DIR PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Job Overview

TE Connectivity Ltd. is a global industrial technology leader creating a safer, sustainable, productive, and connected future. Our broad range of connectivity and sensor solutions, proven in the harshest environments, enable advancements in transportation, industrial applications, medical technology, energy, data communications, and the home. With more than 85,000 employees, including over 8,000 engineers, working alongside customers in approximately 140 countries, TE ensures that EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS.
 

TE Connectivity's Product Management Teams manage all aspects of a product, from driving new product development to manufacturing to marketing. They are responsible for overall product strategy, business leadership and capacity plans in order to meet sales and profit targets. The Industrial Business Unit of TE Connectivity has an opportunity for a Director Product Management. This global role will report to the Vice President and General Manager of  a division of the “Industrial” Business Unit. Each of the six divisions is managing its own P&L and leading Product Management, Engineering and Operations / Supply Chain. As such, the Director Product Management of the division owns the strategical and tactical portfolio management of a several hundreds of million US dollars business. In this aspect this position creates the product roadmap in liaison with Sales and Business Development, drives new product developments including market launch, defines the regional go-to-market and pricing strategies and support sales in achieving customer excellence. By collaborating with the Operations and Supply Chain Team this position also ensures that the footprint strategy and manufacturing capacity including capability are in place to achieve defined revenue and gross margin targets with the right lead times and quality while defining and leading both organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
 

The Role:

The Director Product Management will be responsible for leading Product Portfolio Management including the Product Strategy, and the Go-to Market, Pricing and Field Application Engineering initiatives Field Application Engineering initiatives for the BU Division globally. The leader is responsible for revenue and gross margin attainment of the portfolio and will play a pivotal role in driving the strategic planning and commercial initiatives to scale the business substantially and achieve accelerated growth over the next 5 years. S/he will pursue an aggressive growth strategy focused on organic and inorganic growth and create an industry-leading global team equipped to drive new product introduction, go-to-market expansion, and entry into product adjacencies. 

This role will bring a growth-oriented and entrepreneurial mind-set, excellent commercial acumen and leadership experience, and a hands-on leadership style. The role will appeal to those with aspirations for further personal and career growth as the company seeks to further enhance the overall bench-strength for succession for the role of Division General Managers of the Industrial business unit. The successful candidate will be part of the BU division’s leadership team and will report to the General Manager of the division. The role will be based in Europe

Year 1 success factors

• Refreshes the 5-year portfolio strategy and business plan in partnership with the GM of the business, including development of a detailed plan to scale up the BU division’s business globally
• Partners with the Regional Sales Directors to strengthen the commercial cadence and execution to accelerate top-line growth. Develops personal contacts and relationships with the major Direct customers and key Distribution partners for the product families
• Partners with the Pricing Team to drive value added pricing strategies to maximize share gain as well as to achieve sustainable business growth
• Partners with the Engineering team to complete a review of the new product roadmap including pipeline and develop a plan to accelerate the commercial elements required to drive strong NPI growth
• Is a key driver of footprint and manufacturing optimization to drive gross margin expansion and improved service levels in partnership with the Operations and Supply Chain functions
• Develops a plan and kickstart execution to expand product portfolio/address GTM gaps through a combination of strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Partners with Strategy and M&A functional leaders to identify the major inorganic growth opportunities. Activates the M&A pipeline and actively drive pipeline development initiatives and engagement with targets
• Develops and executes the talent assessment and development/upgrade plan including succession road-map
• Implements a robust execution cadence to drive all the key results for the function (revenue, gross margin, new product launches and sales, customer growth, S&OP etc.) 
• Establishes a consistent continuous improvement mind-set across the function to drive organizational effectiveness and a culture of learning
   

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy Development:

• Owns the process of product strategy development across the function
• Outlines a clear portfolio and business strategy that positions the Sub-Vertical to deliver strong financial results – That includes also an inorganic strategy to expand product depth and/or breadth enhancing relevance to customers/ channel 
• Creates breakthroughs (e.g., new market entries, new products, new business models, M&A exploration) through excellence in creating an ideas funnel, idea selection, prioritization, active experimentation, and scale-up of proven ideas
• Cascades the vision and strategy throughout the organization and ties it to clear near-term plans and metrics. Creates buy-in from the organization for the plan through early engagement and stakeholder management
• Articulates market trends, demand drivers, customer needs, industry trends, and competitive landscape and translate that into a mature S&OP process including the required manufacturing strategies (make or buy)
• Develops product and technology roadmaps that aligns with business strategy and market needs
• Works with Engineering and Operations to launch of new products to meet current and future customer and market requirements

Partnerships & M&A’s:

• Drives partnerships and acquisitions to build scale and enhance relevance to customers and channel partners
• Builds a robust pipeline of M&A targets in alignment with the portfolio strategy
• Defines and manage partnerships in alignment with the Business Development function
• Drives the cultivation of the M&A targets in collaboration with the Business Development function
• Builds direct relationships with potential acquisition targets
• Executes on deal and post-merger integration activities as appropriated

Develop Business Plan:

• Defines resource requirements necessary to execute the portfolio and business strategies
• Establishes and executes pricing policy
• Improves customer intimacy of the team. Partners effectively with the sales organization and drives empowerment that accelerates speed and customer excellence
• Executes flawlessly on business value drivers and key priorities 

Key Responsibilities:

Drives the full P&L:

• Manages the P&L (sales and gross or standard margin) for the assigned portfolio
• Delivers growth above market through strong NPI and share gain execution
• Drives YoY gross margin expansion by improving product mix, developing and executing robust pricing strategies, and driving operational productivity
• Tracks progress to the business plan and facilitate resolution to gaps
• S/he is a capable operator – achieves results by creating an operating cadence for the business that helps the team accomplish topline and bottom-line results in a predictable manner

Talent Management:

• Manages, energizes and motivates a diverse team of product managers located around the globe
• Builds, coaches and develops individuals and teams
• Creates a high-performing team by setting a high standard, active coaching, and selective talent upgrades. Empowers and develops team through thoughtful delegation and empowerment
• Actively unleash talents in her / his team to grow into critical roles, in order to build a strong succession pipeline for the Product Management function
• Develops stars in the teams, with a specific focus on product management and developing other general managers
• Creates / inspires a humble, learning and growth oriented, and continuous improvement mindset and culture in the team
• Drives stakeholder management widely and at multiple levels in the organization. 
• Fixes under-performance in a timely manner by confronting the challenges through feedback sharing and hands-on coaching. Addresses problems with agility and does not hesitate to make personnel changes when needed

Organizational Transformation:

• Demonstrates experience in leading global transformation while operating in a fast paced, constantly evolving market environments.
• Defines and implements plans to drive organization transformation including organization structure aligned with strategy, process excellence, developing talent bench strength, capabilities and overall organizational footprint to consistently deliver on high growth business strategies

What your background should look like:

Required qualifications and experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Business Administration or equivalent. MBA preferred.
• Proven Global Experience and Mindset
• 15+ years of product management, strategy, business development with relevant P&L management experience preferred
• Strong business acumen - and a good understanding of technical complexities
• Strong customer facing skills – building relationships, handling negotiations and selling.
• Experience in Sales, Marketing, Product or Manufacturing Management
• Significant experience working with product, processes or market technologies (in connectors, or industrial market or factory automation is a plus)
• Experience in building effective teams on a global scale, demonstrating a collaborative leadership style
• Action oriented, with a proven ability to deliver results.
• Experience of defining and developing policy, managing resources and meeting targets/objectives.
• Critical thinking and decision making

Key Competencies & Success Factors

• Strong focus on building Talent across the organization
• Strategic Thinking and Growth Mindset
• Strong focus on Results
• Quickly Transforming and Scaling Organizations
• Building Relationships and Using Influence in a matrix environment
• Ability to manage in uncertainty

Competencies