Director of Product Management

Eberhard Manufacturing•Strongsville, OH

About The Position

Director of Product Management Overview: Eberhard is a leader in the design and manufacturing of engineered access and security solutions. Our mission is to grow, elevate and inspire our team and customers by delivering quality, innovative secure access solutions and world-class experiences while maximizing value for our shareholders. Eberhard operates from five strategic locations in the USA, Canada, China, and Taiwan. Eberhard is a division of The Eastern Company. (Nasdaq Stock ticker: EML). Role Description: The Director of Product Management will have primary responsibility for the overall strategy of our product portfolio. The role is responsible for driving revenue growth and margin expansion through pricing strategy, product line simplification, and management of the new product roadmap. By continually improving resources, organizational infrastructure, and processes, this position will help drive business growth, strengthen competitive advantage, and create new growth opportunities for the organization. The Director of Product Management will lead a team of professionals and collaborate effectively with business leaders across all areas of the company. The ideal candidate will be customer-centric, move with a high sense of urgency and be incredibly proactive in exceeding our annual goals & objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university in Engineering, Business, Finance, Accounting, or a related technical field.
Minimum 10 years of experience in sales, marketing, or engineering roles.
Broad process and technical knowledge of plastics, metal, and assembly methods and processes.
Past experience or familiarity with a publicly-owned, OEM manufacturing organization.
Demonstrated successful track record in organizational development and bringing products and projects to market.
Technical depth: understands the importance of utilizing fundamental engineering principles in solution development and embeds best practices, critical thinking and deep product understanding to ensure quality and excellence in the solution is achieved.
Competitive and technology landscape: Has developed and incorporated planning and discussions for uncovering competitive technologies, disruptive technologies, and recommendations for technology direction.
Ability to build strong trusted working relationships with internal and external business customers and executive level management, influencing without authority and managing stakeholders/clients’ expectations.
Skill in exercising a high degree of initiative, judgment, discretion, and decision making to achieve organizational objectives; with an ability to problem solve and facilitate solutions with limited direction.
Honed negotiation and presentation skills.
Professional written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and workstreams simultaneously.
Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office products, preferred knowledge of our Visual ERP system.
Domestic and international travel is required to support the team, customers, programs, and strategic growth objectives. Estimated travel: 15%–20%.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred from an accredited college or university in Business, Engineering, Economics, Finance, or a related field; equivalent work experience may be considered.
Preferred: experience with heavy truck, solid body truck, utility truck, vocational truck, locks, and other strategic verticals.

Responsibilities

Provide overall product management strategy and leadership for the organization.
Develop, implement, and drive the global product plan to be used in the Eberhard strategic planning process. The product plan includes the value-add & key features needed to support the growth in our key markets with key customers to meet our expected growth objectives.
Direct and manage the product management team to promote accountability and achieve Eberhard’s KPIs as defined in the strategic growth plans.
Lead and inspire the product management team by fostering an open, approachable, and engaging work environment. Coach, motivate, and develop team members through individual support, performance feedback, and the use of quantitative and qualitative data to identify opportunities for growth and recognize success.
Diagnose, build and integrate the necessary processes and communication between customers, engineering and commercial teams in support of the company’s projects, product development direction, timelines, budgets and overall sales revenue objectives.
Ensure direct reports are qualified for their roles by identifying training needs, providing coaching and development, and keeping employees informed of company and department plans and progress.
Partner with sales, operations, engineering, and marketing to ensure on-going alignment with market needs and the creation of market driven solutions while meeting regulatory requirements.
Manage the incoming product pipeline and Critical-to-Close projects to ensure they meet minimum thresholds and that internal resources are dedicated to the most impactful and important projects.
Facilitate the interaction between teams/departments to achieve positive impact on market strategies, product strategies, customer strategies, customer service, key account management, revenue goals and overall profitability.
Identifies new market trends and opportunities to leverage new / emerging technologies or products and takes active role in generating the opportunity maps to guide our development efforts.