VP Product Management / Industrial Automation
About The Position
Railserve, part of Marmon Rail Group, Marmon Holdings, and Berkshire Hathaway, is seeking a strategic, commercially minded Vice President of Product Management to lead the productization, industrialization, deployment, customer support, and lifecycle management of next-generation rail technology platforms, including YardGuard. This is an industrial technology leadership role focused on products used in demanding field environments where safety, reliability, serviceability, asset utilization, and operational performance are critical—not a traditional software product leadership role. The VP will build and scale the product organization and turn innovative technologies into reliable, scalable products that can be manufactured, deployed, supported, and adopted by customers. The role bridges strategy and execution, establishing the discipline, organization, project-management rigor, and operating model needed to scale emerging technologies across Railserve and the broader rail market. It includes product strategy and portfolio management, product and project execution, commercialization, production readiness, field deployment, customer and lifecycle support, product economics, and cross-functional leadership. This is a Houston-area hybrid role with travel. Houston-area residents receive priority consideration because of the role’s executive leadership and cross-functional partnership requirements. Candidates will be required to complete additional job-related screening processes following a conditional offer, as permitted or required by applicable law.
Requirements
- 15 or more years of progressive leadership experience in industrial technology, product management, automation, or a related field.
- Proven success taking connected hardware, software, sensors, controls, automation, or industrial IoT solutions from development through productization and scaled deployment.
- Strong product and project management capability, including requirements definition, stage-gate execution, risk management, and cross-functional delivery.
- Experience building products for demanding field environments where reliability, serviceability, and operational performance are critical.
- Demonstrated success leading cross-functional teams through product launch, deployment, customer support, and lifecycle management.
- Deep understanding of product economics, capital allocation, pricing strategy, and business case development.
- Commercially minded product leadership; this is not a pure technologist role.
- Comfort working directly with customers and field operations and operating effectively in both boardroom and operational environments.
- Experience building organizations, processes, and capabilities from the ground up.
- Ability to balance innovation, safety, quality, reliability, and financial performance.
- Houston-area location is strongly preferred; candidates already residing in the Houston market receive priority consideration.
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Systems, or a related discipline) is identified as part of the strongest candidate profile.
Nice To Haves
- MBA strongly preferred.
- Experience in rail transportation, rail technology, rail operations, or rail services.
- Relevant alternative industry experience in industrial automation, oil and gas operations technology, mining automation, process control systems, heavy equipment manufacturing, port and logistics automation, industrial safety technologies, or connected asset monitoring platforms.
- Experience commercializing technology in field-based industrial environments where reliability, safety, serviceability, and operational performance are critical.
Responsibilities
- Lead product strategy, requirements, and portfolio management.
- Manage individual product initiatives end to end, including project execution, stage-gate processes, and cross-functional delivery.
- Lead commercialization and go-to-market readiness.
- Oversee productization, industrialization, and production readiness.
- Lead deployment and field implementation.
- Provide leadership for customer support, technical interfaces, and lifecycle services.
- Manage product economics and business performance, including business cases and financial considerations.
- Lead cross-functional work with engineering, operations, commercial teams, customers, field operations, and executive leadership.
- Build and scale the product organization, processes, capabilities, and operating model.
- Transform emerging technologies into reliable, scalable products that can be manufactured, deployed, supported, and adopted by customers.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
