Global Product Manager - Color

Axalta•Detroit, MI

About The Position

The Global Product Manager (GPM) for Color serves as Axalta’s global leader for color strategy, dispersion development, and color portfolio execution across the Mobility business, while playing a pivotal influence role in other Axalta businesses such as Refinish and Industrial. Color is a foundational differentiator for Axalta, and this role ensures that our color development, processes, roadmaps, and investments maintain industry‑leading performance. This role restores global governance and strategic leadership for the Color function, providing structured oversight of the Axalta Research and Development team’s color group, driving alignment between commercial needs and technical development, and ensuring resources and investments match the business priority. The GPM creates business cases for all major color and dispersion initiatives, manages project portfolios, and ensures timely delivery of color solutions for OEMs and emerging mobility segments. Additionally, the GPM oversees Axalta’s global color leadership initiatives—including Color of the Year, Color Trend Reports, and the Color Trend Show—acting as Axalta’s external-facing color authority with OEM design teams, suppliers, and industry partners.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, materials science, engineering, design, or related technical field; advanced degree preferred.
7+ years of experience in color science, dispersion chemistry, automotive color development, or pigment technologies.
Demonstrated experience working with OEM color development, design studios, or coatings color platforms.
Proven ability to define strategy, influence cross-functional teams, and manage complex global project portfolios.
Strong business acumen to build investment cases and link technical decisions to commercial value.
Familiarity with Stage-Gate or equivalent innovation governance methods.

Responsibilities

Define and own Axalta’s global color strategy across Mobility, while providing strategic input to Refinish, Industrial, and other business units.
Establish formal management processes for the Axalta R&D Color Team, including governance, project intake, resource planning, prioritization, and performance metrics.
Ensure alignment between OEM color development and dispersion chemistry.
Translate customer, design, and trend insights into actionable technical and commercial requirements.
Guide Axalta’s dispersion development strategy, ensuring our dispersion technologies support color accuracy, durability, sustainability, and manufacturability across all segments.
Create business cases and investment proposals for new dispersion platforms and upgrades.
Partner closely with R&D to set clear performance, cost, and capability targets for dispersion roadmap programs.
Own the full portfolio of global color and dispersion projects, ensuring resources are allocated to the highest-value initiatives.
Lead cross-functional alignment (R&D, Operations, Marketing, Product Management, Quality) to move projects through to completion on schedule.
Monitor lifecycle performance of color technologies and guide strategic transitions across platforms.
Lead the development and global rollout of Color of the Year, Color Trend Reports, and the Color Trend Show.
Engage directly with OEM design studios, color designers, and value-chain partners to represent Axalta’s vision and understand emerging color demands.
Provide strategic color guidance to marketing, sales, and regional product teams for customer engagement and OEM RFQs.
Act as the global integrator for color across Mobility, ensuring consistency, scalability, and alignment of color platforms and technologies.
Partner with regions to understand local color trends, manufacturing constraints, and customer requirements.