Industrial B2B Product Manager

“THIS IS *NOT* A PROJECT MANAGER ROLE”

Mission: Lead the product strategy, vision, and development initiatives. Define and execute product and portfolio strategies, ensuring market alignment and driving product innovation and development from concept to launch.

Summary: Define the business case for launching new products and conduct market tests in collaboration with Product Marketing and Sales. Design and develop products based on customer specifications and/or sales requests. Maintain the company's product portfolio P&L, understand each product's unit cost and contribution margin, and define strategies to reduce costs and manage the product lifecycle effectively.

Responsibilities:

1.      Product & Portfolio Strategy:

o  Develop and implement comprehensive product and portfolio strategies and plans.

o  Update management and the business on product positioning, release planning, and stakeholder management.

2.      Vision & Evangelizing:

o  Create a compelling product vision and effectively communicate it to internal and external audiences.

o  As a product spokesperson, represents the product, e.g., at conferences, to customers, the press, and industry analysts if needed.

3.      Pricing:

o  Develop and execute pricing strategies and tactics.

o  Perform cost analysis and set and communicate price levels.

4.      Roadmaps:

o  Decide on future directions and priorities for the product portfolio.

o  Publish and maintain roadmaps for internal and external stakeholders, including new launches and lifecycle management.

5.      Innovation:

o  Drive the innovation stage by creating and prioritising ideas based on customer insights and market trends.

o  Collaborate with internal teams to generate, gather, and collate ideas that deliver maximum value to the business.

6.      Product Discovery:

o  Gain a deep understanding of customer and buyer personae needs by exploring problem spaces and validating product concepts.

o  Use structured approaches like prototyping to define and test ideas.

7.      Requirements Gathering:

o  Gather, analyse, prioritise, and document product requirements.

o  Define use cases and evaluate trade-offs with the designer and production.

8.      Analysis:

o  Understand market opportunities and develop business cases to justify investments.

9.      Design & Build:

o  Manage the product development process, create prototypes, and iterate based on feedback.

o  Ensure all product management, design, and engineering tasks are completed and meet quality assurance standards.

o  Ensure products meet business and customer requirements regarding features, performance, and experience.

10. Operational Readiness & Trials:

o  Manage the internal roll-out of products and system updates.

o  Oversee internal and external trials, including finding, managing, and negotiating with partners and suppliers in collaboration with product marketing.

11. Cost Optimisation:

o  Identify and execute plans to optimise product costs.

o  Define strategies to reduce costs and decide on stop-sell actions when necessary.

12. Technical Support:

o  Provide 3rd-level technical support to marketing and sales teams, including price definition and product feasibility analysis.

o  Design testing procedures for quality assurance of finished products.

Requirements:

·      Must-haves

o  Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).

o  Strong analytical skills and ability to create data-backed propositions.

o  Technical Skills

o  Proven experience in product management, strategy, and development.

o  Experience in Manufacturing

o  Experience in HVAC-R, industrial kitchens, or other industrial applications of temperature/humidity sensors.

o  Languages:

o  Fluency in Italian and English (mandatory level B2 or above)

o  (will be tested during the selection process).

o  Advanced Microsoft Office skills:

o  Excel (VLOOKUP, Pivot Tables), Word (revisions, cross-references), PowerPoint (timed presentations)

o  (will be tested during the selection process).

·      Nice-to-have:

o  Knowledge of other European languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French, German).

Other required skills:

·      Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

·      Customer-centric; effectively relates to customers and prospects.

·      Perseverance and tenacity; view a “no” as motivation to work harder.

·      Flexible and able to optimally allocate time and resources.

·      Proactive problem solver with a sense of urgency.

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