Purpose of the role

The purpose of this mission critical role is to establish and execute a long-term product lifecycle management strategy in our Kitchen Durables category to deliver on Pampered Chef’s overarching brand proposition. This Senior Product Manager will work cross functionally with key stakeholders – Product Development, Marketing and the Field team to accomplish their category objectives. The goal is to drive profitable growth globally through creative and innovative approaches to differentiating and curating our solutions (products, recipes, food offerings and experiences) that align to our value proposition and evolving consumer trends around health, convenience and entertaining.

Key Responsibilities

• Owns the integrated product/solutions strategy for specific categories within our Durables product portfolio including the roadmap and execution, concept portfolio and associated financial performance. Ensures that our target customer, field, brand, value proposition and relevant trends are incorporated into all aspects of the solutions development process.
• Develops Key inputs into the strategic roadmap that focuses the development organization, ensuring the appropriate balance of current category evolution, innovation and everyday solutions to provide a holistic launch plan, portfolio strategy and lifecycle management
• Owns the P&L for specific components of the solutions portfolio and responsible for meeting KPI targets including gross profit, new product sales, brand perception, and product reviews
• Accountable for the new product development / market launch process and post-launch performance within specific categories. Includes ensuring alignment of cross-functional stakeholders and driving the stage gate reviews for the respective categories.
• Responsible for maximizing revenue and profitability of specific categories, through effective product lifecycle management strategies across key stages of introduction, growth, maturity and decline
• Provides guidance to the product development team to comprehensively understand the categories PC competes in, inclusive of competitive frameworks, macro to micro trends, channel evolution and technology overlays as a key input to the PC development strategy
• Ensures the solutions team has the innovation pipeline to support the strategic roadmap and business goals
• Potentially lead a team and have direct reporting responsibility

COMPETENCIES

• Authenticity, integrity and humility
• Strategic mindset and business acumen coupled with strong execution skills and a willingness to work hands-on at a tactical level
• Strong interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills with the ability to influence individuals and teams without hierarchical authority and across all departments
• A “builder” and change agent who will challenge current thinking, not a “caretaker”
• Process orientation, problem solving and troubleshooting skills with a firm commitment to customer focus and quality
• Strong analytical and critical thinking capabilities, sound judgement coupled with effective decision-making skills
• Track record of delivering results in a high paced and constantly changing environment
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and projects simultaneously while meeting challenging deadlines
• Strong work ethic with a high degree of self-motivation and the ability to work independently
• Solid working knowledge or experience with
  • Product financial analysis, including product pricing, product costing, gross margin, inventory value, and inventory turns
  • Financial valuation techniques, including, NPV, ROI, and payback.
  • Classical marketing, including 4Ps, marketing mix, product WOWs, demand creation plans

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Gross Profit per Consultant
• Operating Income Performance
• Capital Deployment Effectiveness
• New Product Performance (vs. Target)
• New Product Vitality
• Brand Perception
• Product Reviews

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Engineering or related discipline or MBA in related field desired.
• 7-10+ years total career experience in product marketing/management, ideally including a prior rotation through a commercial or technical/product dev role
• Experience in the consumer goods industry preferred
• Experience within high velocity, global, consumer product categories