Pinnacol Assurance does just one thing, and does it better than anyone: provide caring workers’ compensation protection to Colorado employers and employees. And while we may be a little biased, we believe that our work shapes communities and changes lives.

We have big hearts and love big ideas. We’ve been around for more than  100 years, but don’t let that fool you. Pinnacol is committed to taking care of Colorado employers and workers in the most innovative ways. We celebrate continuous improvement, new ideas, compassion, teamwork, integrity and excellence.

With our number one priority to keep everyone safe, along with the heart of Pinnacol’s “culture of caring” to do what is right and not what is easy, we’re currently having our team members work from home. But we’re still making time for fun with virtual events like virtual painting classes, virtual yoga and Zumba classes, and virtual happy hours!

What you’ll do:

The Product Management Director oversees a team of Product Owners and Lean Coaches who provide a key link in the translation of innovation ideas into practical solution designs that drive implementation through agile development teams.  

Pinnacol has set an organization-wide mission to deliver innovations to the market that impact customer value. These investments are intended to utilize the full strength of the organization,  integrating business and technology in an enterprise environment.  Legacy systems, new digital development, and external partners are all part of the solution.  As a result, Product Owners must deal with complex design challenges that can’t just rely on narrowly focused user needs and customer focused research.  

As the leader of the organization’s Product Owners and Lean Coaches, the Product Management Director is responsible for building a skilled team and supporting them with practices that are suited to complex innovation challenges.  The team works with a high degree of autonomy on assigned initiatives, and the manager supports their efforts by helping them address priorities, barriers, and design choices.    

This role is a key leader in the overall evolution of innovation capabilities within Pinnacol.  The Product Management Director provides a strong voice in shaping the overall development of product and lean practices within Pinnacol’s broader product organization as well as leading efforts to integrate team members within the enterprise as a whole.   

What you can expect:

• Support Product Owner Work Efforts:  Drawing on the Director’s experience in agile product design and development, guide and support the Product Owners in their ongoing efforts to perform key product owner roles of discovery, design, and roadmapping.  
  • Prioritizing Efforts – Support Product Owners in their efforts to prioritize among competing demands.  Overall prioritization of initiatives are done through a formal investment management process, so this support focuses on other sources of competing demands. 
  • High Level Review – Product Owners are expected to work with a high level of autonomy.  As a result, this high level review helps assure the Product Owner’s work is consistent with product practices of the organization and meets expected levels of quality.  
  • Resolving Issues – Provide support to the Product Owners when they face conflicting requests, barriers to action, and need for management engagement.
  • Senior Design Support – Act as a senior level advisor to Product Owners regarding the handling of design issues and product strategies.  Provide a seasoned perspective on how to best deal with difficult Product Owner challenges.   

• Integrate Product Owners and Lean Coaches within the Enterprise: Provide leadership for efforts to fit the Product Owners and Lean Coaches within a broader product organization that includes strategic investment architecture (Opportunity Architects), and User Centered Design (Product Designers). Additionally, foster Product Owner and Lean Coach engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders, from both the Business and Technology.

• Manage an Effective Team:  Provide engaged leadership that creates and sustains an energized and effective team.  
  • Staffing – Identify the required number of team members on the team, create business cases for staffing levels and roles, and lead efforts to effectively fill positions.   
  • Performance Review – Provide team members with well reasoned performance reviews and feedback.  Address issues of performance, including providing guidance on how performance can be improved.  
  • Professional Development – Leveraging the Manager’s experience in enterprise product development, provide guidance to individual Product Owners in the development of their skills and careers.   
  • Team Collaboration – Develop an engaged collaborative environment within the Product Owner team and support frequent open engagement with other areas of the organization.  
• Evolve Effective Practices:  Draw on senior level experience in agile product ownership to evolve effective state of the art practices in product ownership.  While building on recognized agile user centered design product practices, stretch these product methodologies to support enterprise level system innovations that have multiple stakeholders, complex business requirements, and broad technical integration. 
  • Track the State of the Art – Continually identify new developments in product ownership practices, particularly those that are related to system level innovations within complex organizations.  
  • Adapt to Enterprise System Innovation – Identify where conventional digital product design practices, which are narrowly focused on the specific needs of external customers, need to be extended or changed to support more complex enterprise innovation.  
  • Create Practice Guidelines – Develop guidelines and training that Product Owners can use to learn and apply practices.   
• What you need to be successful:
• Broad understanding and experience applying core Product Owner practices. Extensive experience translating business and innovation objectives into specific tactical system development plans, including the ability to define, measure and improve key product metrics
• Demonstrated experience empowering product owners working in complex business environments.  Should have demonstrated examples of work that challenges status quo operations within organizations that offer multiple services/products which are integrated across the enterprise.  
• Experience with Lean/Continuous Improvement principles and practices is preferred.
• Experience in an agile product development environment supporting the delivery of clear and efficient product road mapping, product planning, prioritization, and an overall agile product development process, with a strong preference for experiences in complex enterprise environments.
• Leadership experience with professional teams that have highly autonomous members, including management oversight of team performance, issue resolution, and career development.
• Broad knowledge of technology concepts and system design principles which enable productive collaboration with technologists.  
• Ability to work collaboratively and cross-functionally across all levels of the organization
• Ability to work independently, with the ability to lead efforts that address complicated problems with adaptability and flexibility.

We can’t do our work without people like you.

Our employees are extraordinary and committed to making a difference. Here’s some of the ways we show our appreciation.

• Our benefits go beyond the basics. You’ll get to choose from diverse benefit offerings for medical, dental and vision.
• We care about each other. We enjoy a positive, collaborative work environment. We are hard workers and high performers.
• We love who you are. Pinnacol is on a journey to embody diversity, equity and inclusion. We’re committed to creating a culture that deeply values differences, where everyone feels like they belong.
• Take a day (or 20!) off. Enjoy 20 paid days off your first full year plus 9 paid holidays.
• Take care of yourself. Sign up for unique wellness programs, including on-site, company-paid fitness facilities and classes
• Get your learning on. We promote a learning culture to help you master your current job and cultivate the skills of the future through a variety of on-site, online, and off-site professional development opportunities.
• Give back and get paid. Through our employee volunteer program, Pinnacol in Action, employees receive paid time off to volunteer with Colorado nonprofits.
• Share in our success. You’ll have the opportunity to earn a quarterly incentive, up to 20 percent of your annual base salary, when your team exceeds their goals and objectives.

When we find the right person, we try to put our best foot forward with an offer that excites you. We consider what you’d like to be paid, the skills and experience you bring, what similar jobs pay in the Denver area and make sure there’s equal pay for equal work among those you’ll be working with.  The compensation amount for this role is targeted at $140,100 - $181,300. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including your experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

Want to love your work? Apply today!

Pinnacol is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. To request assistance with the application process, please email [email protected].