The Product Director is responsible for the vision, leadership and management of assigned categories and will own the new product development process from concept through post product launch. Some of the key tasks in this role are to foster product & process innovation across the company and to target key new “BIG” ideas for successful execution – especially to deliver on the strategic goal of developing a healthy portfolio of “consumer focused products” across the product areas with select channel differentiation. This role is responsible for leading, planning, directing, controlling and coordinating new product development activities related to all areas such as concept development; specification development; product design; engineering; product development; liaison with global resources to align testing; prototyping and validation, etc. all as part of NPD process.
Primary / Key Essential Functions and Responsibilities
- Leadership in the development of strategy and direction of the assigned categories with product, technology, sales, marketing and business development functions.
- Create and maintain a Multi-Year project portfolio focused on annual revenue growth, while managing retailer driven product lifecycle timing
- Develop technology and product innovation strategies; evaluate new technology, processes and materials to improve productivity and quality and to lower design and product cost; evaluate new integrated product opportunities across the product divisions and expand the portfolio of product offering.
- Liaise with sales and marketing, design, quality, and technology divisions (US & Asia) along with TSI global OEM suppliers to lead new product development. (Select 3rd party resources for expertise and surge capacity)
- Develop strategies and lead implementation plans for successful product launch.
- Intellectual property capture, review and leverage into marketplace value
- Market research, web sites, tradeshows, packaging, POP, Instruction manuals, and Literature design
- Sourcing Development, Cost negotiations, Pricing strategies, Sales sheets
- Develop understanding of marketplace trends and TSI competitors by attending trade shows, benchmarking competitive products, retailer shop walks, consumer ethnography, market research, etc.
Critical Competencies
- Leadership: Having a point of view about the assigned categories future and the ability to position a global cross-functional team to achieve that future. A confident, mature person who can balance strategy, execution and talent while thriving on building relationships and leveraging influence.
- Communications: An exceptional communicator with excellent written and verbal skills; highest level of professional presence, tact and diplomacy with experience in working with a diversity of clients.
- Results-Oriented: A driver who has demonstrated the ability to make and meet significant commitments, which have a large positive impact on a company.
- Problem Solver: A creative yet pragmatic problem solver. Methodical and hands-on as well as detail oriented.
- Integrative Thinking and Decision-Making: A "conceptualizer" of enterprise and market trends/issues who can then integrate that thinking into marketing and business strategies. Decisive and logical at thoroughly evaluating issues. Excellent planning, execution and project-management skills.
- Innovation Abilities – The successful candidate is a technically astute individual who is able to lead NPD and play a key role in innovation and new product development. The candidate has “owned” the product development process and worked on processes to improve the product pipeline and launch products quickly.
- Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills: A team player and builder, receptive to ideas from others. Shares information and keeps team members and partners informed. Works effectively cross-functionally and at all levels of the organization to identify and resolve issues. Excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to interact successfully with all levels of management as well as a diverse work force.
- Ethics: Highest level of professional integrity and honesty as well as personal credibility.
Education and/or Experience and Qualifications
Minimum Education: Bachelor’s Degree (B.A./B.S.) in Business Administration or related discipline. Master’s degree or equivalent experience strongly preferred.
Minimum Experience: Minimum five to ten (5-10) years’ experience in durable goods, housewares or related industry. Consumer Retail Focused product management (Big Box) experience preferred and 5+ years’ leadership of a global cross-functional team.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Strong business and financial acumen
- Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills
- Furniture design experience preferred, but open to industries with similar consumer experiences/expectations.
- This individual will have 10 years of experience in product design and development, with strong business / technical knowledge required.
- Strong blend of analytical, decision-making and creative problem-solving skills.
- 6 Sigma and Lean Manufacturing design certifications preferred, but open to equivalent on the job experience.
- This individual will have experience managing a 5+ member organization (direct or cross-functional matrix organization) producing global results in a 24 hour work day (US & Asia resources).
- The candidate will have experience reading technical and intellectual property-related documents.
- This individual should demonstrate experience with design and analysis of test results.
- MS Office applications
- Ability to work with cross-functional teams
- Must be self-motivated, team player
- Must have a “Can-Do” attitude and be able to multi-task effectively
Financial Responsibility
Manage program operation and capital expense budgets
Management / Supervisory Authority
Lead and direct manager or associate level product positions.
Physical Requirements
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus. The employee is exposed to outside weather conditions.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions. External and internal applicants, as well as position incumbents who become disabled, must be able to perform the essential job functions either unaided or with assistance of a reasonable accommodation as determined on a case-by-case basis.
Standard Specifications
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed and represents minimum levels of knowledge, skills, and/or abilities. To perform this job successfully, the incumbent will possess the abilities or aptitudes to perform each duty proficiently.
A review of this description has excluded the marginal functions of the position that are incidental to the performance of fundamental job duties and is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. Employees will be required to perform any other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor. ent verbal and written communication skills
