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Ocean Optics

Manufactures portable spectrometers and sensing solutions

Growth Product Manager

Full-TimeUpdated on 10/23/2026
$90k - $110k
Mid
Erlanger, KY, USA
HybridHybrid; 2–3 days per week in the office. Must be commutable.
ProductProduct Management
No H1B Sponsorship

About the job

Requirements
  • Experience in Product Management, Strategic Marketing, or Application Engineering.
  • Ability to engage credibly with customers and commercial stakeholders and influence without direct authority.
  • Strong commercial and analytical skills, including a track record of building business cases and investment recommendations.
  • Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
  • A university degree or equivalent experience gained on the job.
Responsibilities
  • Lead structured Voice of Customer activity across the Americas, building deep understanding of customer applications, industry challenges, and market trends through visits, workshops, and discovery sessions.
  • Monitor market, competitor, and technology developments, turning intelligence into actionable insight for the wider business.
  • Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of validated growth opportunities, testing key assumptions with customers and the market before recommending investment.
  • Develop clear, evidence-based business cases that support confident product investment decisions, recommending new products, partnerships, services, or capabilities.
  • Support proof-of-concept and minimum viable product activity, helping shape repeatable go-to-market approaches within target segments.
  • Build and nurture trusted relationships with strategic customers, channel partners, original equipment manufacturers, end users, system integrators, and industry influencers.
  • Establish and run customer advisory groups and strategic engagement programmes, acting as the commercial bridge between customers and Fortress product strategy.
  • Feed customer and market insight into product strategy and innovation, partnering with Engineering and Innovation to test feasibility and confirm customer value.
  • Support launch planning and market adoption, then track commercial performance and feedback once new products are introduced.
  • Collaborate across Sales, Engineering, Innovation, Marketing, Operations, and Technical Support, influencing investment priorities and keeping opportunities aligned to business strategy.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with structured Voice of Customer methodologies.
  • Background in industrial automation, machine safety, or manufacturing technology, ideally with exposure to growth sectors such as warehouse automation or battery manufacturing.
  • Experience working across global markets and cross-functional teams.

About the company

Ocean Optics makes compact spectroscopy hardware and related optical sensing tools. Its flagship products are miniature, portable spectrometers used to measure light across wavelengths for scientists and engineers in fields like chemical analysis, environmental monitoring, and industrial sensing. The devices work by detecting light that passes through or reflects from a sample and translating it into a spectrum—the distribution of light by wavelength—using optical components and a small detector. The company differentiates itself with a modular approach and small, affordable spectrometers that can be integrated into custom systems or handheld devices, enabling researchers to build compact spectroscopic tools rather than relying on large, expensive lab equipment. Ocean Optics' goal is to broaden access to spectral data by providing versatile, scalable sensing solutions that allow users to deploy spectroscopy across a wide range of applications and environments.

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Dunedin, Florida

Founded

1989

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Halma reported 16.2% photonics organic profit growth on June 11, 2026.
  • Ocean Optics launched the SR2 spectrometer on July 30, 2026, with higher speed and SNR.
  • Bioz tools drove record engagement in June 2025, strengthening inbound demand and citations.

What critics are saying

  • Edmund Optics now controls a major global channel and can squeeze margins by 2027.
  • Compact spectrometers face commoditization from Avantes, Hamamatsu, and Ocean Insight’s own resellers.
  • If Halma reallocates capital toward faster-growth photonics, Ocean Optics loses strategic priority.

What makes Ocean Optics unique

  • Ocean Optics commercialized the first miniature spectrometer and still defines portable spectroscopy.
  • Halma listed Ocean Optics across six global offices on August 26, 2026.
  • The September 22, 2025 Edmund Optics deal extends reach without building a sales force.

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Benefits

  • Performance Bonus

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

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1 year growth

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Ocean Optics
Aug 12th, 2025
Ocean Optics Partners with Edmund Optics for Global Distribution

ORLANDO, Fla. - (August 14, 2025) - Ocean Optics, a pioneer in modular spectroscopy and a trusted name in optical sensing, is proud to announce a new Supplier Partner relationship with Edmund Optics.

Ocean Optics
Jun 23rd, 2025
Ocean Optics Launches Bioz Tool

To further enhance visibility and engagement, Ocean Optics has also added a Bioz Homepage Banner, ensuring that visitors immediately discover the powerful citation management capabilities available on its website.

EIN News
Sep 8th, 2023
Ocean Insight Announces Richard Curran as New President

Ocean Insight announces Richard Curran as new president.

Ocean Insight
Jun 22nd, 2023
Women in Engineering Day 2023

Ocean Insight has been named the Best Place to Work in both Central Florida and New York state.

Ocean Insight
May 3rd, 2023
Press Release: New Ocean SR series

Orlando, Florida, USA (May 4, 2023) – Ocean Optics, a brand of Ocean Insight, introduces compact, versatile Ocean SR series spectrometers distinguished by their rapid spectral acquisition speed and high signal to noise ratio (SNR) performance.