Kiley Kastl

About Kiley Kastl

As a product manager and Certified Financial Planner™ professional, I am passionate about transforming the financial planning industry through technology. My unconventional career path has uniquely positioned me to bridge business strategy and technical execution with ease, translating complex business needs into actionable product initiatives. My experience as a financial advisor gives me empathetic insight into client and advisor needs, while my background as a business analyst and in quality assurance ensures the products I build are reliable, intuitive, and high-impact.I thrive at the intersection of user experience, strategy, and technology. With strong cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder management, and strategic problem-solving skills, I drive initiatives from concept to launch - empowering advisors and enhancing client experiences along the way. I am eager to lead innovative product solutions that shape the future of financial planning.

Experience

1. Product Manager

   Northwestern Mutual

   Mar 2025 — Present · New York, NY, US

   Owns product vision for the advisor fact-gathering experience of NM’s proprietary web-based comprehensive financial planning application and manages relationships with key stakeholders across the organization- Partners closely with tech lead, epic solutions lead, other engineers, business analysts, testers, UX researchers and design partners to navigate tradeoffs across user experience, feasibility, compliance, and long-term architecture; document decisions to support scalability- Deepens technical fluency by reviewing API documentation and investigating request/response behavior (e.g, browser network tools) to reduce gaps between business intent and implementation- Uses AI-assisted workflows (Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, Atlassian Rovo, Heap Sense) to accelerate synthesis of stakeholder input and improve backlog refinement while retaining prioritization and decision ownership- Lead discovery and delivery for a new client data collection capability spanning planning experience and client experience domains and coordinated across 7 partner teams. Released to a pilot cohort of 400+ advisors and their staff, establishing a successful foundation for broader enterprise adoption- Translates business outcomes into implementation-ready requirements: user stories, acceptance criteria, decision logs, and a prioritized backlog in Jira- Defines success metrics/KPIs and specifies dashboard requirements using Heap and Power BI to enable pre- and post-launch evaluation and iteration loops- Builds and maintains a centralized Confluence hub to improve continuity across program increments, accelerate onboarding, and reduce ambiguity in cross-team execution- Additional Leadership: Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG) Community Partnerships Co-Chair supporting the goal of empowering women and girls within our community through volunteer service projects

Education

• Michigan State University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, International Relations and Affairs

• Katz School of Science and Health

  Master of Science - MS, Artificial Intelligence

• College for Financial Planning

  Certificate in Personal Financial Planning