Director Foodservice Product Management

Freedom Electronics LLC•Kennesaw, GA

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

Freedom Electronics is a market-leading provider of electronic parts and solutions for the retail petroleum industry and adjacent equipment markets. We source and resell OEM parts, repair and remanufacture high-value electronic components, and engineer proprietary replacement products that help customers reduce equipment downtime and operating costs. Freedom is expanding these capabilities into the commercial foodservice market, initially serving convenience-store operators, restaurant chains, service organizations, and other multi-location equipment owners. Our growing customer relationships are generating a strong funnel of potential products across beverage, cooking, refrigeration, ice, coffee, and related equipment categories. We are seeking an experienced foodservice product leader to help convert those opportunities into a scalable, market-backed product portfolio. Our growth strategy includes both organic efforts and growth through acquisition, and our culture is built upon these values: The Customer is Always Served, Continuous Improvement, Invest in Our Employees, Uncompromising Ethics, Trust, Passion. POSITION OVERVIEW The Director of Foodservice Product Management will own the strategy, prioritization, and development roadmap for Freedom’s foodservice product portfolio. The Director will evaluate opportunities generated through customer meetings, sales activity, service-market needs, and competitive research. The successful candidate will determine the broader addressable market, customer value proposition, product economics, technical requirements, and strategic fit of each opportunity before significant development resources are committed. This individual will recommend whether Freedom should: Source and resell an existing product Repair or remanufacture an OEM component Engineer a proprietary replacement Develop a strategic supplier or service partnership Defer the opportunity Decline the project The Director will lead products from initial opportunity assessment through market validation, development, launch, and lifecycle management. This is a hands-on, senior individual-contributor role with significant cross-functional leadership responsibility. The Director will initially lead through influence rather than through a large direct-report organization and may help build additional product-management resources as the business grows. This is primarily an upstream product strategy and product-development role rather than a communications-focused product marketing position.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, marketing, economics, or a related discipline.
Five or more years of relevant professional experience in commercial foodservice equipment, foodservice parts, equipment service, aftermarket products, or a closely related industry.
Demonstrated experience in product management, category management, portfolio management, product strategy, or commercial product development.
Experience evaluating and prioritizing new-product opportunities.
Demonstrated ability to conduct market sizing, competitive analysis, and financial business-case development.
Experience translating customer needs into product requirements and development priorities.
Experience leading cross-functional product-development or commercialization initiatives.
Strong understanding of the commercial foodservice equipment ecosystem, including OEMs, service organizations, distributors, end users, and replacement-parts channels.
Strong analytical skills and advanced proficiency with Excel or similar analytical tools.
Ability to organize and analyze imperfect or incomplete market information and make well-supported recommendations.
Excellent written, verbal, and executive-presentation skills.
Ability to travel for customer research, equipment observation, supplier meetings, and industry events.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Parts Town or another major foodservice parts distributor.
Experience with a major commercial foodservice equipment OEM.
Experience with a national or large regional service organization supporting convenience stores, restaurant chains, or other multi-location operators.
Direct experience serving major C-store operators, restaurant chains, franchisees, or institutional foodservice customers.
Experience with aftermarket parts, repair, remanufacturing, core-return programs, or engineered replacement products.
MBA or other relevant advanced degree.
Experience working with electronic controls, displays, sensors, power supplies, or other high-value equipment components.
Experience with product P&Ls, pricing strategy, inventory economics, and working-capital analysis.
Familiarity with e-commerce-driven parts distribution and digital product information.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain a multi-year foodservice product strategy aligned with Freedom’s growth objectives and core capabilities.
Identify the foodservice equipment categories and components where Freedom has the strongest opportunity to compete.
Create a prioritized product roadmap by equipment category, OEM, customer segment, and offering type.
Evaluate the strategic fit of new opportunities against Freedom’s technical capabilities, customer relationships, channel strategy, and available resources.
Establish a consistent opportunity-screening and stage-gate process for all foodservice product opportunities.
Determine whether an opportunity is specific to one customer or scalable across a broader market.
Estimate installed equipment populations by OEM, platform, customer type, and end market.
Conduct competitive analysis covering OEM products, aftermarket alternatives, repair providers, distributors, and other market participants.
Conduct total addressable market, serviceable addressable market, and serviceable obtainable market analyses.
Evaluate customer concentration, competitive offerings, replacement frequency, equipment age, failure rates, and service requirements.
Develop financial and commercial business cases for potential products and programs. Evaluate expected revenue, gross margin, pricing, development expense, tooling requirements, working capital, warranty exposure, and time to revenue.
Estimate engineering-resource requirements and identify the opportunity cost of each project.
Define the assumptions, uncertainties, and validation steps required before a project advances.
Evaluate core availability and core-return requirements for remanufactured products.
Lead structured voice-of-the-customer research with end users, technicians, service organizations, distributors, and other channel participants.
Define the customer problem, target application, value proposition, differentiation, and required performance standards for each product.
Validate customer interest and purchase intent before significant development resources are committed.
Work with Business Development and Sales to understand the original customer need, expected volume, and commercial opportunity.
Translate customer and market requirements into clear product requirements and commercial specifications.
Lead cross-functional foodservice product-development teams involving Engineering, Sales, Business Development, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, and Marketing.
Maintain accountability for timeline, business case, and commercial outcomes throughout the development process.
Establish project scope, milestones, decision points, ownership, and target launch dates.
Partner with Engineering to evaluate technical feasibility, development risk, testing requirements, and resource needs.
Ensure development teams remain focused on the highest-priority market opportunities.
Define the target customer, use case, positioning, value proposition, and competitive differentiation for each new product.
Develop pricing recommendations in partnership with Finance, Sales, and executive leadership.
Partner with Marketing to create product messaging, launch materials, website content, sales tools, and training.
Partner with Sales and Business Development to identify target accounts and establish launch plans.
Ensure Operations, Customer Service, Supply Chain, and Quality are prepared to support new products.
Monitor launch performance and address gaps in demand, product quality, availability, pricing, or customer adoption.
Establish product- and portfolio-level KPIs.
Monitor revenue, gross margin, customer adoption, warranty performance, inventory turns, core availability, and return on development investment.
Compare actual performance with the assumptions used in the original business case.
Provide regular roadmap and portfolio updates to executive leadership.
Identify opportunities to expand successful products into additional customers, equipment platforms, or sales channels.
Recommend product rationalization or discontinuation when appropriate.