Product Manager

Tremco Construction Products Group • Vernon Hills, IL

20h • $85,000 - $125,000

About The Position

Rust-Oleum Corporation is a worldwide leader in protective paints and coatings for both home and industry. We offer a wide range of products including decorative fashion paints and finishes, durable industrial, roof repair, and flooring coatings and, of course, our famous rust-fighting formula that started it all. We are seeking a Commercial Product Manager – Professional Paint with hands-on experience in the architectural coatings market , ideally with exposure to professional paint users, contractors, retailers or distributors . In this role, you will translate market insight and customer understanding into winning paint and coatings products that drive profitable growth. You will work closely with cross-functional partners—including R&D, Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Product Operations—to manage products from concept through launch and ongoing optimization. This position is best suited for someone with a commercial, market-driven mindset and a background in consumer or professional goods .

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field
• 7-10 years of total professional experience, with at least 5 years in the architectural or industrial coatings industry
• Demonstrated ability to work with market data, customer insights, and financial metrics using tools such as Excel or Power BI
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, especially with R&D, Sales, Marketing, and Operations
• Practical project management skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives at once
• Commercially minded problem solver who enjoys turning insights into real, sellable products
• Confident communicator who can influence stakeholders and present ideas clearly to varied audiences
• Comfortable operating in a hands-on, business-focused product environment

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience with professional paint, coatings, building materials, or adjacent categories strongly preferred

Responsibilities

• Help set the product strategy and priorities for assigned architectural coatings categories, ensuring alignment with company growth goals and market opportunities
• Serve as the voice of the professional end user, developing a deep understanding of contractor needs, jobsite challenges, application requirements, and buying behavior
• Conduct and synthesize market research, field visits, customer interviews, and competitive analysis to uncover insights and identify growth opportunities; this role would work very hands-on with painters and contractors
• Monitor competitive products, pricing, positioning, and market trends to ensure offerings are differentiated and relevant
• Partner with R&D to guide new product development, from early-stage ideation and concept development through testing, launch, and post-launch improvement
• Manage and evolve an existing product portfolio, including line extensions, renovations, and lifecycle decisions for mature products
• Define product positioning, value propositions, feature sets, pricing, and go-to-market strategies tailored to professional paint customers
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to support commercialization efforts, ensuring products are clearly understood and successfully adopted in the field
• Translate complex technical or formulation concepts into clear, customer-focused messaging that resonates with non-technical audiences
• Track product performance using practical business metrics (sales, margin, mix, adoption) and recommend actions to improve results
• Support launch execution, training materials, and internal alignment to ensure smooth rollouts
• Contribute positively to the broader product team through collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement

Benefits

• After 30 days of employment, you will be eligible for a benefits package that includes medical, dental, life, disability and business travel insurance, flexible spending accounts, EAP, stock purchases and vacation/sick days/parental leave.
• We also offer a 401(k) plan after three months of employment and offer a company match.
• Associates are vested in the RPM Pension plan after completing five years of service.
• Rust-Oleum offers 9 paid holidays and two floating holidays per year.
• You are also eligible to earn three weeks of vacation on an annualized basis.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level