SVP – Product and Markets — Institutional Platform

The mandate

A multinational-owned institutional platform combined two product portfolios after an acquisition but deferred the choices customers now force it to make. Similar capabilities remain under different names and prices, contractual promises constrain migration, and product teams count adoption without charging service, capital or technology cost. Client evidence shows that the resulting shelf no longer maps cleanly to customer economics.

The SVP – Product and Markets will oversee approximately S$3,150 million in assets and investment and lead about 200 employees and material partners. Responsibility spans proposition, product lifecycle, market strategy, pricing, commercial enablement and the interfaces with engineering, operations, finance and risk. It is a value-stream role with budget, talent and measurable operating accountability.

The executive must determine which acquired capabilities become the strategic core, which can be converged and which should close. Decisions require evidence on client jobs, willingness to pay, adoption, service intensity, risk and lifecycle contribution. A feature-rich product that depends on bespoke operations may be less valuable than a narrower offer with reliable delivery.

Integration must preserve contractual and regulatory obligations. Client migrations need consent, data and service planning, while product retirement requires explicit residual ownership. The board wants portfolio focus, adoption and lifecycle profitability rather than a larger roadmap.

Commercial enablement will change with the shelf. Relationship teams need clear migration choices, pricing authorities and a defensible explanation of what is ending. Compensation should not encourage them to renew products already selected for retirement. The SVP must separate genuine client need from internal attachment to familiar offers.

Client advisory councils should test the chosen proposition before migration, with dissent recorded rather than averaged away. Evidence from lost bids and service complaints will be weighted alongside current-customer interviews.

Product governance also has to extend beyond launch. Each offer should have an accountable owner, a current target segment, a service standard and a retirement hypothesis. Investment should respond to observed use and contribution; maintenance that merely preserves internal optionality must compete transparently for scarce engineering and operations capacity.

Why this seat is open

An accelerated transition made this an urgent replacement. Interim ownership cannot settle integration choices, so the board seeks a permanent leader within six to eight weeks. The process remains confidential until the preferred candidate and handover are agreed.

What you will own

• Build product and client-segment economics including service, capital, risk and technology consumption.
• Choose the strategic core, convergence path and retirement list across acquired portfolios.
• Govern pricing, discount authority, packaging and investment stage gates.
• Migrate clients with contractual, conduct, data and operational safeguards.
• Link roadmap commitments to adoption and lifecycle profit, with explicit stop criteria.
• Steward S$3,150 million of assets, investment, risk acceptance and forecasts.
• Lead 200 employees and partners and strengthen product and market succession.
• Establish one review joining commercial, customer, financial, technology and risk evidence.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, reconcile products, contracts, clients, revenue, cost and roadmap obligations. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to portfolio choices, including priority clients, sales, operations, engineering and control functions. Test apparent adoption against active use and value. Assess leadership, stabilise material delivery risk and agree board gates for investment and retirement.

Months four to nine should announce the target portfolio, begin controlled migrations and stop unsupported roadmap work. Reset pricing and product accountabilities, fill leadership gaps and release the first measurable cash, capacity or client value. Every retired product must retain an owner until obligations end.

By year end, portfolio focus, adoption and lifecycle profitability should show repeatable progress. The value case must remain within 10% of plan, and forecasts should reconcile customers, cash, people and delivery over three quarters. Priority risks must close by agreed dates with independent sustainability evidence; no severe escalation may age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Active use, retention and lifecycle contribution by product and client segment.
• Roadmap capacity redirected from duplicate or uneconomic capabilities.
• Pricing integrity and reduction in unsupported commercial exceptions.
• Safe completion of client migrations and product retirements.
• Maintain critical-talent retention at 90% or better and immediate succession coverage across 70% of direct-report roles.
• Quantified improvement in product-to-customer economics with clean data ownership.

The person

You are an SVP Product, Product Line General Manager or Commercial Product Head with 22–28 years in financial services or an adjacent enterprise of comparable governance. You have owned a material platform or value stream end to end, including budget, talent and operating results.

Your accountable portfolio has been at least S$1,850 million, and you have led 200 or more people. You can evidence a product rationalisation after acquisition, including a difficult migration or closure whose results held for two reporting periods. Strategy without product P&L, delivery and client consequences is insufficient.

You combine client curiosity with economic discipline and can disagree with powerful sales or technical sponsors while preserving productive relationships.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is S$360,000–480,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent appointment is onsite in Singapore, supports international relocation and permits notice up to six months. Final terms depend on verified scope and current remuneration.

Confidentiality

The client will be identified only when both parties choose to proceed under confidentiality. Nothing published should be treated as a clue to ownership or brand.