Director of Marketing

Wabtec•Buffalo Grove, IL

11d•$104,800 - $149,300•Hybrid

About The Position

Wabtec Vapor Bus Solutions is seeking a Director, Marketing, Product Planning & Business Development to lead the marketing function and serve as a commercial bridge between Sales, Engineering, Product Development, customers, and business leadership. The role will combine strategic marketing, product roadmap planning, voice-of-customer leadership, and business development to strengthen market position, accelerate new product commercialization, and identify profitable growth opportunities across OEM, aftermarket, and adjacent transit markets. Reporting to the VP of Sales, this leader will help convert market insights into actionable product strategies, customer value propositions, and go-to-market plans that support long-term revenue growth and portfolio competitiveness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, or a related field; MBA preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in Product Management, Product Marketing, Business Development, Marketing, or Commercial Leadership roles.
5+ years of leadership experience managing teams and cross-functional initiatives.
Experience working with engineering and technical development organizations.
Demonstrated success developing product roadmaps, customer value propositions, and commercialization strategies.
Strong strategic planning, analytical, financial, and business case development skills.
Experience leading customer-facing initiatives, executive-level presentations, and market growth programs.
Ability to translate customer requirements and market insights into profitable business solutions.

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the Vapor Bus Marketing organization, setting clear priorities and performance expectations.
Create and execute annual marketing strategies aligned with revenue, growth, and market share objectives.
Drive brand positioning, market awareness, customer communications, trade show strategy, and industry event participation.
Establish marketing KPIs and measure return on investment for major programs and campaigns.
Develop and maintain a multi-year product roadmap aligned with customer needs, technology trends, and business strategy.
Lead Voice of Customer activities to identify emerging customer requirements, unmet market needs, and product opportunities.
Partner with Engineering to prioritize new product development investments, innovation opportunities, and technical feasibility assessments.
Conduct market sizing, segmentation, competitive benchmarking, pricing analysis, and portfolio profitability reviews.
Drive business case development for new products, portfolio extensions, and lifecycle management decisions.
Identify and evaluate new business opportunities, strategic partnerships, adjacent markets, and expansion initiatives.
Develop growth strategies for North American and international transit markets, including OEM and aftermarket channels.
Support key customer relationships and executive-level engagement in partnership with Sales leadership.
Lead strategic initiatives that expand market share, improve profitability, and strengthen customer value.
Support negotiations and management of strategic partnerships or commercial agreements where applicable.
Partner closely with Sales to develop customer value propositions, account strategies, and market penetration plans.
Deliver competitive intelligence and market insights that improve sales effectiveness and opportunity conversion.
Support major customer presentations, executive business reviews, product demonstrations, and proposal positioning.
Develop tools and programs that improve sales enablement, product adoption, and customer understanding.
Participate in customer visits to understand operational challenges, technology needs, and future procurement priorities.
Collaborate with Engineering to translate market requirements into actionable product development priorities.
Lead cross-functional alignment on product strategy, commercialization plans, product launch readiness, and customer commitments.
Build strong working relationships with Operations, Supply Chain, Field Service, Finance, Engineering, and Sales.
Serve as the commercial voice of the customer across the organization.
Drive alignment between product roadmap priorities, engineering schedules, customer commitments, and revenue objectives.