The Product Manager is responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the Product Lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Manager’s job also includes ensuring that the product supports the company’s overall strategy and goals

Job Duties

• Responsible for creating category strategies, and product roadmaps to prioritize activities needed to grow, innovate, change, or obsolete.
• Responsible for analyzing competitors, market positioning, benchmarking of products, and researching market trends and shifts
• Responsible for developing a Research Plan and lead Customer Visits and Job Site Field Research sessions to help define product strategies and obtain end user needs and VOC.
• Responsible for New Product Development projects- Initiates new part setups & definitions throughout company systems.
• Initiates, Prioritizes, and Approves Engineering, Sourcing, and Manufacturing requests related to making changes to existing products. 
• Leads the discontinuation process of existing products, including “Phase Out” status, discounted selling, reworking opportunities, and commercial communication.
• Responsible to produce milestone presentations for new product development
• Approves and determines stocked or non-stocked status for existing items
• Assists in developing and coordinating the launch of new extensions to existing product range
• Assists in brainstorming and Ideation Sessions to generate new ideas and concepts
• Assists in the new product development activities (Design, Engineering, Feasibility Analysis, Formulation, Lab Trials, CAD, Prototyping, Pilots)
• Assists in Competitive Product Analysis through Benchmark Testing and Technology Tear-Downs

Job Qualifications  

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent combination of education and related work experience. 
• MBA is preferred
• SAP Experience a plus

• Minimum of 3 years in Plumbing experience, 5-10 years preferred
• Intermediate Experience with Microsoft Excel

Key Knowledge and Experience to perform essential duties:

• Specific product knowledge in some or all of the following areas: Valves, Fittings, Outlet Boxes, Malleables, Hangers and Supports, Tapes & Sealants, Pipe Cement, Couplings, Solder and Lubricant, Plumbing Tools, Nipples, Repair, Clamps, Hammer Arrestors, Roof flashing and venting.
• Seasoned level of experience in product manager in a fast paced and high SKU environment.
• Excellent organization skills, priority setting, and time management
• Experience in market research to gain a deep understanding of customer experience, identify and fill product gaps and generate new ideas that grow market share, improve customer experience and drive growth
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
• Great communication skills to have the ability to create buy-in for the product vision both internally and with key external partners
• Experience in Project Planning Project Management, Stage Gate for New Product Launch methods
• Ability to lead multiple projects covering the range of the company’s technology and product areas.
• Must have collaborative abilities, teamwork and inter-departmental communication skills.
• Strong data collection and analytical skills are critical for successful performance

Considerations for the recruiter 

At its core, a product manager's job is to understand what consumers need and to develop products to meet those needs. That could mean creating new products or extending existing products. In either case, it means prioritizing needs, working with product development teams, setting product release deadlines, and often, leading cross-functionally by orchestrating the efforts of marketing teams, sales teams, and other functions that will drive awareness of a new product. Product management responsibilities can vary greatly across industries but at the core they help us understand what consumers need and to develop products to meet those needs.

The education required to become a successful product manager can vary across industries but more times than not, companies are looking for college graduates with a design, marketing or technical degree. Strong product managers often have a business sense, technical mindset, eye for design and a knack for project management.

Target Companies

The companies listed below have a business model that has some similarity of the role we are looking for. 

1. Jones Stephens - Dormont
2. Easy Flex 
3. BrassCraft