Director, Regional Product Line Management (630)

Summary:

This position is responsible for leading and managing a team of Strategic Product Line Managers (SPLMs) who are accountable for product line management for a geographic region. Drive and manage all regional SPLMs in alignment with Global and Regional business strategic plans to help drive sales and deliver profit objectives including pricing and margin oversight.

Travel requirement is approximately 25%.

Job Responsibilities/Activities:

• Provide leadership for the strategic product line managers, and partner with the commercial organization to help drive sales and deliver profit objectives.
• Establish a standard process for Product portfolio management through pricing and margin management, new product development initiation, product line rationalization, portfolio gap analysis, brand naming and marketing intelligence.
• In partnership with the Research & Technology (R&T) team, Corporate Strategy Office (CSO), Commercial team and Business Development lead the regional Stage Gate process to propose and prioritize development of new product platforms and modifications of existing products including product design, field assessment, launch, life-cycle, and vitality index. Ensure SPLMs are utilizing the process and working with the Marketing Communications team to develop supporting collateral.
• Provide leadership and support to the Strategic Pricing Manager and pricing team to continue to develop and automate a structured approach and process to product pricing consistent with market positioning. Facilitate best practice and establish assurance processes that drive competitive advantage in the market.
• Ensure the SPLMs provide the necessary training support materials and go to market promotional materials to enable Sales to promote product line expansion, cross-selling and share of wallet initiatives.
• Develop and lead the enterprise/regional business strategy plan, in partnership with commercial, to increase market share and drive profitable growth. product positioning, product promotion and marketing communication, etc.
• Provide market information to the enterprise in terms of competition positioning, segment growth trends and new technologies that have been launched in the market place with analysis of product positioning in comparison with the market.
• Collaborate and seek input approval for key elements from all internal stake holders (pricing, terms, etc.).
• Manage, coach, recognize and reward performance; develop a high performing team; establish succession within the commercial organization in partnership with HR.
• Ensure the SPLMs utilize CRM with addition of qualified new leads for sales to follow-up on in order to drive revenue growth.
• Implement and drive an internal value based selling approach through the customer engagement and account management process.
• Comply with all Company Policies including but not limited to Code of Conduct and expense reporting, etc. Adopt company values and lead by example.

Education, Experience and Skills/Training:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Engineering, or any relevant business related area is required. Advanced degree is preferred.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in marketing or product line management in B2B sales in a related industry.
• A minimum of 5 years of people management experience preferred.