Product Strategy & Commercialization Manager

Smiths Group•Portland, TN

About The Position

Flex-Tek, a global manufacturing company for products in Aerospace, Construction, and Heating markets and a division of Smiths, is seeking a Product Strategy & Commercialization Manager. This role will convert market insight, customer needs, and business capabilities into profitable product growth. The position owns product strategy and lifecycle priorities, leads cross-functional new product development projects, identifies new uses for existing technologies, and strengthens the communication loop between the field, engineering, and sales. The ideal candidate is comfortable operating at the intersection of technical product knowledge, customer engagement, commercial strategy, and disciplined project execution. The Product Strategy & Commercialization Manager is responsible for identifying market opportunities, translating customer and field insight into product requirements, leading new product development projects, and managing product lifecycle strategy for an assigned Flex-Tek business. This role bridges sales, engineering, operations, quality, and executive leadership to ensure technologies are placed in the right applications and converted into profitable, scalable product platforms. The position will be hired for two business contexts: Gastite, focused on plumbing, HVAC, tubing, fittings, and engineered connection systems; and HVAC Air Distribution, focused on Royal Metal Products, Thermaflex, sheet metal components, flexible ducting, and adjacent HVAC air movement applications.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Marketing, Construction Management, Product Management, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
5+ years of experience in product management, product development, application engineering, technical sales, business development, program management, or a related commercial/technical role.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects without relying solely on direct authority.
Strong technical aptitude with the ability to understand manufacturing processes, applications, product performance, and customer requirements.
Commercial mindset with experience developing business cases, evaluating market opportunities, and communicating value propositions.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills with an ability to communicate effectively with executives, engineers, sales teams, and customers.

Nice To Haves

Experience in HVAC, plumbing, building products, fluid conveyance, tubing, fittings, ducting, air distribution, sheet metal products, or contractor/distributor channels.
Familiarity with stage-gate, lean product development, portfolio management, lifecycle management, or product roadmap processes.
Experience launching products through distributor, contractor, OEM, or specification-driven channels.
MBA, advanced technical degree, product management certification, project management certification, or equivalent practical experience.
Prior exposure to codes, standards, regulatory requirements, product testing, field validation, and installation practices.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain product roadmaps aligned with business-unit growth objectives and Flex-Tek strategy.
Manage assigned products through lifecycle stages including concept, launch, growth, margin optimization, refresh, and end-of-life.
Assess portfolio gaps, market trends, competitive offerings, technology shifts, code changes, and customer pain points.
Support pricing, positioning, channel strategy, margin improvement, product rationalization, and investment prioritization.
Create business cases for new products, product extensions, and technology-driven growth opportunities.
Lead cross-functional NPD projects from opportunity definition through commercialization and launch handoff.
Define project scope, customer requirements, target economics, launch criteria, risks, timing, and success metrics.
Coordinate engineering, sales, marketing, operations, sourcing, quality, manufacturing, and finance stakeholders.
Facilitate stage-gate or equivalent project reviews and ensure decisions are documented and action-oriented.
Drive launch readiness, field validation, training content, sales enablement, and post-launch performance tracking.
Identify new applications where existing manufacturing capabilities, product platforms, or technologies can solve customer problems.
Translate technical capabilities into commercial value propositions and market-entry plans.
Partner with engineering and operations to evaluate feasibility, manufacturability, compliance, risk, and cost position.
Build early opportunity funnels and screen concepts based on market size, differentiation, margin potential, channel fit, and execution complexity.
Support strategic make/buy/partner recommendations when capability gaps limit commercialization speed.
Establish a structured process for capturing field feedback, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and installation challenges.
Convert Voice of Customer input into clear product requirements, application use cases, and prioritized development actions.
Serve as the communication bridge between sales, field teams, customers, engineering, and leadership.
Participate in customer visits, ride-alongs, distributor meetings, trade shows, product training sessions, and field troubleshooting reviews.
Ensure product decisions reflect both technical feasibility and real-world customer adoption drivers.
Provide market and product insight for annual strategic planning, roadmap reviews, and innovation portfolio discussions.
Maintain a forward-looking pipeline of product, application, technology, partnership, and adjacent-market opportunities.
Identify growth themes, capability gaps, regulatory shifts, competitive threats, and customer trends that should shape long-term strategy.
Prepare concise executive recommendations supported by market evidence, customer insight, financial assumptions, and risk assessment.