Product business partner

Overview of the role

The Product Business Partner (PBP) supports AXA Group Operations in its ambition to become a truly global service provider by building a bridge between the local Entities and the global Product Teams.

With sound knowledge of the Products and local context of entities in the scope of the French Market, the Product Business Partner can ensure a sense of proximity on the side of the Entities and feedback to the Products.

In the French Market, the Product Business Partner is the Partnership component of the product in charge of the link between the 22 entities in scope and the global Network product. He/she works with the entities in synchronization with the Accounts Managers.

He/she will be part of a very dynamic, human-sized team, and strongly customer-oriented colleagues that cover some other global products (Workplace, Cloud, Distributed, Cyber Defense, and Identity).

The Product Business Partner for Network is the product representative of the Network product family to the French Market entities. His/her good customer knowledge of the Network products and the local context of the entities within his/her scope enables him/her to:

1. Carry out GO's strategy while ensuring standardization and proper consideration of the entities' contexts.
2. Articulate the benefit of AXA Group Operations Network products in front of the Entities and help enable accelerated deployments and proper Network products adoption.

He/she is also the point of reference and the disseminator of knowledge on Network products within the entities and the French Market.

About AXA Group Operations

Officially launched in January 2019, AXA Group Operations (AXA GO) aims to help AXA entities around the world empower people to lead better lives.

AXA GO is the technology "heart" of the AXA Group and the driver of its digital transformation. As the AXA "engine", Group Operations is responsible for the day-to-day management of the business, as well as for delivering critical solutions for its future. Bringing together teams with diverse expertise (IT, Data and Emerging Technologies, Security, Finance, Strategic Programs, Purchasing and Sourcing as well as AXA GO BO), we are the ones who advise, guide technology choices and give AXA access to innovations that will contribute to its transformation into a customer-focused "tech-led company". To achieve this, we work in close partnership with AXA entities.

Our ambition is to be the main catalyst of AXA's transformation into a "tech-led company".

AXA Group Operations operates across more than 15 countries and comprises around 7000 staff members.

Job Purpose

Relationship Management

1. Ensures close relationship management with Products and Entities focused on Product specificities and serves as a key contact for GO products within GO.
2. Regularly collects customer requirements and feedback to ensure improvement and contribute to the product roadmap.
3. Collaborate with the product development teams to bring business requirements of the Entities.
4. In synchronization with the Account Manager, manage and follow up operational escalations by the local Entities in collaboration with the Product and Service Delivery and Service Management teams (not bypassing the MIM process).
5. Provide advisory & Consulting (Contribution/Help on program/project/issues). The PBP also needs to capture knowledge from the Products, Program, Projects to be able to play this role.

Product lifecycle contribution – local context

1. Understand the GO & Entity Tech, Data and Security Program strategy & Product Family roadmaps and how this translates into local context.
2. Having more local context (being technical and functional) of the Entity, the PBP is contributing to identify interdependencies within GO programs, GO / Business projects, and Product Families and feed into the Product lifecycle process.
3. Create awareness about GO offering and support the pre-sales phase in collaboration with Product teams and Account Manager.
4. Promote GO Products in the Entities and support the Product adoption, decommissioning and refresh where needed.
5. Support GO / Entity’s Product technical debt management and escalate where this is not being managed.
6. Help Entities to understand Product licenses coverage and licenses models (Silva, CESAME....).
7. Support and explain non-functional aspects such as contractual management, target operating models, service levels and compliance requirements (with the support of the Account Manager when required).
8. If no GO Project Manager is in place, during the Entity Product onboarding phase, the PBP will contribute to Global & Entities project preparation.

Volume and Price item activities

1. Support the Account Manager in the Product volume alignment processes (including licenses when relevant).
2. The PBP works with the Products to undertake a volume trend analysis and ensure a sanity check of the data and clarify accordingly.
3. Supports Product Team, Finance & Account Manager within the explanation of products price items (Volume, licenses).

Leadership Capabilities

Business and functional skills

1. Strong knowledge of specific Product family GO strategy, Tech and Data roadmap, objectives, organization, and policies.
2. Deep understanding of the AXA GO Product catalogue, focused on a specific Product family.
3. Where relevant, a good understanding of insurance business needs/challenges of the Opco in the short and long term.
4. Client focused and service-minded with strong business & commercial thinking.
5. Understanding of local regulation and imperatives on Risk and Control, Legal and Governance, Compliance and Data Privacy regulations and rules.
6. Understanding of the Product pricing model.
7. Strong understanding of GO Operations activities project/program delivery.

Interpersonal skills

1. Excellent communication skills, with the ability to build trustful relationships at all levels.
2. Excellent listening and strong communication and presentation skills, an ability to communicate complex technical subjects (IT and business) clearly and meaningfully in a way that facilitates understanding.
3. Very strong collaboration skills.
4. Capacity to speak up assertively and put good and bad messages on the table in the interest of the Group operations local legal entity, Group Operations or AXA Group.
5. Strong team player, including the ability to work in a multi-cultural team with limited or no hierarchical structures amongst them.
6. High motivation and ability to work under pressure and autonomously.
7. Excellent English communication level.

Leadership skills

1. Proven capacity to lead the change in a context of transformation to reach a higher level of simplification and efficiency.
2. Capacity to take ownership towards concrete results with a hands-on and pragmatic attitude.
3. High level of personal accountability and strong commitment.

Strategic Vision

Effectively communicates the GO vision & goals regarding Product families.

Education & Experience

1. Strong IT background.
2. Experience of working in a complex global Organization.
3. Good understanding of Group Operations Governance.
4. Good understanding of GO financial, project and product processes.