Director Embedded Software Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

Morningstar’s mission is “Empowering Investor Success.” The Morningstar Direct Platform is our original and core product and largest revenue business that provides public markets investors comprehensive data, research, insights and analytics to enable that mission. In 2026 we appointed a new executive, Scott Brown, to lead the Direct Platform, with a mission to accelerate its growth in the age of AI. Scott is seeking a strategic hire to partner with him on this exciting agenda.

• Product Vision & Strategy: Define and execute a unified product vision aligned to business strategy across regions, segments, and personas. Lead the transition from traditional software products to AI-powered workflows and client experiences. Lead and ensure the effective application of AI to transform user workflows, enhance decision-making, and improve client experiences and outcomes. Set and enforce experience, adoption, and value realization targets across teams.
• Customer Experience & Workflow Ownership: Own the design and evolution of workflows that define how financial professionals operate on the platform. Deeply understand client personas across global markets and design differentiated, high-value experiences. Translate customer needs and behavioral data into actionable product innovation. Ensure all products deliver consistent, cohesive, and high-quality user experiences. Own key customer metrics, including activation, retention, and NPS.
• Platform & Cross-Functional Leadership: Define requirements for platform capabilities in partnership with the business unit CTO and Data & Agentic Product teams. Partner with Data & Agentic teams to ensure agent capabilities are effectively embedded in workflows and aligned to user needs. Define the roadmap for modernization, including retirement of legacy products and launch of next-generation experiences. Act as a connector across business, technology, data, and client-facing teams.
• Commercial Ownership & Growth: Align product development closely with go-to-market to ensure what is built reflects what is sold. Drive growth through product innovation, pricing, packaging, and expansion strategies. Own on-platform monetization, including subscription and consumption-based models within the software experience. Ensure every product has a clear and effective go-to-market strategy tied to customer value.
• Team Leadership: Build and lead a high-performing, globally distributed team. Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and innovation. Act as a connector across product, technology, data, partnerships, and commercial teams.

• 15+ years of product management experience in large-scale, enterprise SaaS environments.
• Strong background in FinTech / Financial Services and SaaS models.
• Demonstrated experience building and scaling workflow-driven, multi-persona software platforms.
• Proven track record translating strategy into high-growth product roadmaps.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to prioritize, simplify, and execute at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to lead organizational transformation and build high-performing teams on a global scale.
• Track record leading the transition from traditional software products to AI-powered workflows and client experiences, driving the evolution of legacy platforms into intelligent, automated, and insight-driven solutions.
• Experience leveraging AI-powered or agentic products (e.g., LLM-enabled applications, intelligent automation) to materially improve product usability, personalization, and efficiency.
• Strong customer-first mindset with rigorous analytical discipline to inform product strategy and execution.
• Experience continuously integrating qualitative insights (voice of customer, user research) with quantitative data (usage metrics, funnel analytics, experimentation) to identify opportunities, validate hypotheses, and prioritize investments.
• Track record building alignment across complex stakeholder environments, including C-suite executives, cross-functional leaders, and external clients.
• Ability to articulate product vision, strategy, and performance to diverse audiences, translating technical concepts into clear business value.

• Collaborating and Influencing: Communicates the broader vision of Morningstar’s mission and purpose, and how their team’s work contributes to it. Makes it a priority within their organization for colleagues to learn about other parts of the business. Sets expectations within their organization to consult with and provide support to other parts of the business.
• Leading Change: Communicates a sense of personal ownership and responsibility among colleagues. Models the highest ethics. Provides guidance and direction about the kinds of ideas or changes Morningstar’s success requires. Advocates for significant, impactful changes that drive the organization forward, rather than settling for small, incremental improvements.
• Driving Results: Makes process changes to existing ways of working to significantly improve results. Proactively seeks to improve processes, raising quality and productivity through efficiencies or by implementing best-in-class solutions.

• Financial Health: 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary; Stock Ownership Potential; Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission.
• Physical Health: Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plans and coverages; Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual; Company-provided long- and short-term disability insurance.
• Emotional Health: Trust-Based Time Off; 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program; 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave; Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave; Adoption Assistance; Leadership Coaching & Formal Mentorship Opportunities; Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses; Tuition Reimbursement; Social Health; Charitable Matching Gifts program; Dollars for Doers volunteer program; Paid volunteering days 15+; Employee Resource & Affinity Groups.
• Total Cash Compensation Range $311,100.00-477,000.00 inclusive of annual base salary and target incentive.
• Hybrid work environment: four days in-office each week with flexibility as needs change.

EEO is the Law Pay Transparency Notice Morningstar is strongly committed to creating and preserving equal opportunity for all employees and applicants. We make all employment decisions—including recruitment, hiring, compensation, training, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and other personnel matters—without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic information, citizenship, gender identity and expression, parental status, or other legally protected characteristics or conduct.