Product Manager

Description

Reporting to the Senior Director of Product Management, the Product Manager will drive profitable short and long-term sales growth, market share, margins and positioning of our Dropped Object Safety categories while coordinating and executing the strategic and tactical aspects of product development processes.

This person is essentially a business manager for our Dropped Object Safety products. This person will be responsible for having knowledge of technical processes and methods used for product management and development while also leading research and marketing disciplines. This person will be collaborating with sales to uncover, quote and close business, and may take the lead on fostering customer relationships including voice of customer activities supporting development.

Must be willing to travel up to 25% of the time, including domestic and international travel.

This position requires you to be in the office Monday-Thursday with an option to WFH on Friday.

You have already accomplished (required):

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing or other related field
• 3-5+ year’s Product Management Experience
• Proficiency using Office Systems (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.)

You may have already accomplished (preferred):

• Familiarity using CRM Systems
• Familiarity with Phase Gate Product Development processes

What YOU are good at:

• Can communicate with all styles to foster ever improving teamwork
• Is organized for productivity and efficiency, yet flexes to anticipate and meet the needs of others
• Makes thoughtful, creative, and timely decisions after analyzing situations
• Stays current. Demonstrates a passion for learning with reading, research, and networking
• A strategic leader who challenges conventional thinking; bringing solutions to the table
• Is committed to coaching and inspiring goal-driven teams with a strong sense of urgency
• Executes through thoughtful planning and budgeting
• Uses sound judgement to negotiate critical win-wins

What WE are good at:

• Working Hard.Playing Hard. Living Tenaciously
• Making well-crafted, innovative, high-function products that Make The Workplace A Betterplace™
• Being distinctively and disruptively creative from bow to stern
• Endeavoring to be fair-minded, transparent and positive in all we say and do

Key Job Duties

• Develop, execute and communicate short and long-term strategies for the product categories under them to ensure corporate and departmental objectives are met or exceeded
• Plan, coordinate and execute strategic and tactical aspects of the product development process to ensure all aspects are in place and followed for each product launch from Ideation to Launch
• Manage, coordinate and support the communications training and follow-up actions involved in the New Product Development process
• Work to constantly improve product technology, innovation and features as required to improve the product and brand-value proposition
• Maintain a deep understanding of product line features and benefits and use that knowledge to optimize sales with each customer
• Drive Voice of Customer (VOC) activity for assigned product category(ies) including focus group events, filed trials, digital feedback research, and like practices, implementing learnings into product development and supporting customer needs.
• Actively collaborate and engage with sales team to drive sales and generate product innovation.
• Collaborate in sales forecasting, pricing, launches and play a primary or lead role in supporting sales as a subject matter expert and resource for quoting and margin analysis.
• Maintain intimate knowledge, data and files of key competitors, monitoring their activity and product, anticipating required changes in company tactics and strategies
• Formulate competitive strategies that ensure market share retention, growth and sustainability
• Assist the Operations team in the material acquisition, costing and manufacturing sourcing processes for assigned product category(ies).
• Strive to stay current, fresh, innovative and ahead of industry trends that affect the market
• Achieve credibility for related technical standards and procedures and effectively training or coach others in the technical arena
• In collaboration with Marketing & Sales, ensure internal and external information of assigned product category(ies) is (are) communicated clearly and accurately both inside and outside the organization
• In collaboration with Operations, Sales and Marketing, develop product sales forecasts, product launch plans and ongoing marketing and sales support programs
• Support the implementation, communication, product sales training and follow-up actions involved in the product launch process
• Be a passionate steward, protector, defender and driver of both the product and corporate brands
• Attend customer and end-user trade shows as needed and be a knowledge expert/ambassador for the assigned product lines/brands