Product Manager

We’re looking for a Product Manager to join our Financial Services and Insights team (TAG), part of Lightstone Auto’s Product & Transformation function. The role reports to the Strategist: Financial Services and Insights. You’ll own the product vision, direction and roadmap for an assigned product portfolio. Working within the guardrails set by your Strategist, you’ll turn strategy and deep customer insight into clear product outcomes, priorities and roadmap choices. You’ll work closely with Product Owners, Technology and Commercial teams to deliver measurable value. Within your first 90 days, you’ll map out roadmaps for both new and existing products.

What you’ll do

• Own the product vision, direction and outcome-led roadmap for your portfolio, aligned to team strategy and business goals.
• Develop a deep understanding of customers, users, workflows, pain points, market context and product usage.
• Lead product discovery to validate problems, assumptions and potential solutions before committing to delivery.
• Prioritise competing opportunities, enhancements, technical needs, compliance requirements and operational demands based on value, evidence and strategic fit.
• Define measurable outcomes and KPIs, and use data, customer feedback and commercial performance to keep improving the product.
• Partner with Product Owners to turn roadmap intent into delivery-ready work.
• Work with Commercial, Sales, Support and Marketing on adoption, pricing, proposition clarity, launch readiness and value realisation.
• Contribute to pricing, business cases and product investment decisions with Commercial and Finance.
• Manage the full product lifecycle, from launch and growth through to optimisation, rationalisation and retirement.
• Communicate the roadmap openly, so stakeholders understand the priorities, the trade-offs and what won’t be done.

Essential

• Matric (Grade 12).
• 5+ years’ relevant experience in product, automotive, technology, financial services (lending), insurance, fleet management and floorplans, or a closely related environment.
• Experience prioritising competing requirements and managing a product roadmap or a significant portfolio of change.
• Proven ability to understand customer needs, workflows and pain points and turn them into product decisions.
• Experience working with cross-functional business and technology teams, and making value-based trade-offs rather than simply accepting requirements.
• Working knowledge of the software development lifecycle and Agile / Scrum / Kanban.
• Working understanding of APIs, integrations, SaaS, data products and platform concepts.
• Strong grasp of product management principles: discovery, prioritisation, roadmapping, lifecycle management and outcome measurement.
• Ability to use dashboards, product analytics and data to understand usage and outcomes.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder management skills.
• A sound understanding of the automotive industry, vehicle valuations and their use cases, and fleet management, floorplans and financial services.]

Advantageous

• A relevant tertiary qualification. Equivalent product, industry, commercial or operational experience will be considered.
• Product management, business, customer experience, analytics, commercial or Agile qualifications.
• Experience with digital, SaaS, data, workflow or platform products.
• Experience with product discovery, customer interviews, journey mapping or proposition development.
• Experience with product analytics, pricing, commercial models or go-to-market planning.
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps or similar backlog / roadmap tools.

You’ll thrive here if you’re customer-centric, outcome-oriented, commercially sharp and curious. You’ll have the courage to say no to low-value work, and you’ll stay resilient and focused in a fast-changing environment.

• Join a high-performance team driven to take the business forward, where the future and the now are equally important.
• 25 days’ annual leave.
• Sabbatical leave (for every 5 years of continuous service).
• Hybrid working.
• A non-corporate culture that encourages flexibility, collaboration and innovation.
• Provident Fund, Life and Disability Insurance
• Incentives/Performance Bonuses (based on meeting specific targets)
• Professional Development/Study Assistance
• Training and Progression: There is a strong emphasis on skill development, career progression, and "care and growth"
• Office Perks: In-office benefits have included "wellness days" and "Braai month" celebrations
• Employee Wellness Programme

Lightstone is committed to employment equity. Preference will be given to candidates from designated groups in line with our Employment Equity Plan, while our goal remains to appoint the most suitable candidate for the role.

Company Overview

Lightstone Auto is an intelligent solutions company with strong, automotive industry-specific expertise and core capabilities in Dealer systems (Sales, Stock, Marketing and F&I), market performance and forecasting analytics and data management.

We specialise in delivering integrated, online knowledge solutions, batch and real-time data quality solutions, and a broad range of dealership-focused analytical products to a range of automotive manufacturers, dealerships, government and financial services clients.

We hire exceptional people and provide them with an environment where they can excel. Our non-corporate culture encourages flexibility, collaboration and innovation.

We pride ourselves on our core values to Encourage Participation, Respond to Changing Needs and Win Together, which are reflected in each development, project, product or service we undertake to deliver.