Product Manager

Are you a customer-focused strategic leader with the ability to understand market trends and customer needs? If you have answered yes, then we have an opportunity for a Product Manager to join us working on a hybrid basis from our Snodland site.

Position Summary

The Product Manager is strategically vital to the success of our products. Combining the intelligence they gather from customers and the marketplace with insight, opinion, and data from stakeholders within the business to establish roadmaps and strategy to exploit opportunities enabling us to grow our market share and increase profitability supporting the objectives of the aspire plan. You’ll be able to make a significant impact by raising the profile of Product Management across the business.

You will utilise market, technology, and applications knowledge to assess competitor offerings to identify opportunities for product differentiation, filling gaps in our range and our competitors' ranges, gaining competitive advantage through specification or service delivery levels.

Maintaining a constant listening ear tuned in to market trends and competitor strategies, spotting potential partnerships and collaborations to increase reach, augment technology, and develop our business. You will orchestrate and oversee the compilation and creation of accurate and readily accessible product data forming a knowledge base and publishable materials portfolio that enables the marketing, sales, and customer service teams to have appropriate information directly to hand to furnish customers with meaningful answers to their inquiries.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Take overall responsibility for the success of the Swegon UK & Ireland Room Units Products. Shaping and guiding product strategy to respond to changing market, customer, and competitor situations supporting business growth and enhanced profitability.
• Coordinate the generation of product marketing materials to support direct/agency sales activities and online presence with primary responsibility for continuity of content and accuracy.
• Primary stakeholder in cross-functional collaborative projects working with commercial and engineering teams to support all aspects of product lifecycle management, including product & market research, competitive analysis, planning, positioning, roadmap development, requirements development, and new product introduction.
• Coordinate roadmap & release of digital tools & BIM in conjunction with digital product developer & marketing to ensure Waterloo products are accessible in a changing digital environment.
• Identify and maximise opportunities to purchase historically outsourced products within Swegon group, retaining margin within the Swegon organisation.
• Support the growth for the Waterloo manufactured products into the European Swegon Sales companies by delivering product & application training.
• Represent Room Units at trade events and on industry-related bodies.
• Host customer test days and training sessions.
• Identify potential acquisition opportunities that would strengthen the Room Units market position and product offering.
• Collaborate and share best practices with other product managers across the Swegon group of companies.
• Evaluate sales data to understand product segmentation and sales trends for the full spectrum of product offerings from mature to newly introduced products.
• Work with the marketing team to define strategically targeted sales campaigns.
• Support customer service teams on escalation cases where product specification and application/suitability are being called into question.
• Act as “the voice of the company” as and when required in dialogues with Trade Press and Media to ensure that our products are always referenced and highlighted in line with company and brand standards/guidelines.
• Communicate product strategy to the Development Team during ideation meetings to ensure that we consider, refine, and evaluate as many new product and product enhancement opportunities as possible in the early phases of the product development funnel.
• Define and deliver product, technology, and applications training for Sales and Customer Service teams.
• Manage the compilation, maintenance, and delivery of approved CPD sessions for customers and air handling industry insiders.
• Set, review, and maintain appropriate price lists/books for direct sales team, agents, and distributors for the home, inter-company, and export markets with the Head of Sales.
• Monitor and advise on any product or market issues which present risk or opportunity to the organisation.
• Support Waterloo’s sustainability strategy & product development activity to meet Swegon group SBTi objectives.

Required Experience

• HVAC Knowledge: Hands-on experience with HVAC products or systems is highly advantageous.
• Manufacturing Exposure: Direct experience with the manufacturing environment and processes, such as lean manufacturing principles, supply chain logistics, and quality management, is beneficial.
• Technical Product Knowledge: Familiarity with HVAC systems, components, and technologies, such as grilles, diffusers, chilled beams, fan coils, VAV units, attenuators, controls, and energy management systems.
• Data Analysis and Financial Modelling: Proficiency in data analytics, demand forecasting, and financial modelling to assess product viability and performance.

Desirable Experience

• CAD Software & Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Knowledge of CAD tools (e.g., AutoCAD, SolidWorks) and PLM systems used in product design and development is often useful.
• Product Management Experience: Experience as a product manager, project manager, or in product development roles, ideally within HVAC or adjacent industries.
• Digital Product Tools: Familiarity with tools for product road mapping.
• Sales/Market Experience: Experience of working with HVAC client base & mechanical designers.

Essential Qualifications/Education

Bachelor’s Degree: A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is typically required. Common majors include:

• Mechanical Engineering (especially useful due to technical knowledge of HVAC systems).
• Industrial Engineering.
• Business Administration (with an emphasis on operations or product management).
• Marketing.

Desirable Qualifications/Education

• PMP (Project Management Professional): Useful for managing product development projects, especially if cross-functional work is required.
• Relevant HVAC Industry Certifications.