Function
The Product Manager for the Residential sensor market is responsible for the following:
Upstream marketing (insights)
- Identify the needs of the targeted customers/segments in close cooperation with the sales organizations in Niko’s three sales regions: Central, Nordic and West.
- Develop customer centric business cases prioritizing the right products and services providing the most rewarding customer experience.
Product sourcing
- Specify product requirements for our sourcing partners, both internal as international.
- Develop strategic business partnerships, ensuring Niko is first in the mind with selected OEM/ODM suppliers.
Downstream marketing (innovation)
- Streamline and develop Niko’s “Essential” portfolio in the Residential market of indoor and outdoor sensors to gain further growth in the targeted markets.
- Develop launch strategy of products and work closely together with Sales and Channel Marketing departments on the implementation.
- Monitor competition and market trends to be at the forefront of the market development.
- Manage the life cycle of the products in the portfolio – ensure a smooth phase in and phase out of products.
Incentives and objectives of the Product Manager are based on:
- Sales growth and gross margin of the Residential sensor market.
- Success rate of new product introductions.
- Collaboration results with strategic business partners.
Profile
The product manager for the residential market has a combined technical and commercial background – on the technical side ideally electrical/electronic.
It is an open and cooperative character as the role requires close dialogue and cooperation with external customers/partners as well as internal colleagues across departments.
At the same time, he/she must be able to work independently as many colleagues are located in other countries – much of the teamwork will be remote. The organization is used to this way of working across Niko’s offices in Europe. Up to 50% of travelling for customer, supplier and internal meetings. A lot of internal teamwork is done online.
The product manager has a strong personal drive to fight for and make his/her portfolio successful and is passionate about bringing the right products to the market to satisfy the needs of the targeted customers. The mind-set is customer-focused (outside in).
A well-structured way of working ensures a streamlined management of the product line.
The important element of cooperating with external/sourcing partners calls for strong international commercial skills. Prior experience with intercontinental travel and success in establishing cross-cultural relationships is highly valued.
Having a customer-focused mindset with attention to the technical and functional design as with best practice use cases.
Education and experience
Combined technical and commercial education is ideal. A technical education with commercial work experience is a possible combination; we are looking for a master with at least 5 years’ experience in a similar/related a proven track record: having successfully performed product management including product launches.
Languages: Fluent in verbal and written English. Skills in German, Danish, Dutch, and French are appreciated.
Ideally, the new product manager comes from the sensor and/or lighting business, or related businesses – could be the supplier side (competitors), wholesales or installation/integrator companies.
Knowledge about lighting control platforms as DMX-DALI-KNX, and wireless communication protocols as Zigbee, zWave, Bluetooth is a big advantage.
