Company Overview

Grainger is a broad line, business-to-business distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and other related products and services. More than 3.2 million businesses and institutions worldwide rely on Grainger for products such as safety gloves, ladders, motors and janitorial supplies, along with services like inventory management and technical support. These customers represent a broad collection of industries including commercial, government, healthcare and manufacturing. They place orders online, on mobile devices, through sales representatives, over the phone and at local branches. Approximately 5,000 suppliers provide Grainger with more than 1.6 million products stocked in Grainger's distribution centers and branches worldwide.

Position Description

The Sr. Product Manager creates and drives the product strategy, vision, and roadmap of future products, with a high degree of ownership over critical features and the customer experience. This role is inherently cross-functional and will work closely with engineering, design, operations, finance, and executive teams to envision, develop and launch innovative products. The Sr. Product Manager is both creative and highly analytical, able to work extremely effectively in a matrix organization, adept at synthesizing a variety of technologies and capabilities into products and applications that customers love. The Sr. Product Manager is customer focused and technology savvy – with a proven track record of creating successful products and services.

The role will solve complex, cutting-edge problems and lead a team that gets things done. The Sr. Product Manager will assume end-to-end accountability for a technical product.

• Lead, train, and coach a team of 5 to 10 product team members in the development of technical products.
• Build an end to end understanding of the industrial distribution business. Be a passionate advocate for the customer. Be a subject matter expert on competitors, products and industry needs.
• Provide strong thought leadership and influence key stakeholders towards company goals.
• Understand and articulate customer needs, conduct on-going customer research, leverage internal knowledge and expertise, and prioritize market requirements.
• Conceptualize the needs of the business and build the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and requirements; as well as ensure we sustain, build adoption, focus on project management results, and communicate effectively:
• Product Vision: Define the product vision in alignment with rhythm of business (i.e. annual planning, 3 year planning, etc.). Use knowledge of both Grainger and the industry to ensure the platform stays current with emerging technologies and industry trends.
• Strategy, roadmap, and requirements: Develop the product roadmap by defining both long term strategy and short term plans to achieve the product vision and deliver business results.
• Sustain: Ensure consistent execution of product lifecycle processes from concept to launch and beyond. Be the internal and external authority and advocate for your given area of focus.
• Adoption: Communicate and coordinate launch across all organizations including business and engineering teams. Pre-coordinate with adopting teams. Define, deliver (or update) readiness materials, FAQs, etc. as required to support launch.
• Project management results: Define both long strategy and short term plans to achieve the product vision and deliver business results. 
• Communications: Both facilitate and develop content for meetings up to the VP level landing the appropriate message for the audience.

Position Requirements:

Experiences:

• BS/BA degree in computer science, engineering, science, math or related field. MS or MBA preferred.
• 5+ years' of progressive roles in product management.
• Solid proven track record of driving multiple initiatives simultaneously; preferably within a large organization.
• Experience with building, managing, growing and developing a product management team.
• Demonstrated expertise within industrial distribution.
• A track record of successfully managing products through entire life cycle – from inception to launch.
• A track record of delivering business results and managing a product or product line P&L.

Competencies:

• Strong change leadership including the ability to coach and consult leaders on the steps necessary to lead change.
• Demonstrated ability to design complex solutions to create advantaged software.
• General manager mentality, entrepreneurial drive, and proven ability to influence others.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills; excellent interpersonal skills.
• Continuous improvement and innovation mindset that results in the understanding of emerging technologies and how they might apply within the organization, as well as driving creativity, acting with agility and thinking outside current boundaries.
• Superior process design skills and operational orientation.
• Strong ability to lead cross-functional teams and navigate a matrixed organization.
• Proven analytical and quantitative skills; ability to use hard data and metrics to back up assumptions and develop project business cases. 

EEOC Statement

Grainger is an Equal Opportunity Workplace and an Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.