Product Director - Devices(POS and Speaker)

In this role, you have the opportunity to Lead 2 product leaders, viz., head of BharatSwipe and head of BharatPe Speaker, and their teams, to continue the growth of devices business at BharatPe. Both the business is critical, and serve different purposes at BharatPe: Our speaker business is all about identifying high potential merchants and unlocking them & retaining them with our speaker offerings. BharatSwipe business is all about finding businesses on the verge of expansion, and helping them collect card payments through our Bharat Swipe Both the businesses have a high contribution to BharatPe’s revenue but are extremely competitive in nature as we are competing with fintech giants like Paytm and PhonePe for a share in QR and speaker business. There are further complexities in BharatSwipe due to POS only players like PineLabs, MSwipe and significant presence of major banks like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank etc. Building strategy for devices business will involve: Deep understanding of merchant ecosystem, pain points and untapped opportunity areas As these are hardware intensive businesses, knowledge of manufacturers, their upcoming product lines, supply chain and players in the supply chain will be super helpful. BharatSwipe also has an added complexity of working with the acquiring banks, and navigating through the fraud, risk and compliance frameworks to build a sustainable business. You will be the authority on devices products within BharatPe, and will have to lead the organization, including the business head, a strong business leader but a generalist, through a chain of decisions to build long term, healthy and profitable businesses for BharatPe. You will need subject matter expertise to know what to do, conviction to stick your neck out and be decisive on product strategy and courage to stand up to the leaders in the organization if you believe they don’t get it. You will report directly to the Chief Product Officer & the team you lead will be working closely with every single other department to ensure our products not only fulfill customer needs but also drive our business growth in a sustainable way. Responsibilities will include :- Functional Expertise Deep understanding of hardware and software product development, particularly in payment devices and associated technologies A deep understanding of POS hardware, major players and their strengths, expertise in consumer electronics, embedded systems, IoT, and related fields Understanding of Payment Application (installed on POS), switch, card schemes, card transaction flow on POS machines, industry-specific regulations, security protocols, and data privacy requirements. Strive to achieve balance between linear improvements and business growth on the back of existing devices vis-a-vis enhancing the portfolio through launching new devices. Understand & hold their team accountable for a healthy set of products metrics. Has exceptional written & verbal communication skills Has a passion for new & emerging platforms technologies with an ear plugged firmly to the industry trends. Has managed high performing senior product managers in the past. Problem Solving Able to synthesize a wide range of customer inputs (research, data etc.) to identify underlying problems of customer segments across different devices, viz., BharatSwipe and BharatPe Speaker Conduct market and competitive analysis to identify opportunities for growth and differentiation. Identifies and solves problems at the functional level while influencing beyond own area of control. Be assertive with the roadmap creation. Have strong conviction on the roadmap, and try and get it First Time Right in execution. Balancing the introduction of new devices with the optimization of existing ones Should not drown in opportunities - need to ruthlessly prioritize and diligently execute. Utilize data-driven decision-making to assess product performance and drive improvements based on key metrics. Interaction: Independently manages complex stakeholder relationships with little to no support from manager; Presents activities to senior management of the organization independently. Confirmed ability to work cross functionally to drive the implementation of new features. Proven experience of managing product leads (Senior Product Managers with 5-6+ years of experience) and mentoring junior team members Builds exceptional relationships with PMs & Engg counterparts of all businesses; Without high level of empathy, it's impossible to build great products which are adopted across the org. Careful management of user expectations and timelines because hardware development and launches have longer release cycles; also, initiatives involving TSPs / banks will also have longer release cycles due to multiparty dependency. Has ability to drive consensus and if not get folks to disagree & commit, Awareness and detailed understanding of overall business and industry context. To succeed in the role Impact Define long-term strategy & vision for Devices Product; provides strategic influence across teams and functions. Qualification & Experience (type & industry) BE/B.Tech or equivalent Degree. MBA is good to have. 10+ Years of PM experience with at least 4-5 years on hardware products; Preferred past experience in high growth stage startups Prior experience in payments landscape is required. Experience of launching / scaling up POS or similar product Experience of managing physical hardware products which has operational logistics. Skills & know-how Excellent organization skills, ability to lead multiple projects and handle contending priorities, prioritize workload effectively, and thrive in a dynamic and complex environment. Technically minded and basic understanding on Agile development, web & app technologies Product Management experience desired, ideally in Fintech space Past success delivering high quality products in a complex environment.