Product Line Manager, Automotive Replacement

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Input & Leadership

• Cultivate a deep understanding of the India, Automotive Replacement market & consolidate insights for integration into global product line strategies, regional commercial strategies, & overall commercial success & leadership in the market. Includes tracking market trends, indices, & participating in industry organizations.
• Maintain a view of the Indian competitive landscape, identifying key players, creating competitive profiles, & enabling competitive benchmarking assessments.
• Drive the progress of new production adoption & product line initiative KPIs & ensuring seamless integration into the commercial plans - including tracking actual performance against targets.
• Provide thoughtful input into the product roadmap based on market & application-driven needs & opportunities. Outline New Product Development projects with a clear scope & opportunity overview.
• Champion approved VAVE projects to completion, driving cost & productivity savings for the product line - including supporting the validation of the savings realization.
• Drive sourcing decisions by closely working with the sourcing team to establish the right external partners

Supporting Operational Excellence & Driving Customer Satisfaction

• Contribute to demand planning by translating market indices & industry reports into projected business implications on end market performance.
• Evaluates, adjusts, & aligns cell-level Demand &Supply plans based on commercial initiatives, market conditions, & financial commitments.
• Identify, rationalize, optimize, & execute inter-company sourcing - balancing P&L, service level, & Working Capital considerations.
• Resolve critical service level & quality issues that impact customer satisfaction & financial performance.
• Manage & address Excess & Obsolete (E&O) inventory.
• Provide valuable insights into capacity requirements & documentation. Lead select CapEx investment justification & implementations.

Drive Commercial Success & Growth

• Deliver engaging field sales training on products, application criteria, & creating compelling value in the market.
• Collaborate with Sales & Operations Planning, Customer Experience, & Operations to resolve backlog situations, ensuring the achievement of financial & other operating metrics.
• Capture VOC through active participation in customer meetings, Distributor Advisory Council meetings, industry events, &engagement with field sales while engaging as a subject matter expert in customer & distributor meetings.
• Support the evaluation of high value or strategic quote packages in terms of pricing & scenario planning around market conflicts.
• Lead the product line specific price increase evaluation & recommendations associated with inflation, 80/20 pricing action implementation, or targeted pricing actions - aligning with & with the support of the pricing team meeting overall objectives.
• Execute the pricing & positioning strategy for New Product introductions for commercialization.
• Lead catalog creation as per market needs.
• Provide support for vertical market research, content creation, target identification, training & market insights for marketing campaigns.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams for local trade shows, industry associations, & standards bodies participation.

Keys to Success

• Requires in-depth knowledge and experience
• Requires conceptual and practical expertise in own area and general knowledge of related areas
• Has knowledge of best practices and how own area integrates with others; is aware of the competition and the factors that differentiate the company in the market

Requirements and Preferred Skills

• • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Engineering Technology, Business or Marketing from an accredited institution required.
  • Minimum of 5 years of product management or other relevant experience, preferably in an Automotive Aftermarket environment.
  • Exceptional interpersonal and leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and influence across multiple levels within the company and locations.
  • Strategic mindset and strong sense of business acumen.
  • Independent, self-motivated, and proactive approach to work.
  • Highly organised, detail oriented, disciplined and possessing the highest level of integrity.
  • Extensive experience with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
  • Ability to consolidate complex data sets and manipulate into clear summaries.
  • Ability to travel up to 30% of the time and occasionally accommodate working outside of regular office hours.
  • Self-motivated and a Team player
  • Must be legally authorized to work in India