Product Manager

Build your Career with an Industry Leader

Headquartered in Cincinnati, LSI Industries (NASDAQ: LYTS) specializes in the creation of advanced lighting, graphics, and display solutions. The Company’s American-made products, which include lighting, print graphics, digital graphics, millwork, metal and refrigerated products, and custom displays, are engineered to elevate brands in competitive markets. Founded in 1976, LSI has grown and now has a workforce of approximately 1,900 employees and 16 facilities throughout North America, LSI is dedicated to providing top-quality solutions to its clients.

Additional information about LSI is available at www.lsicorp.com

We are looking for a Product Manager to support our JSI team in Bangor, Maine.

JSI, an LSI Industries company, is trusted by North America’s leading grocery and retail brands to create innovative and eye-catching display fixtures and millwork. For more than 30 years, JSI has been designing and manufacturing its display fixtures across its four North American locations

Summary:

The Product Manager, Refrigeration provides strategic and results-driven leadership to develop and profitably grow the refrigeration products. The role is responsible for defining product vision, gathering and prioritizing customer and business requirements, and working closely with sales, engineering, design, marketing, operations, and sourcing to deliver winning products. The role combines technical knowledge, business acumen, and a passion for creating exceptional user experiences.

The Product Manager, Refrigeration works to grow the business through new products by leading cross-functional teams through the New Product Development and Commercialization processes. The role also leads sales technical support, commercial support, and revenue forecasting.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Voice of Customer and Customer Value Proposition:

• Owns strategy and tactics for collection and prioritization of end user requirements for refrigeration products. Leads and coordinates efforts to identify unmet customer needs for new products/services or line extensions and make recommendations on the product/service features that need to be developed/included. Works closely with sales to ensure customer needs are correctly identified and resulting product requirements are clearly defined and understood.
• Owns the voice of the customer throughout the entire product lifecycle.
• Develops the value proposition that sales and marketing will present to the customer to clearly show the value of our products/services relative to competitive offerings.

Market and Regulatory Intelligence:

• Leads development of the marketing strategy, including target price requirements, based on gathering and prioritizing market research.
• Ensures identification of regulatory and/or other compliance requirements inclusive of relevant data and standards.

Competitive Insights:

• Collaborates with sales and marketing to collect, compile, and organize data on competitive products and alternate solutions being used, including pricing and total cost of ownership. Maintains good understanding of major competitive solutions.
• Conducts competitive reviews. Prepares reports and training tools on competitive offerings to show competitive advantage of JSI products. Effectively communicates competitive information with sales, including presentations on strengths and weaknesses.

New Product Development, Product Roadmap, and Commercialization Planning:

• Organizes voice of customer, market intelligence, and competitive insights to develop and maintain a Refrigeration Product Roadmap that aligns with and supports the overall business strategies and objectives.
• Within the product roadmap, establishes and maintains requirements for new product development and product refreshes.
• Actively participates and provides leadership through all product stage-gate reviews, with guidance to clarify product requirements to engineering, operations, and sourcing as well as help set priorities and determine tradeoffs.
• Works with sales and marketing to commercialize new products/refreshes into the market from pre-launch through full production ramp.

Refrigeration Product Financial Performance:

• Works with the Executive Leadership Team to define revenue and gross margin goals, by product.
• Based on competitive pricing intelligence and the customer value proposition for the JSI product, sets product price targets.
• Based on profit goals, set product cost targets.
• Regularly monitors, reports on, and recommends actions for product lifecycle revenue and margin performance.

Sales, Inventory, Operations, Planning (SIOP) Process and Demand Generation:

• Identifies, evaluates, and brings to market opportunities for stimulating demand and driving growth within the refrigeration business.
• Oversees coordination of detailed demand planning for products based on input from customers and sales. Ensures demand data is appropriately handed off to operations and sourcing for plan completion.

Sales Force Enablement:

• Works with marketing to provide effective sales tools, literature, and presentations that maximize effectiveness of sales to drive revenue, share, and margin growth in targeted markets.
• Ensures the value proposition of the offering is clearly connected back to customer needs. Ensures the value proposition is communicated to the sales force, channel partners, and consumers.
• Provides general support to sales for customer inquiries. When needed, supports sales on customer calls.

Overall Customer Satisfaction:

• Aligns and fosters collaborative relationships with key stakeholders in operations, engineering, and sourcing to drive productivity, quality, profitability, and on-time delivery improvements to improve customer satisfaction. Provides subject matter expertise around marketing, customer requirements, and product support needs to the broader business.

For All Work:

• Provides professional, accurate, and timely responses to customers in addressing all issues to ensure service excellence and high customer satisfaction.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This role currently has no direct-reporting responsibilities.

Qualifications/Skills and Abilities:

• 4-year technical degree or 10 years of relevant experience required, MBA preferred
• 5 years of experience in product management or related discipline
• 3 years of experience in refrigeration
• Position will require travel an estimated 20% of the time, based on need. Travel will be US and Canada.
• English fluency is required. Spanish fluency is a plus.
• Computer skills and proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are required.
• High Financial Aptitude

Project Management

• Excellent prioritization and organizational skills (Project Management process skills)
• Strong project management skills
• Ability to work projects from start to finish – identify opportunities and drive execution

Refrigeration Knowledge

• Technical understanding of refrigeration equipment and systems
• Competent in reading plans & specifications

Communication

• Strategic influence and communication with external and internal groups
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong team-player skills required
• Clear and concise technical writing style
• Tactful and assertive to ensure positive outcomes when working with external and internal customer
• Able to negotiate, when needed, with customers and sales people regarding warranty issues

Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to influence in a collaborative environment
• Strong analytical and business acumen skills
• Results oriented
• Competitive natured
• Detail oriented
• Ability to work effectively with sales, customers, engineering, operations, and sourcing in a professional, courteous, and timely manner
• Creative and energetic personality willing to assume multi-dimensional role
• Strong analytic skills
• Autonomous (self-starter) and success oriented
• An effective and clear decision-maker under stressful situations
• Analytical mindset geared towards overcoming barriers and reaching future potential customers

Time Management

• Ability to operate autonomously,
• Have excellent time management and job prioritization skills to meet business objectives
• Have strong organization skills
• Initiative and ability to recognize, prioritize, and perform required activities with minimum supervision or assistance required

Problem Solving

• Have excellent troubleshooting and problem solving skills
• Be able to recognize developing situations in order to diffuse complaints or potential problems, determine when additional assistance is needed, and involve upper management as required.

Continuous Improvement Commitment

• Ability to act as a team leader and be a catalyst of change
• Initiative-taker with the ability to identify the need to change and make the change happen
• History of leading and delivering sustainable, measurable improvements
• Desire to continuously seek improvement in existing processes and procedures

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Paid time off

EEOC:

LSI is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. LSI is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.