • Champion AI-native product development: Use AI tools regularly for research, rapid prototyping, problem exploration, and drafting. Build clickable or functional prototypes to test concepts before engineering implementation. • Improve team practices: Encourage the adoption of AI-assisted product workflows and identify opportunities to make product development more efficient. • Engage customers and prospects: Gather direct customer insights, identify recurring problems, and use evidence to inform product decisions. • Support go-to-market strategy: Partner with Sales, Account Management, and Marketing on product positioning, pricing inputs, and launch plans. • Monitor market developments: Track competitors and adjacent markets, including Know Your Business (KYB), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), screening, and identity verification, and incorporate relevant findings into product strategy. • Communicate progress transparently: Keep stakeholders informed about delivery timelines, priorities, risks, and changes through concise, clear updates. Requirements: • At least 7 years of product management experience in B2B software, with demonstrated success taking new products and features from initial concept to production. • Experience in KYB, Know Your Customer (KYC), AML, screening, compliance, or a related regulated-data field within Fintech, Regtech, or an adjacent industry. • Experience delivering both front-end and back-end changes, including API-first products, in close collaboration with engineering teams. • Strong understanding of technical product development, including the ability to evaluate technical trade-offs and make informed decisions about scope and implementation. • Proven ability to own and prioritize a product backlog and roadmap, make difficult trade-offs, and confidently decline requests that do not align with strategic objectives. • Regular use of AI tools as an integral part of research, prototyping, exploration, and problem-solving. • Ability to break down complex, ambiguous problems into clear requirements and actionable development plans. • Strong customer discovery and validation skills, with the ability to turn qualitative feedback and market signals into evidence-based product decisions. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write clear product specifications and keep stakeholders aligned. • A proactive, adaptable, and commercially minded approach, with the ability to work independently in a small, fast-moving team. Benefits: • Fully remote work environment. • Full-time opportunity within a fast-growing SaaS and data business. • Significant ownership of product strategy, roadmap, backlog, and delivery. • Opportunity to develop new products, explore emerging markets, and contribute to new revenue streams. • Hands-on use of AI tools and the opportunity to influence AI-native product development practices. • Close collaboration with engineering, commercial teams, and customers. • Opportunity to shape business verification, financial crime prevention, and regulatory compliance solutions. • Salary, healthcare coverage, paid leave, and other specific benefits are not detailed in the provided job description. #J-18808-Ljbffr