Senior Product Manager

At a Glance

Legrand has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Product Manager to join the Lighting & Controls division in Chicago, IL.

This person will manage a market-leading portfolio of architectural lighting products. The Senior Product Manager is a customer facing role responsible for overseeing new products within Focal Point’s core segments: linear, troffer, pendant, perimeter, healthcare, and downlighting. This position reports to Focal Point’s Brand Leader.

Roles & Responsibilities:

Product Portfolio Strategy Development

• Develop strong relationships with Focal Point customers and key market stakeholders, especially in top revenue-generating regions, via customer visits, conferences, trade shows, etc.
• Build an advanced understanding of customer/sales value chain and product applications
• Develop and maintain a 1 to 3-year portfolio roadmap and identify key areas for growth
• Develop a focused roadmap for each product portfolio: Healthcare, Downlights, Linear, Perimeter, Troffer, and Pendant
• Assess product concepts, emerging technologies, and determine investment-worthiness via detailed business analysis
• Prioritize new projects based on objective/subjective metrics that enhance Focal Point’s long-term position in the market
• Track of leading indicators, revenue, and margin for new products launched within the last 5 years, including 3 and 5 year vitality analysis

Product Development Activities

• Develop the product scope, specification and price and cost targets for new products
• Perform VOC and competitive analysis to gather and prioritize product/customer requirements
• Partner with Engineering to refine product specifications early in the development process; participate in project team and Gate review meetings; help resolve project issues and trade-offs
• Develop application guides illustrating product performance and inspirational use cases

New Product Launch Activities

• Partner with Marketing team to develop core product messaging and positioning
• Establish competitive market pricing for new products and all product options
• Create mature sales projections and ramp up timeline, work with engineering and supply chain to forecast parts and configurations
• Perform product demonstrations and act as a key product evangelist
• Provide early product support and product training for Sales and Customer Service teams
• Support Marketing with the development of technical white papers, CEU presentations and other market-facing materials; approve all sales, marketing and technical collateral (including ies and Revit files)
• Actively monitor the financial and field performance of the new product launch; work with internal Focal Point teams to address/resolve any variances to performance plan

Existing Portfolio Management

• Develop an understanding of the current product portfolio
• Support and attend industry trade shows

Strategic Initiative Development and Execution

• Identify market development opportunities and areas for product enhancement/development to meet market needs
• Help build market research capabilities and leverage existing/new platforms to scale efforts
• Focus on the Healthcare roadmap as a strategic area of growth and investment for the business, in collaboration with other Legrand Brands

Competencies:

• Must possess strong interpersonal, relationship-building, relationship management, and teamwork skills
• Must have outstanding oral, written, and verbal communication and presentation skills, as well as strong persuasion and negotiation skills. Must have a high level of comfort with communicating at every level of the organization, from executives to field personnel
• Must be comfortable and effective in an environment with frequent changes in scope and direction. Candidate shall have strong multi-tasking skills
• Must possess strong business acumen. Candidate shall have a strong understanding of marketing management frameworks and fundamentals. Candidate shall have financial theory competence and be able to calculate NPV, ROI, Payback, and be able to create annual business plan forecasts that can be adjusted monthly
• Proficiency with MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PowerBI, AGI32 and/or Dialux
• Familiarity with energy and building codes throughout the USA, UL and regulatory compliance

Qualifications:

• BS/BA in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Economics, or Statistics; MBA preferred
• Minimum of 3-5 years in a Product Management or Product Management support role for a technology portfolio
• Demonstrated success defining and launching excellent products
• Industry experience in lighting, controls, or electronics is preferred
• Experience with an ERP system, preferably Oracle JD Edwards, for data extraction and decision making
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
• Must be able to travel 25% of the time