Description

The Role: The Product Manager, Residential Water Metrology will be focused on managing, developing, and executing the business strategy that will meet the North American (NA) water residential metrology vertical objectives and how our product offerings enable this.  These objectives and goals will be developed within the vertical, and in coordination with Vertical Marketing, but will also overlay with the larger Xylem “Let’s Solve Water” end-to-end go to market strategy.  The Product Manager, Residential Water Metrology is responsible for managing, developing and driving profitable business growth, by being a part of an integrated team of product managers to perform full lifecycle management over the suite of North American residential metrology portfolio, as well as new product development through the XPD process.  In order to successfully develop and execute the NA Water Residential Metrology Product Management strategy, he/she will have a deep understanding of NA market dynamics & residential water metrology technologies, with particular expertise in residential static metrology, and will constantly strive to enhance our overall strategic positioning within the market and the strategic fit of our product offerings in order to maximize our differentiation and competitive advantage.  Additionally, she/he will be responsible for making the tradeoffs necessary within the product lines and champion the business cases needed to identify the investment required.  Further, he/she will be a champion of understanding and implementing Voice of the Customer, and will partner closely will R&D, Program Management, Operations, and others, to translate customer needs into development requirements that drive profitable business growth.  Finally, she/he will partner closely with both sales and marketing communication to develop training and marketing materials, and successfully lead our go to market strategies.

Essential Functions:

Product Strategy

• Assists in the development of product roadmap(s) covering positioning and value proposition for NA residential metrology product lines, to serve as input into product development resource allocation, business development, and communications
• Manages the execution of the multi-year roadmap for the NA water residential metrology product lines including; new product development, value improvements, product introductions, ongoing marketing, product support and service
• Collaborate effectively with Vertical Marketing team to develop local launch plans that will empower sales (product launches, application areas, product brand thought leadership)
• Assigns and take ownership of the XPD process by actively driving and participating in the tollgate process: by developing the business case, PAR, product specification etc. with the understanding of customer and market needs
• Understands and specifies market requirements and market and technology trends for current and future products by conducting product related market research supported by Voice of Customer received through on-going visits to customers and other stakeholders
• Framing the vertical offer, in a collaborative way with key stakeholders, by packaging the product, solutions and services e.g. developing offer per application and framing applicable value proposition per vertical
• Monitors competition with respect to market performance, product portfolio and product performance
• Maintains competitive mapping of strengths and weaknesses of major competitors and understands their “go to market” strategy

Sales and Profitability

• Develops strategic plan for products, pricing, and offerings to achieve long term revenue and margin targets
• Understanding and providing data for the S&OP forecast, ownership of global product sales and margin plan. If targets are not met, executes on the countermeasures
• Collaborates with local Sales and Marketing teams to understand rationale behind wins and losses and market trends; Carefully follows up sales, orders and standard margin with the aim to reach targets, if not identify and drive actions to close the gap
• Provide strategic pricing guidelines across markets and within the overall vertical, including Price Lists, as well as specific product/segment-focused efforts

Lifecycle Management

• Manage the product life cycle (launch to end-of-life) strategy and execution including identifying “sweet spot” applications in the market verticals by ensuring competitiveness of products (costs, features, price) by developing relevant business cases for decision making
• Manage the entire product life cycle through phase-out, all while keeping the product line competitive
• Having a broad understanding of the competitors in the industry on a high-level financial level as well as product offering
• Drive and execute product launches according to the product marketing launch process in close collaboration with the Vertical Marketing, Commercial Teams and Communications. Being responsible for resource allocation, keeping the timeline, and all preparation to do a proper launch in time e.g. strategic pricing, product availability, training material and plan, information in product selection and configuration programs, communications material etc.
• Identify and execute value engineering opportunities to make sure optimization of the product lines.

Guardianship & Support

• Be a thought leader in the water industry, with particular expertise in smart metering
• Participates in technical meetings, conferences, workshops, industry days, trade shows and association events
• Active participation in the development of sales tools and ensure its product data is updated.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering or Business from an accredited institution, or equivalent
• A higher degree in Business Administration is preferred. Master’s degree in Business Administration is desirable
• Deep understand of water metrology technology, particularly static metrology, and the ways to ensure and enhance technological differentiation both today and tomorrow
• A minimum of 7 years previous experience in product management; prior experience with a NA based metering company highly preferred
• Demonstrate excellent computer, communication, presentation, management and analytical skills.  Be able to resolve difficult technical and business issues.  Be a self-starter with high motivation to achieve goals
• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and problem-solving skills in order to effectively work with customers, business partners, staff and management from a variety of skill levels as well as different authority levels
• Ability to understand technical issues and understand impact on projects, and effectively communicate these issues and impact to direct reports as well as other project stakeholders
• Flexibility in terms of dealing with changing priorities and dealing with multiple projects simultaneously
• The ability to have fun

Desired Job Qualifications skills:

• Experience developing products for the utility industry, specifically experience developing water meters and battery powered communication products