Senior Technical Specialist Product Management

The Senior Technical Specialist, Product Management translates product strategy, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and business objectives into a clear, structured, and executable definition of future products.

Working from the intended customer proposition, target customer, competitive positioning and business objectives, this role defines what the product must deliver and partners with Engineering, Design, Software, ADAS, Programs, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and other functions to translate those expectations into measurable product attributes, features, content strategies, customer experiences and product requirements.

The Senior Technical Specialist, Product Management serves as the primary owner of product intent before Program Start and the custodian of product intent throughout development, ensuring that technical decisions, feature content, design direction and trade-offs remain aligned with the approved customer proposition, competitive objectives and business case.

Role:

Product Concept Definition

Translate portfolio strategy, product strategy and business objectives into detailed vehicle, autonomy, software and mobility-product concepts.

Define target customers, customer personas, use cases, customer needs, positioning, unique selling propositions, competitive reference points and intended differentiation.

Establish the overall product proposition and ensure that individual attributes, features, technologies, and experiences collectively deliver a coherent and compelling customer experience.

Support evaluation of alternative product concepts, architectures, content strategies and customer propositions during early development.

Develop clear product-definition recommendations that balance customer value, competitive differentiation, technical feasibility, investment requirements, and business objectives.

Establish the basis for product-definition approval before program authorization.

Attribute Definition

Develop and maintain the structured hierarchy of customer requirements, product attributes, and product requirements.

Own definition of L0-L1 customer-facing product attributes and partner with Engineering to translate them into measurable technical targets and downstream engineering requirements.

Establish targets across areas including:

o Vehicle Attributes

• Performance and drivability
• Range and efficiency
• Charging experience
• Ride, handling, comfort, and refinement
• NVH and interior quietness
• Interior and exterior functionality
• Packaging and utility
• Quality and perceived quality

o Digital & Software Experience

• Digital experience and connectivity
• Software-enabled functionality
• Customer journeys and user experience
• AI-enabled features and personalization
• Over-the-air capabilities

o ADAS & Autonomy

• Driver assistance capabilities
• Automated driving functionality
• Safety-related customer experiences
• Human-machine interaction

o Commercial & Product Content

• Equipment and feature content
• Trim differentiation
• Customer-value delivery
• Other attributes required to support the intended product proposition
• Maintain traceability between customer needs, competitive targets, product attributes, product requirements, technical targets, and delivered customer experiences.
• Ensure all attribute targets remain anchored in customer value, competitive positioning, and the approved product strategy.

Feature & Content Strategy

• Define feature content required to deliver the intended customer proposition.
• Develop equipment and feature strategies using customer insight, competitive benchmarking, technology trends, cost, complexity, volume assumptions and willingness-to-pay analysis.
• Identify must-have, expected, differentiating and potentially unnecessary features.
• Define appropriate feature deployment across products, trims, options, packages, markets and lifecycle actions.
• Partner with Software, Engineering, Design, and other functions to define customer-facing functionality before technical implementation decisions are made.
• Ensure content decisions support customer value, differentiation, business-case assumptions and portfolio objectives.
• Identify opportunities to simplify content and complexity while preserving customer value.

Trim & Product Architecture

• Support definition of trim hierarchy, equipment walk, package strategy, optional content and product differentiation.
• Ensure every trim level has a clear customer rationale, value proposition, commercial role and competitive position.
• Partner with Pricing, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing and Supply Chain to optimize lineup structure and product architecture.
• Balance customer choice, differentiation, and pricing power against manufacturing complexity, investment requirements, operational feasibility and lifecycle cost.
• Support development of market-specific and region-specific content strategies when required.

Competitive Target Setting

• Translate Market & Competitive Intelligence findings into actionable product targets and requirements.
• Establish competitive reference products and target positions for major product attributes, technologies, features and customer experiences.
• Determine where the product should lead, match or intentionally take a different competitive position.
• Ensure competitive targets reflect expected market conditions, customer expectations and competitor capabilities at launch rather than current market conditions.
• Maintain alignment between competitive targets, customer needs, and product investment levels.
• Continuously reassess targets as competitive conditions evolve throughout development.

Product Trade-Off Management

• Evaluate proposed changes to attributes, features, specifications, software functionality and content against the approved product proposition.
• Quantify and communicate customer impact, competitive implications, business impact and product-definition risk associated with cost, timing, technical, supply-chain and complexity trade-offs.
• Develop recommendations when customer value, technical feasibility, cost, investment, quality, timing and manufacturing objectives conflict.
• Lead cross-functional product trade-off discussions and establish recommendation paths for unresolved decisions.
• Escalate material deviations from approved product intent and propose alternative solutions.
• Ensure localized optimization does not undermine the overall customer experience or intended market position.
• Maintain clear decision rationale and documentation supporting major trade-off decisions.

Product Definition Documentation & Governance

• Own and maintain the authoritative product-definition documentation throughout the product-definition and development lifecycle.
• Establish clear traceability from Customer Need → Customer Proposition → Product Strategy → L0/L1 Attribute → Product Requirement → Technical Target → Delivered Product
• Maintain assumptions, competitive references, decisions, customer-value rationale and business-case rationale behind major product requirements.
• Ensure product-definition changes are documented, evaluated and approved through appropriate governance processes.
• Establish product-definition standards, templates, processes and review mechanisms.
• Assess the impact of proposed changes on customer value, competitive positioning, cost, investment, complexity, and program objectives.
• Support major program milestones, executive reviews, investment reviews and product authorization decisions with clear status against approved product intent.
• Serve as the source of truth for approved product-definition content.

Cost, Investment & Feasibility Integration

• Partner with Finance, Cost Engineering, VAVE, Manufacturing, Advanced Engineering and Product Management to ensure product targets are achievable within approved business-case assumptions.
• Evaluate customer-value trade-offs against cost, investment, complexity and timing implications.
• Support feature prioritization and product-content decisions using value-versus-cost analysis.
• Ensure product-definition recommendations consider customer desirability, technical feasibility, and business viability simultaneously.
• Identify areas where the intended customer proposition may exceed approved investment, cost, or timing constraints and recommend corrective actions.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Vehicle Engineering, Advanced Engineering, Design, Software, ADAS, Programs, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing and Customer Research.
• Facilitate product-definition workshops, target-setting activities and cross-functional trade-off discussions.
• Translate between customer, business and engineering perspectives.
• Build alignment around product priorities, product intent and customer outcomes.
• Constructively challenge assumptions, requirements or solutions that do not deliver sufficient customer value or competitive advantage.
• Influence decisions without relying on direct organizational authority.
• Help maintain alignment between product strategy, engineering execution and business-case objectives.

Key Interfaces

Product Management, Market & Competitive Intelligence, Vehicle Engineering, Advanced Engineering, Design, Software, ADAS, Vehicle Programs, Finance, Cost Engineering, VAVE, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, Customer Research.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Product Management, Design, Economics or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in automotive product planning, product management, vehicle engineering, vehicle programs, strategy, systems engineering or related disciplines.
• Experience defining or developing vehicles, vehicle systems, software-enabled products or other complex customer-facing products.
• Strong understanding of vehicle attributes and the relationship between customer requirements, competitive positioning and engineering targets.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex product trade-offs involving customer value, technology, cost, investment, timing, quality and feasibility.
• Experience working across both technical and commercial organizations.
• Strong analytical, structured problem-solving, product-definition and requirements-management capabilities.
• Experience developing product requirements, feature strategies, product roadmaps or customer-facing product definitions.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Excellent written, verbal and executive communication skills.

Preferred:

• Experience with EVs, software-defined vehicles, connected services, ADAS or autonomous technologies.
• Experience with product benchmarking, customer research, feature-value analysis or competitive target setting.
• Experience supporting executive product reviews or major investment decisions.
• Familiarity with systems-engineering and requirements-management methodologies.

Success Profile

Senior Technical Specialist, Product Management should be able to take a statement such as: “We want to build the most compelling premium EV in this segment for this customer at this price point.” and systematically convert it into: who the customer is → what they value → why they will choose the product → what experience the product must deliver → which attributes create that experience → which features enable those attributes → what measurable targets must be achieved → what product definition enters development.

· Success in this role is not measured by the number of requirements created. It is measured by whether:

• Product strategy is translated into a clear, executable product definition.
• Engineering teams receive an unambiguous understanding of intended customer outcomes.
• Product trade-offs preserve customer value and competitive positioning.
• Product-definition decisions remain aligned with business-case assumptions.
• Future products enter development with a coherent, differentiated and achievable customer proposition.
• The delivered product matches the experience originally intended for the target customer.

The role therefore sits at the critical interface between product strategy and engineering execution, ensuring that the organization consistently builds the right product before focusing on how to build it.