Sr. Product Manager - Aerospace & Defense

CoorsTek, Inc.•Golden, CO

1d•$128,555 - $176,763•Onsite

About The Position

The Sr. Product Manager is responsible for maximizing revenue and gross margin across assigned product lines, managing product life cycles, setting and executing product strategy with commercial leaders, supporting pricing and margin management, and achieving targeted profitable growth. The role has global or multi-region responsibility and leads strategically significant programs involving new products or product improvements. For Aerospace & Defense, the manager translates customer, platform, and end-market requirements into product-line priorities while balancing growth, capacity, quality, delivery, compliance, and long-term profitability. The role works closely with FDEs, Technology, Commercial, and other functions to maintain visibility into opportunities and align on priorities. The position owns product-line performance and P&L-related activities, including market and competitive analysis, pricing, forecasting, product rationalization, cost reduction, capacity assessment, business cases, and customer profitability. It leads cross-functional program execution for product development and improvement, supports customer and product qualification, and coordinates internal schedules and customer communications. The manager also presents product-line performance, investment needs, and strategic recommendations to senior leadership. For an estimated 12–24 months, the role will focus across an assigned group of plants and product lines on pricing and portfolio reviews, low-yield and setup-intensive products, capacity and order-value analysis, customer qualification cadence, and development of an A&D product-line profitability plan and opportunity pipeline. It will establish regular cross-functional product reviews, recommend strategic capacity and capital investments, and measure results through margin improvement, profitable growth, portfolio quality, on-time execution, and operational efficiency. The role is based on-site in Golden, Colorado, with travel varying according to customer and business needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Minimum seven years of relevant commercial and product-focused experience.
In-depth technical product knowledge and strong analytical skills.
Ability to influence senior managers and decision makers.
Ability to work effectively with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
Strong financial and commercial acumen, including pricing, margin analysis, forecasting, business cases, and P&L management.
Ability to translate complex technical, customer, and operational information into clear product strategy and executable priorities.
Strong cross-functional program leadership skills, including managing competing priorities, risks, and customer commitments.
Clear written and verbal communication skills, including presenting recommendations to customers and senior leaders.

Nice To Haves

Aerospace and Defense industry experience.
Experience supporting engineered products, long-cycle customer programs, or technical manufacturing environments.
Experience partnering with OEMs, major suppliers, or government-related customers.
Advanced ceramics or materials experience.
Knowledge of Aerospace & Defense customer expectations, qualification processes, and market dynamics.

Responsibilities

Track product-line health using volume growth, profit margin, operating cash flow, asset utilization, and working capital metrics; lead resolution of internal quality and on-time delivery issues and manage P&L ownership.
Analyze competitive landscapes, market segmentation, and trends with strategic insights and strategic marketing to target opportunities and threats.
Partner with marketing to develop product data sheets, product memos, trade show materials, and other content.
Support account managers with customer interactions and escalations when needed.
Liaise with supply chain and prioritize customer and delivery needs.
Manage product life cycles from launch to obsolescence through innovation, annual price improvement, and product rationalization.
Work with operations to identify and initiate annual cost reductions or avoid cost increases.
Establish internal pricing floors and targets for account managers based on market pricing and in collaboration with leaders.
Identify capacity and margin-maximization opportunities and align them with overall strategy.
Facilitate business development through sales-force training, customer visits and demonstrations, and stakeholder relationships.
Lead business case reviews, including capital expansion reviews and recommendations.
Define and communicate product-line strategy, positioning, and the 4 Ps; develop product-line service strategy with engineering and operations.
Drive design wins, orders, and revenue growth.
Contribute to CoorsTek’s product and technology roadmap.
Partner with sales and operations on volume, revenue, and margin forecasts, including unconstrained and constrained demand.
Lead program management for new products and product improvements.
Work with R&D and Operations to identify process improvements aligned with program goals.
Engage customers to gather input on new product and market requirements and specifications.
Coordinate cross-functional schedules against customer commitments and keep customers informed of status.
Build and execute product strategies for Aerospace & Defense applications, considering platform life cycles, qualification requirements, program timing, and long-term supply expectations.
Partner with customers, OEMs, and industry stakeholders to understand technical requirements, future platform needs, and growth opportunities.
Work with FDEs, Technology, and Commercial to identify, evaluate, and prioritize opportunities, maintaining shared visibility into status, requirements, feasibility, commercial potential, risks, ownership, and next steps.
Coordinate with Quality, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Contracts, and Commercial to align product plans with customer requirements and applicable aerospace and defense obligations.
Support customer and product qualification by maintaining clear milestones, risks, ownership, and cross-functional communication.
Evaluate product and customer profitability, including low-volume and high-complexity work, and recommend pricing, investment, rationalization, or operational actions.
Identify and manage product-line risks involving capacity, continuity of supply, quality, delivery, and customer commitments.
Prepare and present product-line performance, strategic recommendations, investment needs, and business cases to senior leadership.
Review pricing based on the age of pricing and time since the last price change.
Review customer portfolios based on estimated gross margins within each plant.
Review low-yielding products commercially and operationally.
Review products requiring significant machine setup or downtime, assessing opportunity cost and potential customer charges.
Coordinate with Strategic Planning to assess facility capacity and determine whether filling it is feasible or may create inefficiencies.
Develop minimum order values by product line or facility.
Analyze order-processing costs by plant and at the corporate level to identify best-in-class facilities.
Drive the customer qualification cadence for profitable customer acquisition.
Create a prioritized A&D product-line and customer profitability plan covering pricing actions, cost-reduction opportunities, capacity constraints, and product-rationalization recommendations.
Build an A&D opportunity and program pipeline documenting revenue potential, margin expectations, investment needs, timing, qualification requirements, and key risks.
Establish a regular cross-functional product review cadence with Commercial, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Finance.
Develop recommendations for strategic capacity and capital investments tied to validated customer demand and targeted returns.
Measure success through margin improvement, profitable growth, customer and product portfolio quality, on-time execution, and operational efficiencies.