Director, Product Management- Fire Group
About The Position
The Director of Product Management for the Fire Group supports strategic direction, platform development, and lifecycle management of fire apparatus product lines across all brands. This role collaborates with engineering, operations, supply chain, sales, dealer partners, and leadership to deliver fire and rescue vehicles and define product priorities that support modularity, standardization, cost control, build efficiency, and responsiveness to customer and regulatory needs. The position offers remote work and requires a schedule that supports both Central and Eastern Time Zones. The Director owns product and platform strategy, maintains a multi-year roadmap, and guides product architecture and design principles to balance customization with manufacturing scalability. The role incorporates customer and market insight, product performance data, compliance considerations, and lifecycle analysis into product decisions. Travel of up to 40% may be required as business needs dictate.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Product Management, Industrial Management, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience may be considered.
- At least 7 years of experience in product management, engineering, operations, sales support, or a related role within manufacturing or complex vehicle systems.
- Experience supporting modular product platforms or configurable products in a manufacturing environment.
- Working knowledge of fire apparatus design, fire service applications, and related standards and compliance requirements.
- Strong business acumen and ability to understand product cost, margin, and customer value drivers.
- Strong communication, analytical, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 40% as business needs require.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with PLM/ERP systems, configuration tools, or BOM management.
- Background in chassis integration, apparatus body design, upfitting, or specialty vehicle manufacturing.
- Experience supporting major redesigns or platform transitions.
- Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, or value stream mapping methodologies.
Responsibilities
- Own and advance product and platform strategy for fire apparatus, translating business objectives and customer needs into product priorities.
- Develop configurable product architecture that balances customization, manufacturing scalability, cost control, and build efficiency.
- Maintain a multi-year product roadmap aligned with business strategy, plant capabilities, regulatory requirements, and market demand.
- Influence engineering, operations, sales, supply chain, and dealer partners to align product decisions and execution priorities.
- Provide leadership with product expertise and decision support regarding platform investment, standardization, lifecycle actions, and customer-driven enhancements.
- Guide design-for-manufacturing, platform modularity, and lean product design to improve manufacturability and reduce complexity.
- Partner with engineering and operations to evaluate product architecture, configuration rules, and build processes that improve quality, throughput, and consistency.
- Foster cross-brand collaboration and drive synergies among product lines and brands.
- Synthesize input from fire departments, dealers, sales teams, field service, and industry events into actionable product requirements.
- Monitor market trends, technology developments, regulatory changes, and competitor offerings to identify innovation and differentiation opportunities.
- Manage product performance inputs, including cost, margin, volume, configuration mix, and improvement opportunities, to support profitable growth.
- Drive standardization of product configuration and BOM structures to optimize inventory, reduce variation, and improve build times.
- Use warranty data, service feedback, customer experience, and total cost of ownership insights to inform lifecycle planning and product improvements.
- Ensure product strategies and roadmap decisions account for applicable fire apparatus standards and regulatory requirements.
- Lead product risk, obsolescence, and lifecycle trade-off analysis with supply chain, engineering, operations, and service teams.
Benefits
- Competitive benefits (specific benefits are not listed).
- Pay-for-performance philosophy that allows top performers to earn more based on continued success.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
