About Us

WHY WERNER? BECAUSE WE ARE THE PRO'S CHOICE! You will find our market leading products and brands on trucks and job sites all over the world. Focusing on end users' needs drives our success. Our entire product development process—from research to engineering to manufacturing to commercialization—creates products that ensure ease of use, productivity, durability and safety for the end user. On jobsites across America and the world, WernerCo brands are most preferred.

Overview

WernerCo is a world leader for innovative safety and security solutions that trade professionals prefer over all others. WernerCo solutions increase productivity and provide unmatched performance that trade professionals trust with their lives and livelihoods. You will find our market leading products and brands on trucks and job sites all over the world and our users rely on us for equipment and personal safety across countless industries. The WernerCo family of brands is trusted everywhere work gets done and are the preferred choice for professional end users.

Responsibilities

The Director of Product Marketing—Retail Climbing Products will lead and drive the development and execution of short and long-term strategies for the Werner Climbing portfolio, aimed to drive continued market share growth of the #1 Werner Ladder brand and portfolio within the Retail Channel. The Director of Product Marketing, Retail Climbing Products, will work to possess an in-depth expertise of the end user and the customer channel and leverage this expertise to develop strategic growth plans inclusive of roadmap development, new product introduction, portfolio optimization & lifecycle management, and customer-centric strategic go-to-market planning and execution. This position will champion and lead cross-functionally to achieve strategic initiatives and will be responsible for the leadership and development of two Product Marketing direct reports.

Strategic Growth Planning

• Develop and execute the strategic vision and financial plan for the assigned product line; Leverage in-depth end user, customer, and competitive insights to identify new business opportunities and inform long range plans that drive market share and improve product line profitability.
• With executive leadership and cross-functional collaboration, deliver 1 and 3-year new product roadmaps and associated investment plans; Make recommendations for leveraging existing, enhanced, and new technologies that enable differentiated, end user preferred product solutions.
• Lead coordination of ongoing market and competitive intelligence; analyze and effectively communicate market trends, customer/consumer demands and competitor strategies for product and pricing.
• Evaluate performance against strategic plan, report progress and recommend adjustments against strategic plan.

New Product Development

• Leverage end user and customer insights to identify new product development opportunities that meet end user needs in new, competitively differentiated ways, and address gaps/opportunities within the assigned portfolio of products.
• Define product and investment requirements, gain organizational alignment, and partner cross-functionally to drive through the new product development and delivery process.
• Collaborate with Finance, Engineering, Industrial Design and Sourcing/Manufacturing and Supply Chain teams to deliver new product programs on time, on spec, in full and in accordance with financial targets.
• Ensure close connectivity to end-users through field ethnography & trial, qualitative and quantitative research to evaluate new product’s delivery of critical requirements and end user acceptance & preference. Leverage research resources, internal and external, to inform new product development requirements and validate concepts & market opportunity.
• Ensure close collaboration with Channel, Sales and Customer to ensure commercial viability, and set performance expectations; Make recommendations for positioning and pricing that enhance Customer and WernerCo margin, enable cross-channel success, and position for market success.

Go to Market Planning and Execution

• Ensure robust, 360 degree go-to-market and commercial planning support for all new product launches and key initiatives.
• Ensure keen competitive understanding and set marketing objectives and activities aligned to drive share in a highly competitive environment.
• In partnership with Channel Marketing and Sales, develop and present customer presentations inclusive of innovation stories, line-review/assortment strategies, and supporting marketing recommendations (4Ps) and marketing activation plans aimed to facilitate customer sell in of new product programs and assortment strategies.
• Align marketing and communication strategies to drive end user and shopper awareness & demand; Partner with Channel, Brand and Creative cross-functional teams to ensure the on-strategy development of packaging, merchandising support, launch assets, promotional plans, digital media & ecommerce support and any adjacent customer activation plans as required.
• Possess an ongoing understanding of end user attitudes, awareness, and usage of all products/brands within the portfolio and ensure key marketing assets and deliverables appeal to end user targets and move them toward acceptance conversion.
• Act as the chief steward of the assigned portfolio to ensure that all communications, merchandising, and packaging is aligned with commercial strategies and objectives.

Portfolio & Lifecycle Management

• Perform as the P&L owner of the product portfolio to achieve sales, margin and EBITDA goals for the assigned area as outlined in the annual operating plan.
• Collaborate with Finance, Operations, Sourcing, Supply Chain and Sales to identify margin enhancement opportunities; Continuously evaluate key levers such as new product pricing, portfolio line-logic and price optimization, Supply Chain optimization, SKU rationalization and end of life planning,
• Partner with Operational/Manufacturing teams to champion cost improvement projects; manage product mix and margin erosion on mature items.
• Partner cross-functionally to drive product quality and resolve quality initiatives

Team Development

• Build and develop a strong, driven team that is tightly aligned with deliverables listed above.
• Develop both leadership skills and marketing/business competencies as listed on the with a keen attention to developing a strong, commercially minded and customer centric team.
• Implement talent management acquisition and development strategies to supply a constant stream of developing talent as successors for key business roles.
• “Lead by example” with a high level of emotional intelligence; Demonstrate values of ownership, accountability and with a growth mindset that inspires others.

Qualifications

KEY QUALIFICATIONS

• The ideal candidate will combine a high-quality and progressive consumer products goods (CPG), durables manufacturing and/or industrial products background with outstanding leadership, interpersonal, communication, analytic and strategic skills.
• Experience working with “Big Box” retailers and Hardware Channels.
• Ability to work effectively in a values-based environment which demonstrates transparency, innovation, collaboration, teamwork, ownership, and accountability. 
• Ability to gather and synthesize consumer/end user, competitive and customer insights to identify and cultivate market and product opportunities.
• Ability to drive new product development through a stage-gate process, gain executive support and alignment, and lead the commercialization of new products with proven performance.
• Ability to partner with Channel and Sales leaders to align sales and channel strategies, develop collaborative customer growth and profitability improvement plans, and develop joint marketing plans and launch execution.
• Strong financial acumen with demonstrated understanding of portfolio and product P&L and key levers to be manipulated to improve product line profitability
• Ability to organize, coordinate, set priorities and provide direction to direct reports cross-functional teams.
• Persuasion and problem-solving skills in a matrixed environment; able to make a persuasive business case and decisions in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Results-oriented with the willingness to stretch to accomplish goals and “make it happen.” An extreme owner.
• Excellent interpersonal/communication skills (writing, speaking, presenting and listening) at all levels.
• Capability to build and foster excellent rapport with Executive Leaders, Channel, Sales and Operations cross-functional leadership and teams.
• Strong professional presence and demonstrated confidence and success presenting to and influencing customer audiences.
• Builder of diverse teams who provides others with opportunities for professional growth and personal development. Respects, listens, learns and challenges others’ thinking in a constructive manner.
• Acts as the company’s ambassador by living its cultural values always with employees’, customers’ and stakeholders’ best interests in mind.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelors degree in Business Administration, Marketing or related field.
• 10 years Product Management/Marketing Experience
• 5 years experience leading a team of direct and indirect reports.
• Ability to travel up to 30% for end user research, customer meetings, shows/events as required.
• Late evening or early morning meeting availability for collaborating with Global manufacturing/supply partners.
• High proficiency level with MS Office applications required.

Location: Greater Chicago, IL area. WernerCo is currently operating under a “Hybrid” work schedule with in-office Collaboration Days in Itasca, IL. #LI-Hybrid

EEO Statement

WernerCo is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. WernerCo is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants to WernerCo are considered for employment without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status or any other protected characteristic. WernerCo will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind based on these characteristics.