Product Development Director

At a Glance

Legrand has an exciting opportunity for a Director of Product Development to join the Lighting Sector Team. OCL has an immediate opening for a Director of Product Development. This is a wonderful opportunity to join a dynamic and entrepreneurial company and manage a market-leading portfolio of architectural lighting products. The Director of Product is responsible for overseeing the product design team responsible for full lifecycle of products from new product identification through product discontinuation. This remote position reports to the President of OCL.

What Will You Do?

Product Portfolio Strategy Development

• Develop strong relationships with OCL customers including lighting designers, architects, and key market stakeholders, especially in top revenue-generating regions, via customer visits, conferences, trade shows, etc.
• Develop and maintain a 1 to 3-year portfolio roadmap and identify key areas for growth
• Assess product concepts and determine investment-worthiness via detailed business analysis
• Prioritize new projects based on objective/subjective metrics that enhance OCL’s long-term position in the market

Product Development Activities

• Develop the product scope and specification for new products
• Lead the design team in ideation and customer / “consultant” involved design charettes
• Perform VOC and competitive analysis to gather and prioritize product/customer requirements
• Partner with Engineering to refine product specifications early in the development process; participate in project team and Tollgate review meetings; help resolve project issues and trade-offs
• Partner with engineering team to run Lean, targeted pilot programs for ‘new to market’ products
• Partner with custom engineering team to identify trends and custom products that may become part of the standard OCL portfolio 

New Product Launch Activities

• Partner with Marketing team to develop core product messaging and positioning
• Establish competitive market pricing for new products and product options
• Perform product demonstrations and act as a key product evangelist
• Provide early product support and product training for Sales and Customer Service teams
• Support Marketing with the development of technical white papers, CEU presentations and other market-facing materials; approve all sales, marketing and technical collateral
• Actively monitor the financial and field performance of the new product launch; work with internal OCL teams to address/resolve any variances to performance plan

Existing Portfolio Management

• Develop an understanding of the current product portfolio
• Continuously monitor the portfolio and identify areas of improvement in product marketing tactics, including product feature sets, pricing, distribution, sales incentives and service offering
• Perform and continuously update competitive and market analyses
• Develop annual and rolling sales, margin and volume forecasts for portfolio
• Provide detailed analysis and regular performance updates to key internal stakeholders
• Manage product lifecycles, including performing discontinuation analysis
• Support and attend industry trade shows

Strategic Initiative Development and Execution

• Define product value propositions and link to improved sales and marketing tactics
• Identify cost-reduction opportunities and drive the execution of cost-down efforts
• Identify market development opportunities and areas for product enhancement/development to meet market needs
• Help build market research capabilities and leverage existing/new platforms to scale efforts

Education:

• BS/BA in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Design or Architecture

Experience:

• Minimum of 7 - 10 years in a Product Management or Product Management support role for an architectural products or technology portfolio
• Demonstrated success defining and launching excellent products
• Industry experience in lighting, controls, or electronics is preferred
• Experience with an ERP system, preferably Oracle JD Edwards, for data extraction and decision making preferred
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority

Preferred Skills:

• Must possess strong interpersonal, relationship-building, relationship management, and teamwork skills
• Must have outstanding oral, written, and verbal communication and presentation skills, as well as strong persuasion and negotiation skills. Must have a high level of comfort with communicating at every level of the organization, from executives to field personnel
• Must be comfortable and effective in an environment with frequent changes in scope and direction. Candidate shall have strong multi-tasking skills
• Must possess strong business acumen. Candidate shall have a strong understanding of marketing management frameworks and fundamentals. Candidate shall have financial theory competence and be able to calculate NPV, ROI, Payback, and be able to create annual business plan forecasts that can be adjusted monthly
• Proficiency with MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

About Legrand

Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Our comprehensive offering of solutions for residential, commercial, and data center markets makes us a benchmark for customers worldwide. We harness technological and societal trends with lasting impacts on buildings with the purpose of improving life by transforming the spaces where people live, work, and meet with electrical and digital infrastructures and connected solutions that are simple, innovative, and sustainable. Legrand is a global, publicly traded company listed on the Euronext (Legrand SA EPA: LR). For more information, visit www.legrandgroup.com/en

About Legrand North and Central America

Legrand, North & Central America (LNCA) is a leader in the AV, Lighting & Controls, Electrical, and Data Center markets. LNCA offers comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as distinctive benefits like a high employer 401K match, paid time off (PTO) and holiday pay, short-term and long-term disability benefit plans, above-benchmark paid maternity and parental leave, bonus opportunities in accordance with the Company’s incentive plans, paid time off to volunteer, and an active/growing Employee Resource Group network. For more information, visit legrand.us 

About Legrand’s Lighting Sector

Legrand’s Lighting Sector consists of five lighting brands; Pinnacle, Finelite, Focal Point, and OCL which focus on architectural, decorative, and downlighting and Kenall which focuses on lighting for demanding environments.  We employ a talented group of employees that love lighting to design and manufacture high performance, energy efficient LED lighting solutions for applications in commercial, educational, healthcare, as well as challenging environments such as tunnels and correctional facilities.  With an eye toward sustainable design, our focus is on specification-oriented products and solutions that meet the functional needs of spaces while working in harmony with the designer’s vision for those spaces. We work with architects, engineers, and contractors to supply lighting built specifically for their client’s projects.   

http://www.legrand.us

http://www.youtube.com/legrandna

http://www.linkedin.com/company/44580

http://twitter.com/legrandNA

Equal Opportunity Employer