Associate Product Manager

Company Description

* SMART PEOPLE   * SMART IDEAS   * SMART CHOICE

A thriving environment for learning, innovation and growth.

Why do so many people join MTS Systems Corporation and stay for a career? Because this is a place where you get to apply your creativity, work with smart people on fascinating projects, and make a positive impact on people’s lives. It is a place where you can learn, innovate and grow professionally.

Transforming what’s possible with cars, aircraft, bridges, wind turbines and space-age materials — this is work we dream about as kids. At MTS, it’s a rewarding career path for talented individuals who are willing to work hard, think hard, and commit to solving complex and critical challenges for our customers around the world, many of whom are leaders in their respective industries.

By joining MTS, you’ll have access to the latest tools and technologies, along with the support of colleagues who are passionate about their work. You’ll discover a dynamic culture of continuous improvement that extends to our people, one that offers numerous ways to expand your knowledge and advance your career. And because we are a global company, your work may also include world travel.

Job Description

Job Summary: 

Assist in the management of assigned products to ensure global success over their entire life cycle.  Help ensure the products meet market and business needs now and in the future by maximizing customer satisfaction while achieving the product goals for growth, profitability, quality, and market share, consistent with the business unit's objectives and strategies.

Primary Roles & Responsibilities 

• Support the creation and maintenance of product plans and strategies by providing input on product development, solutions, aftermarket, and service offerings that meet market needs.  Assist in the creation of new product development business cases and justifications.  Refine key product benefits and value propositions as directed.  Collaborate in the creation of annual product development (R&D) and planned product improvement (PPI) plans and proposals.  Initiate R&D projects and lead these projects in collaboration with assigned engineers through the development process.  Develop and enhance product roadmaps in support of ongoing strategy planning. 
• Assist in the product launch process.  Work cross functionally on execution of product launch plans.  Develop content for and participate in sales readiness training to prepare our sales channels to support new product introduction and meet launch objectives.  Work to create sales tools (brochures, product specifications, bid specs, specific feature descriptions, application briefs and customer testimonials) to support sales opportunities.
• Review product lines for part number optimization, making recommendations.  Areas of focus may include lead time, on-time delivery improvement efforts, and the study of pipeline analytics and benchmarks to aid the marketing team.
• Develop and update internal pricing tools.  Support team to manage pricing to achieve business objectives over the entire product life cycle.  Monitor and report on product price performance.
• Assist in the response and resolution of customer product problems.  Monitor customer experiences and advocate on their behalf.  Support Voice of the Customer activities to engage influential thought leaders and better our understanding of market needs.  Provide feedback to others to improve our products.
• Enable Selling by supporting lead generation activities and programs, the development of sales tools, digital marketing activities, and content for outbound marketing efforts.  Assist in the execution of marketing plans.
• Perform market research and evaluate the competitive landscape to identify features/benefits and unique competitive advantages of the assigned products as directed.
• Participate in technical conferences, society meetings, trade shows and standards meetings to develop insight to into the use of assigned products by the customer base.   Support the development of technical papers that help position specific product features of significant importance to the customer base.
• Participate as a technical resource in specific sales opportunities as requested to improve our probability of winning specific orders.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education Requirement: Bachelor’s degree in engineering or marketing discipline or equivalent work experience.

Experience Requirement: 1-3 years of relevant work experience

Other Requirements:

• Expected travel averaging up to 15%, domestic and international
• Basic understanding of test technologies and methodologies
• Some und