Product Manager

Valtir, LLC is headquartered in Addison, Texas and has been an industry leader and global supplier of highway safety products for over 50 years. Our core roadway product lines include guardrail, end terminals, cable and steel longitudinal barriers, crash cushions, truck and trailer-mounted attenuators, water-filled barricades, sign supports, and delineators.

Working with industry partners and safety experts, Valtir continues to bring the next generation of innovative safety products to a dynamically changing market. Our products are specified, sold, and installed throughout North America and in more than 100 international markets.

A successful Product Manager is passionate about building products that customers love. You will be part of a dynamic and fast-paced environment, working with cross-functional teams to develop and launch products that deliver the company's vision and strategy. Ultimately, the product manager is responsible for all business aspects of their product line(s), which include meeting top line growth and profitability targets.

Core Responsibilities

• Gain a deep understanding of customer needs and market dynamics using proven research methodologies and VOC
• Define product roadmap and strategy for your product line(s)
• Identify and fill product gaps
• Translate product strategy into detailed engineering requirements for quick time-to-market development
• Develop product pricing and positioning strategies
• Work with R&D and project teams to ensure the new products are on time and delight customers (basically represent the customer on project teams).
• Drive product launches with a cross functional team including marketing, engineering, operations, supply chain, finance and executive staff members
• Evaluate promotional plans to ensure that they are consistent with product line strategy and that the message is effectively conveyed
• Develop and deliver product training to the sales channel and other relevant groups
• Scope and prioritize activities based on business and customer impact (data driven decision making)
• Actively manage financial performance of product lines across all market segments, including bookings and gross profitability results
• Understand and manage the impacts of product line and geographic mix
• Act as a product evangelist to build awareness and understanding in the market
• Work closely with the sales team to create demand in the market - frequently visiting customers together with sales
• Represent the company by visiting customers to solicit feedback on company products and services
• Work together with the sales and operations team to provide forecasted product line demand as part of the monthly SIOP process

KPIs

• Bookings growth by market segment and region, in absolute dollars and percentages
• Gross profit by market segment and region, in absolute dollars and percentages
• Average Unit Prices by product line (maybe by region/segment too?)
• Unit growth by product line
• Revenue and profitability potential of new product development programs past Stage Gate 2/3 (depending on process)

What you will need:

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Engineering, or Business. Master's degree is a plus.
• 3-5 years in B2B product management in a manufacturing environment. Experience in Highway Safety, Road Construction, or Traffic Control is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute successful product strategies and roadmaps.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks, manage deadlines, and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a data-driven approach to decision-making.

Required Competencies:

Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Business Acumen - Knows how businesses work; knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, and information affecting his/her business and organization; knows the competition; is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.

Action Oriented - Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things he/she sees as challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning; seizes more opportunities than others

Timely Decision Making - Makes decisions in a timely manner, sometimes with incomplete information and under tight deadlines and pressure; able to make a quick decision.

Listening - Practices attentive and active listening; has the patience to hear people out; can accurately restate the opinions of others even when he/she disagrees.

Informing - Provides the information people need to know to do their jobs and to feel good about being a member of the team, unit, and/or the organization; provides individuals information so that they can make accurate decisions; is timely with information.

Managerial Courage - Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

Planning - Accurately scopes out length and difficulty of tasks and projects; sets objectives and goals; breaks down work into the process steps; develops schedules and task/people assignments; anticipates and adjusts for problems and roadblocks; ensures performance against goals; evaluates results.

Drive For Results - Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.

Strategic Agility - Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Building Effective Teams - Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.