Investment Proposition Manager

At M&G, our purpose is to give everyone real confidence to put their money to work. With a heritage dating back more than 175 years, we have a long history of innovation in savings and investments, combining asset management and insurance expertise to offer a wide range of solutions. Our two distinct operating segments, Asset Management and Life, work together to provide access to balanced, long-term investment and savings solutions.

M&G Life is a division of M&G plc. It runs the Prudential Assurance Company and is responsible for manufacturing and reviewing all insurance products, including our legacy back book and life and pension products open to new business in the UK retail market. This is a really exciting time to join a vibrant team that sits at the heart of the M&G Life business. Our remit is to own and manage the various investment propositions used by our customers, including our flagship £70bn PruFund proposition. We are at the forefront of shaping, governing and overseeing the outcomes we generate for our customers, and more importantly how we improve those outcomes in the future.

Reporting to the Head of Investment Propositions in M&G Life, the Investment Proposition Manager will manage and develop M&G Life investment propositions to deliver strong customer outcomes, align with M&G's growth and sustainability strategy, keep pace with regulatory change and meet commercial objectives. To do this, you'll build strong working relationships across the business and with our outsourced providers, and collaborate to deliver propositional change.

You'll need:

• Good knowledge of life and pension products, particularly in the UK retail adviser market.
• Extensive knowledge of investment structures, with a focus on smoothed/with-profits funds and unitised collectives. Ideally, you will also have experience in insured funds, model portfolio services (MPS) and guaranteed products.
• Experience of launching propositions, including developing marketing messages across channels, distribution strategies and external communications. Ideally, you will also have awareness or experience in more technical areas such as legal agreements, fund/product infrastructure and third-party dependencies.
• Strong understanding of the target market (with experience in the retail adviser market), the regulatory framework, the competitor landscape, and investment propositions and financial instruments.
• Strong communication skills, ideally with experience presenting to internal and external audiences in a range of formats.
• Timescales can be demanding, so you'll need to be a self-starter and able to lead, or contribute to, cross-functional project teams delivering complex solutions at pace.

Key responsibilities for this role:

• Manage and develop our retail-facing investment propositions so they continue to deliver strong customer outcomes, comply with regulatory expectations and meet commercial objectives. This role will focus particularly on our retail investment propositions (PruFund, MPS, Risk Managed Funds and OEIC ranges).
• Design investment solutions, make recommendations and communicate them clearly and concisely to project colleagues, senior stakeholders and governance committees (up to executive level).
• Collaborate with marketing, sales and PR colleagues to own and deliver take-to-market strategies for new fund developments, and act as an investment subject-matter expert on wider product development.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the business and third-party suppliers to deliver change.
• Work with distribution colleagues to deliver key investment content and support the overall distribution strategy.
• Ensure controls are in place to meet regulatory requirements, risk appetite and relevant frameworks.

Key knowledge, skills and experience:

• Essential
• Knowledge and experience of life and pension funds and how they are used within product structures and investment propositions, particularly in the UK retail adviser market. This should include knowledge of risk profiling tools, back-office integration, centralised investment propositions (CIPs) and centralised retirement propositions (CRPs), and an understanding of the dynamics that drive these, including the relationship between the manufacturer, advisers and customers.
• In-depth knowledge of a range of investment structures, with particular emphasis on with-profits/smoothed funds and unitised collectives.
• Ability to formulate take-to-market strategies and lead cross-functional working groups to deliver new fund developments (including with third-party partners).
• Knowledge and experience of the financial services industry, its regulators and the current regulatory environment.
• Experience building and developing relationships across the business, with stakeholder management at all levels (including senior management).
• Strong understanding of risk management frameworks and processes.
• Ability to assess fund investment outcomes qualitatively, with a focus on customer outcomes, including experience reporting outcomes and decisions to senior committees.
• Ability to prioritise and work on multiple initiatives simultaneously at pace.
• Energy, enthusiasm, resilience and pragmatism.

• Desirable
• Technical investment knowledge, particularly in the UK retail OEIC, life and pensions universe. This should include experience of financial instruments and markets, economic and market dynamics, and unit-linked collective investment funds. Experience should include being knowledgeable of the various aspects of funds from development and fund operations through to marketing and distribution.
• Experience presenting on investment matters internally and externally in a range of formats (e.g. senior governance committees, adviser meetings and internal sales teams).
• Knowledge of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and regulation affecting our investment propositions.
• Working towards, or having completed, relevant professional qualifications (e.g. IMC).

What we offer:

We're dedicated to supporting your wellbeing and helping you thrive, both at work and beyond. Our benefits are designed to help you balance your professional and personal life, and financially plan for the future.

• A valuable pension scheme of up to 18% (13% made up of employer contributions and 5% employee contributions).
• Access to our Share Save and Share Incentive Plan, alongside financial wellbeing and support services to help give you real confidence to put your money to work.
• Enjoy 38 days annual leave (including bank holidays), with the opportunity to purchase up to five extra days. Our Time Off When You Need It policy gives you the flexibility - to balance work and personal commitments.
• Our market-leading Inspiring Families policy includes comprehensive support and paid parental leave covering maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and paternity leave - because supporting families is an important part of our inclusive culture.
• Health & Protection cover includes Private Healthcare, Critical Illness cover and Life Assurance for you, with additional family options - for peace of mind.

To explore more about life at M&G and our full benefits offering, visit.

At M&G we strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture, underpinned by our policies and employee-led networks.