Product Manager
Los Angeles, CA
Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:
- Be the consumer and product expert
- Execute the category direction
- Work with all necessary functions to deliver the category business objectives and product concepts
- Create ranges within the category from both an image and commercial point of view
Key Responsibilities:
- Implement strategic category and range direction that meet the needs of our consumers as well as support the BU’s financial and growth objectives
- Show full understanding and drive the product creation process whilst managing all tasks within the given time frames
- Drive and execute key initiatives and provide input for short-term and long-term vision for product strategy, positioning, and category
- Proactively analyze business, draw conclusions, and propose action steps
- Be a competent partner for product and ranging discussions with markets and retailers
- Build and maintain a strong relationship with cross-functional teams and with interlinked departments to enable an efficient product creation process with an optimum product outcome
- Proactively communicate on an on-going basis with team, supervisors, and cross functional teams to ensure deliverables and decisions are met
- Research and gain insights into consumer, market, and product trends
- Support pricing strategy and pricing architecture, ensuring product supports overall margin expectations
- Provide direction and clear communication across teams with focus on results
- Strong knowledge of product information systems and the interlinking functions
- Good level of product expertise to create industry leading products
- Prepare and present your ranges and business-related topics - with respective audience in mind - by using relevant structure and content
- Actively provide input for setting the CtC (Concept to Consumer) direction and implement it into relevant ranges in partnership with CtC counterparts
- Strong communication skills (both written and verbal) and facilitation (small and large groups) skills
- Work independently on projects and follow up on project development
Authorities:
• Personnel managed – no Budget managed – no
Key Relationships:
Steer a strong relationship and ensure constant dialogue/feedback with
- business unit and across other BUs
- cross-functional team (Design, Development, CtC, Brand Comms, Materials, Costing, Planning)
- markets and relevant third parties
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Be open for change, support execution of change management, and act comfortably with risk and uncertainty
- Cooperate well and effectively to maintain and develop trustful relationships
- Problem solving attitude & can-do personality. Proven ability to find avenues to success in the face of challenges
- Ability to think strategically, anticipate and define problems, synthesize complex data, and develop innovative solutions
- Work independently as well as part of a team
- Knowledge of respective product category
- Basic leadership skills
- Lateral thinking and challenge status quo
- End-to-end thinking with a global mindset and solution-oriented approach
- Strong communication skills (both written and verbal) and facilitation (small and large groups) skills
- Plan and prioritize daily working time effectively with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- Strong analytical skills, be solution driven, and result oriented
- Ability to travel
Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:
- College degree, preferably business/marketing/fashion
- Minimum of 3 years Product Marketing experience with APP, FTW or ACC background
- Experience in trade, vertical retail business model or sales is helpful
- Fluent in English
- PC skills (MS Office programs, especially PowerPoint and Excel)