Product Line Manager
Posted by Accell North America on 01/10/2019
Job Basics
Industry Sector: Bike
Job Categories: Marketing & Digital Marketing
Company Type: HardGoods/Equipment
State: WA
City: Kent, WA (Southend Seattle)
Country: United States
Required Experience: 7 - 10 years
Job Type: Full Time
Salary: $70,000 +
Required to Relocate: Yes
Required to Travel: Yes
Employee May Telecommute: No
Job Seeker Must Live Within:
Job Description & Requirements
Job Title: Product Line Manager
Department: Marketing
Reports To: Head of Marketing
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Summary:
The brand management team at Accell
North America (ANA) forms the heart and soul of our company and culture,
accountable for setting the vision, planning and actively growing our brands,
our business and our leadership position in the North American cycling market.
ANA has a unique, consumer-centric
business model integrating both online and offline selling channels, and we are
growing fast. To help us continue to drive growth in 2019 and beyond, we are
seeking an experienced Product Line Manager (PLM) to build our diverse bike
brands through a product portfolio that differentiates our brands, creates
strong consumer appeal, serves our diverse retail base and continually elevates
our competitive position in the market.
The PLM is a critical partner
accountable for championing the vision, market insights, strategy and execution
of our portfolio for designated branded product lines in partnership with
sales, marketing, operations and other cross-functional and Accell Group global
team partners.
This job is not for the faint of
heart. Sure, we love “dirt bag” bikers and other passionate outdoor folks here.
And we love our rides for tacos on Tuesday. But, be warned, the PLM job is an
“all in” job for a performance-driven leader eager to be a part of a highly
entrepreneurial experience. If you appreciate being a little uncomfortable,
pushing the edges, moving fast in a rapidly changing environment that values
results, teamwork and fun, this might be the best job you ever had.
Essential
Duties and Responsibilities:
- On an on-going basis, deeply mines and
understands the marketplace for selected branded product lines leading 4Cs
(consumer, customer, competitor, company). Be the company’s deep market
expert for all things concerning bike products in North America.
- Leads in the identification and analysis
of key market growth opportunity spaces.
- Translates market data and insights into
a product line vision, key strategies, product platforms/initiatives and
an annual road map to grow brand, business and market position.
- Leads definition and organization alignment
of product propositions, pricing, distribution/segmentation, promotional
plan (in partnership with marketing and channels) for existing and new
products/innovation to drive success in the marketplace
- Manages branded product line and
portfolio to address market needs/opportunities and simultaneously drive
product revenue and margin productivity for respective product lines
across multiple channels.
- The PLM uses business, brand and market data to
develop and grow diverse branded product lines. They are the champion of
the branded product line and innovation responsible for the management of
all existing and new products and their successful development and launch
in strong partnership with internal teams, in particular product
development, brand, marketing, operations and sales.
=
The PLM is responsible for collaborating with
sales and marketing to define the key marketing dates of launching new/updated
products, and informs all involved on these gates, and keeps track if these key
dates are met.
=
On an on-going
basis, deeply mines and understands the marketplace for selected branded
product lines leading 4Cs (consumer, customer, competitor, company). He/she grounds decisions on consumer insights, competitive range
offerings, channel analysis, detailed sell-in and sell-through data,
competitive pricing analyses and market data.
=
The PLM proactively analyses how to improve the
current offering, identifying gaps in the collection, product and consumer
price build-up, complexity reduction and initiates the development of new
products.
- Leads definition and organization
alignment of product propositions, pricing, distribution/segmentation,
promotional plan (in partnership with marketing and sales) for existing
and new products/innovation to drive success in the marketplace
=
He or she builds an in-depth knowledge of
competitor product offers up to the detailed spec level, pricing and margin,
and keeps track of market developments and trends to be able to make a product
line (and innovation) plan for each Brand that can
compete in the market, that is in line with the desired brand positioning and grow
the business.
=
You define gaps and opportunities for the
collection of each brand. You will be informed about the latest technologies,
innovations and components by the product development teams, who you
collaborate with continuously. Together with the marketing and sales, you
define the innovation priorities for the brands and brief development from a
brand, business and market perspective, maximizing all opportunities to drive
sales- and margin growth.
- Builds the new product pipeline.
Advocates and builds compelling, market-driven business cases in support
of high-potential innovation platforms and concepts; proactively gains
support from stakeholders including global team for mid-term development.
=
In partnership
with brand head, translates market data and insights into a product line
vision, key strategies, product platforms/initiatives and an annual road map to
grow brand, business and market position.
=
The PLM aligns with
sales on the collection line-plan, advises the sales on distribution strategy
and focus models and takes part in the weekly commercial meetings.
=
The PLM advises/leads
on consumer research whenever it is necessary to test the potential of new
concepts and proposes product improvements based on these findings.
=
He/she is responsible for developing the seasonal
and yearly collection as well as for developing products and lines outside of
the calendar planning when there is extra demand for these, such as special
editions, promotional bikes or improved versions of a bestseller.
=
The PLM is involved in and updated on new
(technological) developments and supports the development team in making the
right choices
=
He or she aligns with sales to understand the
success of the collections and makes monthly progress updates for the marketing
and sales teams
- Leads overall product communication,
education and sell-in of the product line to sales and other key
stakeholders; represents product line to broad internal and external
constituencies such as Accell Global team, consumer and trade events, product
reviews/PR, etc.
- Acts as company “hub of wheel” and
collaborates across the company on all product portfolio and launch
related matters, including:
- Collaborates with sales, finance,
marketing, development to align strategy and strategic, annual and quarterly
revenue and margin goals for product lines of business
- Collaborates/partners with product
development team to manage products from brief to
commercialization/launch on a seasonal and annual basis
- Partners with operations and sales to
manage communications of all supply-related issues for product lines of
business
- Partners with marketing and sales to
create annual and seasonal launch plans for key product
introductions/collections in support of annual and seasonal goals
- Partners with sales and product
development to support sell-in of product line with key accounts as
needed
- Leads overall product communication,
education and sell-in to sales and other key stakeholders of the product
line; represents product line to broad internal and external
constituencies such as Accell Global team, consumer and trade events,
product reviews/PR, etc.
About
You:
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Bachelor’s Degree
in Business Management, Marketing or related field. MBA highly desired.
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7+ years of experience
in managing a product line on a consumer product business and brand.
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You have a minimum
of 3+ years working on a “physical” / hardgoods product line of business,
ideally bikes or a related category.
=
You have a
minimum 3+ years of responsibility for building and launching a new product
pipeline
=
You have demonstrated
experience and results managing products from brief to launch; must have lead
launches in a consumer goods business with a highly collaborative company
=
Project Leader: You
have demonstrated success in simultaneously leading and managing many
over-lapping projects. Exceptional project manager.
=
Entrepreneurial
and Creative: You have lead a product from opportunity/insight to launch. You
have specific examples of solving business challenges creatively.
=
Learner and
Innovator: You have a deep desire to learn and grow and you apply that to
solving problems for the consumer, brand and business. You seek new
approaches. You may even like being a little uncomfortable
most of the time.
=
Communicator:
Exceptional communicator with demonstrated bias for aligning and keeping teams
involved up/down/across the organization.
=
Results Oriented:
You never give up and always drive to achieve what you set out to achieve. You
bring the team with a natural ability for rally the squad to achieve a common
goal.
