Focal Point has an immediate opening for an Associate Product Manager. This is a unique opportunity for a future business leader to join our dynamic team. In an exciting and dynamic position, the Associate Product Manager will work with leadership at every level and in every area of the organization to drive growth of Focal Point’s core lighting business and strategy.
The ideal candidate will be a motivated and enthusiastic self-starter who can work well under autonomy; is confident, positive, high-energy, cultured, and capable of easily interacting with corporate leadership, and is flexible and willing to get involved in all aspects of product development as required.
Role & Responsibilities:
Portfolio Strategy and Management:
• Lead brainstorming, planning, and execution of initiatives that accelerate sales adoption of new products, raise the revenue potential on established products, and extend the life of declining products
• Synthesize and test hypotheses for industry trends, product pricing, product applications, etc. by applying a mix of primary and secondary market research
• Gather, integrate, and share VOC inputs from market stakeholders, sales calls, in-house customer visits, industry events, feedback from sales, etc. to inform business decisions
• Build and maintain a competitive analysis database. Highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses of Focal Point products against the market. Translate insights into recommendations for initiatives on the company’s product roadmap
• Act as a lead point of contact for assisting with sales, customer service, and field service inquiries
• Represent the Focal Point brand and build industry relationships by attending tradeshows and company events
New Product Development & Launch:
• Compose new specifications for product development. Leverage competitive analysis, VOC input, market research, and interviews to inform the specifications. Collaborate with the product development team to create prototypes for feedback and testing to drive iterative touchpoints with customers, enabling convergence on an optimal specification
• Collaborate with marketing and finance to build product business cases that outline market strategy, tactics, and financial return on investment
• Own the market facing deliverables of product development initiatives. Act as the lead voice of the product in weekly reviews. Challenge the development team to deliver results that align with the specification. Take a leadership stance when challenges and tradeoffs arise. Deliver business case justification presentations at gate review milestones.
• Partner with marketing to synthesize, review, and approve marketing collateral
• Provide product launch support and training to Sales and Customer Service teams. Provide product demonstrations that generate internal and external interest and education
• Facilitate brainstorming sessions on how to promote products in new and creative ways that accelerate sales adoption and enhance ROI
Product Operations & Analytics:
• Build and present monthly reporting on product line profit and loss, comparing results against enterprise goals
• Become a subject matter expert on product cost and profitability. Collaborate with finance and operations to identify outliers and areas of opportunity for cost improvement. Build business cases and instigate action on these opportunities to improve profitability
• Synthesize and maintain rolling product forecasts that project unit volumes and average selling prices. Partner with manufacturing and supply chain to ensure the operating plan is aligned to the forecast
Competencies:
• Candidate shall have outstanding analytical skills, be an expert with MS Excel, and proficient with PowerPoint
• Must possess strong interpersonal, relationship-building, relationship management, and teamwork skills
• Candidate shall be detail oriented and take pride in the thoroughness and accuracy of their work. Must be eager to be ‘hands on’ as needed to assure program success
• Candidate shall have strong proficiency with presenting and communicating concise analyses that are adapted as needed in their form and style to the needs of the audience. Candidate shall be capable of displaying data in diverse ways, both graphically and numerically
• Must have outstanding oral, written, and verbal communication and presentation skills. Must have a high level of comfort with communicating at every level of the organization
• Must be comfortable and effective in an environment with frequent pivots based on new information. Candidate shall have strong multi-tasking skills
Qualifications:
• BS/BA in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Economics, or Statistics; MBA preferred
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in a fast-paced, highly dynamic environment in a role related to product development, product management, marketing, or sales
• Preference given for those who possess experience with architectural products
• Demonstrated success delivering data driven insights and value to an organization
• Must be able to travel 25% of the time
The Company:
Focal Point is a Chicago-based family owned and operated architectural lighting manufacturer. Our vertically integrated manufacturing facilities are fine-tuned to produce high quality products with short lead times. Using the most advanced equipment and processes, Focal Point delivers a superior luminaire. Focal Point’s specification grade products are suited for a broad range of applications, and we’re always reaching out to new markets with innovative designs that are engineered by our own experts.
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