Sr. Product Manager, Insulation

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Owens Corning® (OC) Foamular® business is in a period of unprecedented growth.

The OC Senior Product Leader, XPS has overall responsibility to lead the development and commercialization of new products , drive top- and bottom-line growth in new segments and applications and increase the profitability of the existing product portfolio (including a broad Accessories portfolio). This individual will exhibit strategic thought leadership and initiative to proactively identify and move forward market growth opportunities, while being recognized as a product knowledge expert in providing market-facing partnership for our customers/stakeholders up and down the value chain.

The role and its team will focus on ensuring that our product line continues to be the best performing, most innovative and easiest to sell in the market. The incumbent will be responsible for performing the analytics, defining the needs of the customer, and leveraging product technology and market trends to drive business results. In partnership with Channel Marketing, Insights, S&T and Sales, this role will continuously build insights and knowledge of our products to provide differential value to our customers, their businesses, and key influencers. This person will be responsible for leading the product and segment vision, strategy, and roadmap, ensuring alignment with business goals and customer needs. This requires a deep understanding of the value chain, customer needs, and opportunities in the market and translating these insights into actionable strategies and roadmaps across a multitude of market segments and applications.
 

Reports to:  Strategic Marketing Director, XPS

Span of Control: 

• Leads a team of two individual contributors.
• High level of Horizontal Leadership with Channel Marketing, Technical Marketing, Manufacturing, Sales, Science & Technology, Customer Service, Supply Chain, Pricing and Finance.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Provide Strategic Product Leadership for XPS and XPS Accessories

• Own the Product Line Strategy and manage products throughout the product lifecycle, gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, conducting Voice of the Customer (VOC) research, defining the product vision, making sure products meet customer fitness for use (FFU), and understanding which levers to pull to maximize profitability through the sales cycle and monetize new opportunities.
• Responsible to lead commercialization of new products and systems. Ensures stage-gated project deliverables are completed, including product stewardship and business specific requirements
• Work cross-functionally to develop and align a multi-phase innovation portfolio that ensures the long-term leadership and profitability of the product portfolio
• Develop an in depth understanding of how we create unique value across each specific customer type and key applications
• Partnership with Sales as an integral member of the Key Account Management Core Team, tasked with growing share of wallet for ~60 key accounts through value creation projects and activities.
• Knowledge of key influencers across the market segments in which we play, including architects/specifiers, contractors and builders
  • Shared responsibility with XPS Channel Marketing to build a valuable and repeatable process to gain insights and dramatically extend our influence/value delivery with Builders and Contractors as they continue to emerge as key stakeholders in the XPS growth initiatives
• Specify market requirements for current and future products by conducting market research supported by on-going visits to our sales teams, our customers, and other key stakeholders (ie, our customers’ customers and influencers like architects and specifiers)
• Prepare and present market opportunities that accurately forecast revenue and profitability as well as costs/resource needs to execute
• Work with partner organizations, identify and gather critical data to deliver insights, maximize resources, and manage risk
• Recommend appropriate courses of action, clearly stating assumptions and risks
• Monitor market needs and requirements, considering future technologies, codes and standards, competitor products/services and regulatory issues to develop and implement innovative customer solutions for existing and new products

• Continually makes choices on where to focus and where not to focus based on segmentation, profitability, and current and future customer needs.
• Perform mix/SKU rationalization and determine which products remain relevant and if there are any products that should be retired.

Project & Category Leadership

• Create and execute a plan of work to deliver projects according to strict deadlines and within budget; includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of team members to deliver projects according to plan
• Define the project’s objectives and oversee quality control throughout its life cycle
• Understand and analyze industry and market trends, the value chain and how OC makes money, and competitive landscape to inform the product development roadmap.
• Assess buying patterns and market trends by focusing on the entire product category
• Develop features and benefits to support the product hierarchy; refine the value proposition of products in the category to extract value and conduct/oversee annual product rationalization and simplification
• Ensure the delivery of the strategy (including financial outcomes) through the organization, operating model and management systems.
• Identify issues and work through cross-functional teams to drive resolution.
• Define and track key performance metrics to measure product success and inform future improvements.

Commercialization

• Develop a product and technology roadmap that supports the overarching strategy, prioritizing initiatives based on business value and customer impact.
• Partner with the OC Sales, Marketing and Pricing teams to develop commercialization, pricing, and promotional strategies to effectively launch new and improved products, including defining product positioning and messaging to highlight benefits and value to establish a competitive advantage in the market with all customer channels.
• Work with Pricing to determine value-based pricing opportunities for new product/system offerings
• Lead the communication with Sales and other key stakeholders.

Leading Across the OC business(es)

• Lead cross-functional teams by effectively utilizing each team member to the fullest potential to ensure project goals/milestones are met.
• Engage, motivate, and coach peers and team members across the marketing organization and in other functional areas to deliver results.
• Is regarded by employees of Owens Corning as a role model for their growth and development.
• Communicate business strategy and performance to external constituents (customers, industry) effectively and engages them in the vision of the business.  
• Provide clear, timely communications to all stakeholders regarding product changes, packaging changes, new products, etc. This includes providing product training for customers and the sales team.

Talent Growth and Development

• Accountable for people Leadership of the Product and Technical team; provide coaching and guidance for each member of the team that relates to their own yearly objectives and growth opportunities
• Lead and influence across the organization, creating shared goals and driving toward outcomes.
• Creates teamwork across functions to maximize the performance of OC and serves as a role model for growth and development.
• Daily support to the team members by addressing escalated items, removing barriers and being accountable for the deliverables of the team
• Optimizes productivity of team by implementing and leading continuous improvement initiatives and processes, standardizing work, and establishing a scorecard (or metrics) to communicate performance / statuses at team huddles on a regular basis
• Support the development of training and skill development programs to enroll other Marketing and OC talent in Marketing skill growth and development
• Position talent for maximum impact on results and career growth and development, provide new opportunities and growth areas
• Experience leading cross-functional teams.  Aptitude to build strategic and execution-focused plans

JOB REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree; MBA is preferred
• 5+ years working in marketing or strategic consulting with direct, customer-facing experience
• Product or category management experience with consumer product or consumer durable business, preferably within the building products industry, including:
  • Developing and marketing new products and services; attracting new customers
  • Gaining customer, market, and competitive insight
  • Demonstrated quantitative capabilities, including financial, statistical, and predictive modeling
  • Increasing margins through management of mix, cost, and price
• People leadership experience
• Successfully executing full product / service management including positioning, pricing strategy, margin management, investments, and channel management.
• P&L management experience
• Proven ability to influence internal teams (e.g., sales) to act and achieve goals
• Flexibility to travel up to 30% of time

EXPERIENCE:

• Segmentation and defining strategic brand/product targets
• Collaboration with top customers to develop mutually beneficial growth plans
• Development of successful internal and external relationships
• Project management and change management
• Operating across geographic and cultural boundaries
• Delivering rapid improvement in an organization
• Participating in the development of strategic plans
• Demonstrated ability to consistently meet or beat high bar targets and deadlines
• Development of successful relationships with suppliers and co-marketing partners

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Embodies a Growth Mindset: Embraces curiosity and pursues feedback to guide growth. Has an insatiable desire to learn and grow. Openly explores future possibilities and willing to take measured risks.
• Strategic Thinking: Leverages market-back thinking to make Choices to Win to drive organic growth and superior profitability. Ability to clearly articulate a future vision though analyzing external perspectives and trends and connecting the dots to anticipate future needs and challenges. 
• Storytelling & Influence: Builds strong relationships and establishes credibility with business partners. Organizes information in a simple way that resonates with your audience and moves them towards a desired outcome.
• Works Horizontally: Coordinates across the business and various functions to drive success. Builds strong relationships across the organization and understands each person’s role in their success.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Define and achieve goals by successfully creating alignment, engagement and allegiance with commercial leaders, technical leaders, and other key stakeholders. Acts as an integrator across the organization.
• Value Proposition Development: Ability to link customer needs and how OC gets paid for it. Communicates product claims and their worth.
• Technical Aptitude: Strong understanding of the products, their attributes and technical aspects, and manufacturing process. 
• Develops High Performing Teams: Enhance the skills and capabilities of those around you through coaching and teaching, whether directly reporting to you or not. Identifies the capabilities we need to win today and in the future and continuously develops towards them.
• Business and Financial Acumen: Understands and applies knowledge of the market, business strategies/priorities, and financials to make decisions. Ability to develop strong business cases that include profitability metrics. Exhibit ability to analyze data to drive strategic decisions.
• Accountability and Grit: Breaks through barriers and obstacles with optimism, determination and resilience. Exhibits stamina and endurance when competitively driving results and conveys a sense of urgency. Addresses and drives teams to resolve issues.
• Foundational Marketing Knowledge: Demonstrated use of marketing principles including segmentation, targeting, and positioning to improve financial results
• New Product Management: Demonstrated new product pipeline management including ideation, business case validation, development, and commercialization
• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to structure executive communications

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