Senior Product Manager, Feeder-Robot

Description

Whisker is the maker of Litter-Robot, Feeder-Robot, and Litterbox.com. At Whisker, we believe pet parenthood can always get better.

As leading innovators in pet tech and refined pet accessories, we work tirelessly to solve problems and deliver smarter insights for pet parents while enriching the lives of pets. Whether it’s a self-cleaning litter box that automates scooping, an automatic feeder that helps pets develop healthier eating habits, or a modern cat tree that delights both humans and felines, we strive to deliver better solutions for consumers while transforming pet care along the way. To us, having a pet is the best thing ever. At Whisker, life together just keeps getting better.

Whisker is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan and Juneau, Wisconsin with 500+ passionate team members.

What You’ll Do:

Summary:

The Senior Product Manager, Feeder-Robot will be responsible for strategic planning, requirements definition, new product development, and sustaining our Feeder-Robot product line. Whisker has a really exciting new product in development that will transform the future of feeding our pets, and you will have the opportunity to help bring this product to market.

You must have a cat, have had a cat, or be willing to get a cat! We’re a pet company with a focus right now on cats and the true understanding of our consumers is key. The Senior Product Manager will own the product roadmap for over 1M cat parents, and it's important you have a deep appreciation for their needs.

The Senior Product Manager will oversee and manage the Feeder-Robot product line - responsible for product strategy and requirements definition, as well as playing an active role alongside the Program Manager and Engineering Leads in the iterative engineering product development process, making tradeoff decisions, guiding priorities, managing risk, removing roadblocks, and clarifying scope. The Senior Product Manager will also lead the Go-To-Market planning alongside partners in the Marketing and Customer Experience teams. Feeder-Robot products include mechanical, electrical, and software elements, so this Product Manager should understand the full engineering stack and product development lifecycle to best align with each team, seeing through this new product from ideation to launch. The Senior Product Manager will report directly to our Head of Product and will be a crucial part of Whisker’s growing Product Organization. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Oversees the development of the Feeder-Robot product line and continued product innovations on this platform from ideation through launch
• Leverages their knowledge of the nuances of each engineering discipline to lead, inspire, and challenge the engineering team to realize your product vision
• Defines, documents, and communicates product and business requirements to relevant stakeholders for new product initiatives in a way that the team can clearly understand and act upon 
• Identifies new use cases and improvements for existing products, products in development, and next generation products and works with engineering and advanced development to achieve that vision
• Drives strategic decisions, documenting and communicating proposals and plans to ensure alignment across the organization
• Collaborates with the Whisker App Product Managers to create a feature-rich and cohesive product experience across the physical and digital portions of the product, and ultimately validating the user experience and satisfaction for the complete product experience
• Manages cross-department and cross-functional activities 
• Analyzes and uses data to back up assumptions and develops business cases for new features and product improvements
• Communicates, earns trust, and influences stakeholders across the organization
• Works backward from customer and stakeholder needs to identify opportunities
• Stays up to date on customer feedback, the competitive landscape, pet industry trends, and connected home products 
• Will perform additional responsibilities when required 

Requirements

What You’ll Bring:

• BS in Engineering 
• 6+ years cumulative experience across roles like product management, program management, product marketing, business development, or technology leadership
• 4+ years of product management experience with consumer appliances and/or consumer electronics 
• 1+ years of experience in IoT and/or embedded software and/or other smart home solutions
• Proven successful r