Adhesives Product Manager

As the largest pureplay adhesives company in the world, H.B. Fuller’s (NYSE: FUL) innovative, functional coatings, adhesives and sealants enhance the quality, safety and performance of products people use every day. Founded in 1887, with 2024 revenue of $3.6 billion, our mission to Connect What Matters is brought to life by more than 7,500 global team members who collaborate with customers across more than 30 market segments in over 140 countries to develop highly specified solutions that enable customers to bring world-changing innovations to their end markets. Learn more at www.hbfuller.com.

The Product Manager – Aerospace acts as a strategic Market Product Manager and the key liaison between market and customer needs, commercial sales, product management, marketing communications, and technology research and development. This Product Manager leads and delivers strategic technology and platform level direction through market research and analysis providing product roadmaps for new and existing Engineering Adhesives product lines. They are responsible for managing the strategic product line development and implementation of tactical activities to grow H.B. Fuller’s position in the aerospace segment and developing, implementing, maintaining and executing Product Management processes designed to efficiently transfer market, technical, competitive and IP knowledge to the businesses. 

The Product Manager defines and communicates the overall product strategy based on market research, customer needs, and business goals. They identify target market segments, set product positioning, and establish pricing guidance based on factors such as manufacturing costs, market demand, and competitive positioning. The Product Manager conducts market research and competitor analysis to identify opportunities and threats to the current product portfolio. They identify strengths and weaknesses in the market and recommend strategies to maintain or improve the company's competitive position, and based on market analysis and business priorities, the Product Manager creates product roadmaps that outline the features, enhancements, and innovations to be incorporated into the adhesive product portfolio over time. The Product Manager works with R&D team to translate customer needs and market insights into product features. They develop and maintain current product position maps and a high-level evolution of a product line over time and collaborate with sales and marketing teams to develop go-to-market strategies, provide product training, and support sales efforts, they also ensure that the product's value proposition is clearly communicated to customers.

The Product Manager oversees the entire product lifecycle, from introduction to retirement. They make strategic decisions regarding product creation, changes, and discontinuations based on market demand, profitability, and strategic goals. They collaborate with cross-functional teams, including engineers and chemists to develop new adhesive products or improve existing ones. This position interfaces with internal and external stakeholders, including the Global Engineering Adhesives Product Management team, Engineering Adhesives Leadership Team (EALT), Group Commercial Business leaders, Technology Directors, Finance Partners, Human Resource leadership, key customers, distributors, and 3rd party organizations.

The role is accountable for the overall success or failure of the products and product lines. This not only includes envisioning how our products will be successful today but how they will continue to grow revenue, profitability, and market share over time. They are also responsible for implementing the Engineering Adhesives Product Management processes to be faster to market than competition, deliver higher product success rates and deliver clarity to decision making about market opportunities.

Primary Responsibilities

• Acts as a General Manager of the global Aerospace product line.

• Leads strategy and operations for product and project management within the global Aerospace product management and marketing team.

• Develops platform level road maps to improve the company’s capability to address customer problems and unmet needs.

• Implements product value added and pricing excellence, working closely with Finance.

• Gathers customer and market requirements for platform level development in conjunction with region and global organization. Uses this information to create customer centric platform requirements to be used as the base for product development by Research & Development.

• Ensures appropriate collaboration with R&D teams to develop, monitor and recommend adjustments to the product line based on market conditions and trends.

• Drives short- and long-term growth and profitability plans for the Aerospace business, focusing on sustainable EBITDA improvement.

• Acts as a liaison with Commercial Sales, Operations and R&D teams providing feedback about current and future customer needs.

• Defines and supports the execution of product positioning and marketing strategies, including value propositions and content distribution.

• Manages the product portfolio life cycles, along with product line management, including development, validation, readiness, launch and execution activities in support of the business strategy.

• Where applicable, supports and manages market research, business development, and platform projects, ensuring successful commercialization. Represents the company as an industry thought leader and maintains strong customer relationships.

Minimum Requirements

• BA in Science, Engineering, Chemistry, Business, or related degree

• 10+ years’ experience and application knowledge in the Aerospace manufacturing industry

• Knowledge of the Aerospace adhesives market

• Strong understanding of product line impact on P&L and balance sheet profitability

• Expertise in strategic planning and execution

• Strong business acumen, aligning operational activities with strategic goals

• Skilled in presenting objective, data-driven insights to influence decisions

• Ability to make good decisions in complex, highly strategic situations in order to drive profitable growth in the platform while balancing limited resources across the company

• Ability to work on complex problems where analysis of situations or data requires an evaluation of intangible variance factors

• Must clearly demonstrate superior communication, interpersonal, influencing and presentation skills, with the ability to interact with key decision makers at all levels at both customers and internal management including executive levels

• Demonstrated ability to quickly prioritize and operate in a flexible, fluid environment, and have a strong desire to learn new skills and business functions

• Demonstrated customer relationship management skills and ability to collaborate effectively with various functional groups and cross-culturally

• Ability to travel up to 30% domestically and internationally

Preferred Requirements

• MBA

• Expertise in Excel, BI, SAP, Salesforce, and pricing tools

• Advanced data management skills

• Experience in market research, industry trend monitoring, and project management

This position is not eligible for work visa sponsorship. Applicants must have U.S. work authorization that does not now or in the future require H.B. Fuller sponsorship of a work visa to work for H.B. Fuller.

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, and geographic location.

The salary for this role is $132,000 - $199,000.

In addition to your salary, H.B. Fuller offers employees a competitive total rewards package including comprehensive benefits, incentive and recognitions programs, health & wellness benefits, 401K contributions, paid time off and paid holidays. Eligibility may vary.

H.B. Fuller is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and proud to have created a collaborative culture where employees around the world are seen, heard, and respected. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, or marital status or status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected classification.

H.B. Fuller does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or staffing firms. To conduct business with H.B. Fuller, a written service agreement must be executed by Human Resources prior to submitting any information relating to a potential candidate. Without a signed service agreement, H.B. Fuller shall not be obligated for payment of any fee or compensation.