Associate Director Collar Product Manager

Job Description

About Technology Solutions

Our companys Animal Health Technology Solutions offers global animal identification and monitoring solutions for companion animals and livestock. These solutions enable pet owners to better manage the health and well-being of their pets and enable livestock producers to improve well-being and animal production. Technology Solutions include Core Technologies in Livestock Identification Dairy Beef and Swine monitoring for which the product/market fit is established as well as products in discovery.

Our Technology Solutions division is evolving. We are moving to a Product Operating Model a new way of working that empowers product teams to take full ownership and accountability for delivering customer and business value in ways our customers love and that work for the business.

Our product teams are cross-functional and durable bringing together all the skills required to deliver impactful outcomes. Each team includes a Product Manager Technology Lead Product Designer Delivery Lead engineers and developers.

We believe in customer centricity ownership and accountability. Solutions must be:

Valuable customers choose to buy or use them

Viable aligned with business constraints and goals

Usable intuitive and user-friendly

Feasible achievable with our technical capabilities

Leadership of the team is shared between the Product Manager and the Technology Lead ensuring balanced guidance that bridges product vision and technical execution.

Product Management Role

As the Vence Collar Product Manager you will be a key driver of value and viability within the product team. You will define product strategy lead continuous customer discovery partner with engineering and manufacturing through NPI stages and coordinate go-to-market and post-sales activities with commercial teams. This role requires technical fluency in hardware and connected-device ecosystems strong cross-functional collaboration and a focus on measurable customer and business outcomes.

You are expected to cultivate:

A solid understanding of business constraints (e.g. marketing sales customer success finance legal privacy)

Deep knowledge of our users and customers supported by data on how they engage with our products

Awareness of industry trends and the competitive landscape relevant to your product

Leadership is shared with the Collar Technology Lead and you will both work with the Product Designer and engineers fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration. While each team member may be accountable for a specific risk area you are expected to embrace collective accountability ensuring the team delivers results in that matter.

We are looking for product managers who:

Thrive on customer centricity ownership and accountability

Are comfortable signing up for measurable results even when success depends on working through others

Use data and logic to influence teammates stakeholders and executives

Believe that innovation comes from the ideas and passion of the whole team

Key Responsibilities

Product Ownership & Strategy

Own and manage the Vence collar together with collar Tech Leadthroughout its entire product lifecycle

Define the overall collar vision and strategy with a keen focus on value business outcome and user experience

Work with Vence Product Manager to create high-level market valuations compelling value propositions and business cases for new product concepts and capabilities

Identify unmet customer needs and market opportunities to inform new product development

Customer & Market Insight

Lead customer discovery problem definition value hypothesis generation and product experiments focused on market outcomes.

Work with the Collar Technology Lead to design and run technical prototypes and feasibility experiments that validate implementation approaches

Develop and execute customer insight strategies through e.g. surveys farm visits and customer advisory boards to capture feedback and validate direction

Build strong relationships with customers field teams and commercial stakeholders to capture real-world use cases pain points and adoption barriers.

Translate customer needs into a prioritized backlog and outcomes based roadmap

Monitor industry trends emerging technologies (including animal health monitoring) and the competitive landscape to inform strategy and continuous improvement

Collaboration & Cross-Functional Leadership

Connect collar product team directly with customers to facilitate open communication and alignment

Work with commercial teams to ideate new solutions validate value propositions and ensure alignment with customer needs

Partner cross-functionally with the product team (Tech Lead marketing sales and customer success) to ensure end-to-end delivery and adoption

Collaborate closely with the Collar Technology Lead Product Designer and engineers to discover validate and deliver effective solutions

Lead adoption retention and growth of the product by leveraging marketing customer success and market activation capabilities while engaging commercial teams across regions and markets on the product value proposition

Act as the product advocate for external partners and customers during discovery validation and launch activities.

Go-to-Market & Commercialization

Drive release planning manufacturing go-to-market execution and ongoing product support in partnership with cross-functional teams

In partnership with the Collar Tech Lead engage supply chain and manufacturing teams to decide the most appropriately efficient way to bring products to market

Engage commercial teams across regions and markets to drive understanding and adoption of the products value proposition

Establish customer success frameworks and support models to ensure optimal product adoption and satisfaction

Work with Marketing on gotomarket messaging pricing inputs sales enablement launch readiness and customer-facing commitments. Coordinate with the Collar Technology Lead on technical onboarding materials and field escalation processes.

Performance & Accountability

Own unit economics and cost targets for the collar tracking performance against agreed financial and product metrics.

Create maintain and continuously prioritize the product backlog to maximize value delivery and long-term sustainability

Define and regularly calibrate product metrics to track success and progress against objectives

Conduct business reviews and monitor industry trends and competitive dynamics to inform product strategy

Champion a culture of innovation accountability and continuous improvement within the product team

Bachelors degree in Business Engineering or related area of study.

10 years overall relevant work experience with at least 5 years experience in product management of hardware or IoT products with enough technical grounding to engage credibly with engineering teams and make informed trade-off decisions on reliability cost and performance.

Demonstrated experience working in a product operating model comfortable with continuous discovery outcome-based planning and working in empowered cross-functional teams accountable for customer and business outcomes.

Ability to learn and work across multiple functional areas (e.g. engineering design finance sales or marketing).

Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems with many constraints using sound judgement to assess risks and building well-structured data-informed narratives.

Proven ability to engage with engineers designers stakeholders and senior leaders in a constructive and collaborative way.

Excellent communication and collaboration skills with a track record of leading through influence rather than authority.

A mindset of ownership accountability and customer focus; comfortable signing up for results and driving outcomes through others when needed.

Passion for fostering team innovation and leveraging the collective ideas and expertise of cross-functional colleagues.

Comfortable operating in a hardware development environment familiar with concepts such as NPI DVT/PVT manufacturing ramp-up and field validation even if not owning them technically.

Willingness to travel to customers

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

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Effective September 5 2023 employees in office-based positions in the U.S. will be working a Hybrid work consisting of three total days on-site per week Monday - Thursday although the specific days may vary by site or organization with Friday designated as a remote-working day unless business critical tasks require an on-site Hybrid work model does not apply to and daily in-person attendance is required for field-based positions; facility-based manufacturing-based or research-based positions where the work to be performed is located at a Company site; positions covered by a collective-bargaining agreement (unless the agreement provides for hybrid work); or any other position for which the Company has determined the job requirements cannot be reasonably met working remotely. Please note this Hybrid work model guidance also does not apply to roles that have been designated as remote.

The salary range for this role is

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. An employees position within the salary range will be based on several factors including but not limited to relevant education qualifications certifications experience skills geographic location government requirements and business or organizational needs.

The successful candidate will be eligible for annual bonus and long-term incentive if applicable.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits. Available benefits include medical dental vision healthcare and other insurance benefits (for employee and family) retirement benefits including 401(k) paid holidays vacation and compassionate and sick days. More information about benefits is available at can apply for this role through (or via the Workday Jobs Hub if you are a current employee). The application deadline for this position is stated on this posting.

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