Director, Speaker Product

A Career at HARMAN Automotive

Were a global multi-disciplinary team thats putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. At HARMAN Automotive we give you the keys to fast-track your career.

• Engineer audio systems and integrated technology platforms that augment the driving experience
• Combine ingenuity in-depth research and a spirit of collaboration with design and engineering excellence
• Advance in-vehicle infotainment safety efficiency and enjoyment

About the Role

As the Speaker Product Business Lead you will translate global speaker strategy into executable industrial and supply solutions leveraging China as a speed and scale advantage. This is a Directorlevel leadership role responsible for driving strategic speaker initiatives and platforms across the full product lifecycle from benchmarking and RFQ strategy through industrialization and SOP. You will lead a crossfunctional engineering team and work closely with suppliers and global stakeholders to accelerate execution enable standardization and improve supply this role you will report directly to the global speaker leadership.

What You Will Do

• Define and own the speaker product strategy including market segmentation product positioning platform architecture and feature prioritization ensuring a global aligned portfolio strategy while capturing China-specific OEM and consumer requirements.
• Lead systematic voice-of-customer and market intelligence processes engaging directly with OEM product planning audio engineering and purchasing stakeholders to surface unmet needs competitive gaps and timing requirements that inform product investment decisions.
• Own Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) for China-executed speaker programs ensuring requirements are technically grounded commercially justified and program-ready.
• Own competitive benchmarking for the speaker portfolio tracking competitor capabilities cost structures and OEM preferences and translate findings into actionable product positioning feature trade-offs and platform investment priorities.
• Define and maintain the speaker product roadmap sequencing platform development feature releases and industrialization milestones to meet OEM program timelines and long-term portfolio objectives.

• Own revenue and margin targets for the speaker product portfolio with direct accountability for performance against annual operating plan objectives.
• Define the business case and commercial framing for speaker platform investments including manufaturing and supplier analysis cost-performance trade-off decisions and pricing strategy input ensuring product decisions are grounded in both technical feasibility and market economics.
• Lead RFQ strategy for China-executed speaker programs ensuring HARMANs product positioning cost competitiveness and delivery credibility are optimized for program nomination and award.
• Track and report portfolio commercial performance leading corrective action when revenue margin cost or adoption trends deviate from plan.
• Provide investment recommendations to Global speaker and SBU leadership with clear ROI framing risk assessment and strategic rationale.

• Lead cross-functional alignment across Engineering Procurement AME Quality and Manufacturing driving prioritization decisions resolving trade-offs between cost performance and time-to-market and holding teams accountable to product and program commitments.
• Define and own the standards reference architectures and product development best practices for speaker solutions driving adoption across engineering and supplier teams and measuring impact through platform reuse rates and time-to-quote reduction.
• Partner with global Engineering Platform and Brand PM teams to ensure China-developed speaker platforms are positioned for global reuse where applicable and that global architectural standards are implemented effectively in China programs.
• Manage external speaker suppliers with accountability for performance technology roadmap alignment quality and cost elevating supplier capability as a strategic asset for HARMANs China execution speed.

• Lead develop and build capability within the Suzhou-based product and engineering team establishing clear expectations fostering product management discipline and creating a high-performance culture focused on speed quality and customer outcomes.
• Cultivate a team environment that balances execution excellence with strategic thinking ensuring team members grow in their ability to connect technical decisions to business and market outcomes.
• Build organizational capability in core PM disciplines requirements definition roadmap management commercial reasoning and cross-functional influence establishing product management as the driving force behind China speaker business performance.

What You Need to Be Successful

• Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering Mechanical Engineering Acoustics or related field.
• 10 years of experience in automotive or electromechanical hardware environments with demonstrated responsibility for product execution industrial readiness or platform strategy.
• Demonstrable knowledge of speaker technologies materials benchmarking methods and manufacturing processes with the ability to translate technical decisions into business outcomes.
• Proficiency in leading crossfunctional teams driving execution across engineering procurement manufacturing and suppliers and making informed tradeoffs between cost performance and timetomarket.
• Wellversed in endtoend product lifecycle execution from early benchmarking and RFQ preparation through SOP and ongoing optimization in highspeed development environments.

Bonus Points if You Have

• A thorough understanding of speaker product development industrialization and supply chain execution including cost manufacturability and speed considerations.
• An advanced degree such as a Masters in Engineering or an MBA / businessfocused graduate degree supporting a strong technicalbusiness leadership profile.
• Professional certifications or formal training related to lean manufacturing Six Sigma project management or product development methodologies.
• Demonstrated global experience including collaboration with engineering manufacturing and supply teams across multiple regions and cultures.
• Working knowledge of automotive product development requirements supplier qualification processes and industrialization procedures.
• Experience working with product data and lifecycle systems (e.g. PLM PDM or related engineering and manufacturing execution tools).

What Makes You Eligible

• You have a working knowledge of English.
• You are willing to travel if necessary.
• Due to the nature of global infrastructure you understand that flexibility in working hours is required.
• You can obtain a government security clearance; You are eligible to work in China.

What We Offer

• Flexible work environment allowing for hybrid work one day per week for positions that can be performed outside a HARMAN or customer location.
• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman (JBL HARMAN Kardon AKG etc.).
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University.
• Competitive wellness benefits.
• Access to HARMAN Campus Fitness Center and Cafeteria.
• Be Brilliant employee recognition and rewards program.
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development.

HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace religion color national origin gender (including pregnancy childbirth or related medical conditions) sexual orientation gender identity gender expression age status as a protected veteran status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics.