Product Manager

Littelfuse is one of America’s Best Mid-Sized Companies (Forbes) and has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois (Best Companies Group) for 11 consecutive years. With its global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA, Littelfuse is a leading, global manufacturer of electronic components serving more than 100,000 end customers across industrial, transportation, and electronics end markets. We have more than 17,000 employees with operations in 15 countries. From semiconductors to sensors… switches to fuses and more… we produce billions of electronic components that help our customers empower a sustainable, connected, and safer world. In 2021, Littelfuse had net sales of $2.1 billion.

Littelfuse is seeking a Product Manager to implement the strategic plans and activities for the Industrial Circuit Protection Fuse team. This individual will manage profitability and ensure alignment with company strategy, contribute to product line roadmap, develop pricing models, and collaborate across functions to ensure product line success.

Responsibilities:

Market Analysis & Strategy

• Own and drive the product strategy for the for the Industrial Circuit Protection Fuses under her/his responsibility
• Create and maintain a product roadmap with input from Internal sources (Sales, Engineering) and external (customers, competition, technology trends)
• Identify & stay abreast of technology trends, new technologies and trends that impact the market and product development space (opportunistic and erosive) and update management of the likely impact on an as needed basis
• Support the creation / evolution of market models and other mechanisms that help illustrate the market (size, growth, assess competitive position, and opportunities)
• Support the definition / evolution of the Industrial Business Unit Strategy, as needed
• Evaluate competition positioning and evolution in the market

New Product Development and Product Revision:

• Manages new products/system/service launch and life cycle from phase-in to phase-out.
• Drive engineering and sales in the development of new products according to the Product Roadmap and company strategy.
• Understand needs, opportunities, and capabilities to create product requirement documentation and integrate into the product development process
• Work with Sales, Engineering and Marcom to ensure that emerging and new products have sufficient product support material, prototypes, early samples and documentation to commiserate with the opportunity and stage in product development
• Create product readiness checklists for each new product and drive this to completion with each new product release
• Support and participate in sales release process in a timely manner
• Explore, Identify and propose merge or acquisitions of new lines or new companies to strength the portfolio

Product Financial and Operating Performance

• Responsible for the Product Family profitability.
• Define pricing for assigned products to support pricing and revenue goals
• Review performance regularly and define and implement actions as necessary to drive top line growth and/or return product margins to required levels
• Support and lead product rationalization, as required by profitability, product strategy and supplier strategy.
• Work with sales & customers to assess future demand forecast and provide this input to Operations (for capacity and demand management); also as needed, set safety stock requirements and manage inventory obsolescence.
• Coordinate and ensure that product change requests are implemented according to required processes and customer notification and responses are tracked.
• Actively support and participate in cost reduction initiatives

Sales Support

• Ensures technical and commercial support to Sales for critical or special negotiations
• Participate in Sales activities on an as needed basis, including Customer visits, lunch & learns, presentations, etc.
• Support sales in responding to quotes and requests for proposals
• Participate in trade shows, technology forums, and other events, as needed

Customer Support

• Provide 2nd level (tier 2) product support and answers to customers on product related topics:  work with Sales, QA, Engineering, and Operations to help ensure that a sufficient level of support is available to customers to commiserate with the need and opportunity

Requirements and Qualifications:

• College Engineering degree required (Electrical Engineering Degree is highly desirable).
• MBA is desirable.
• 7+ years in an Industrial space, preferably in the Electric/Electronics manufacturing market, with strong knowledge in Product Management in the industry.
• Self-starter, ability to team effectively with all levels and departments of an organization, and a bias for action.
• Strong analytical skills, PC tools including Power Point & Excel, familiarity with SAP/BW is a plus
• Good communication skills and presentation skills: must be able to communicate effectively both verbally and in good written form.
• Evidence of good organizational skills with history of handling multiple tasks within a rapid pace environment.

Salary Range:

(Min-Max)

The salary offered will vary depending on your location, job-related skills, knowledge, and experience.