Commercial Product Manager

When Alfred Fain founded a small Rhode Island tire store in 1924, at the time no one could have predicted how Teknor Apex would become an international custom compounder sought out by companies around the world. After a nearly hundred-year journey that's carried us through acquisitions and expansion, we now have nine U.S. locations, as well as operations in Belgium, Singapore, Germany, and China.

Throughout this global expansion Teknor has remained a privately held company, and today Fain's grandson sits at the helm, maintaining the family's tradition of fostering deep employee and customer relationships. These relationships are what allow us-together-to deliver customized compound solutions and help our customer's create better products.

"Manufacturing is a team sport, and we work together to achieve our goals." ~Jon Fain

Overview

Teknor Apex is a leading global provider of custom polymer compounding solutions, driven by a passion for innovation and a deep understanding of materials science. With operations in the U.S., Belgium, Germany, Singapore, and China, we deliver a wide variety of thermoplastic compounding solutions (vinyl, engineered materials, TPE, TPV and sustainable resins) to customers worldwide. Guided by our core values of innovation, partnership, sustainability, and integrity, we foster a collaborative and inclusive culture that empowers our people to shape the future of the polymer industry.

We are seeking an experienced Product Manager with a background in polymers, plastics, or compounding to drive the growth and profitability of our product portfolio. This role is responsible for developing and executing product line strategies that support Teknor Apex's overall business objectives, with a strong emphasis on polymer materials innovation, product lifecycle management, and market development.

As a key member of the Commercial organization, the Product Manager will collaborate closely with R&D, sales, operations, and marketing teams to deliver differentiated polymer solutions that meet customer needs and support long-term business success.

Key Responsibilities:

• Product Strategy: Develop and execute product line strategies aligned with business objectives. This includes analyzing customer needs, resin trends, market trends, and the competitive landscape to identify opportunities within the polymer and compounding industry for product growth, innovation, and differentiation. The Product Manager supports the development of product roadmaps and contributes to go-to-market plans that ensure alignment with overall business goals.
• Product Portfolio Development: Translate customer insights and market requirements into product attributes and specifications. Partner closely with technical teams on product development, prototyping, and commercialization. Coordinate product launch activities, ensuring that positioning, marketing tools, and sales enablement resources are in place to drive adoption and success.
• Portfolio Management: Manage assigned polymer product lines across the lifecycle, from introduction and growth through maturity and rationalization. Evaluate portfolio performance by resin family and application segment to optimize profitability, growth, and value proposition to ensure alignment with business objectives. Provide support for new product introductions and product extensions within assigned markets, ensuring they contribute to portfolio health and profitability.
• Product Integration & Commercialization: Ensure that products are effectively integrated into end-user applications. Collaborate with operations and technical service teams on scale-up and product ramping to ensure smooth commercialization. Support application development for key markets such as automotive, consumer products, construction, and wire & cable. Monitor product pricing and margins, support value pricing strategies, and identify opportunities for optimization within the portfolio.
• Maximize Product Profitability: Track the financial performance of product lines and monitor profitability drivers. Collaborate with commercial teams to develop and support pricing strategies. Identify opportunities to expand product lines into new markets and applications, strengthening both revenue and margin performance.
• Product Roadmap: Build market insight for assigned product lines by understanding the competitive landscape and monitoring polymer market trends, resin innovations, and customer application requirements & industry trends. Support the definition and execution of go-to-market strategies, working closely with marketing to develop product collateral, sales tools, and training materials that drive effective product positioning and market penetration.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively with sales, marketing, technical, and supply chain teams to ensure effective execution of product strategies. Provide training and resources to commercial teams, while gathering and communicating voice-of-customer insights throughout the organization to support data-driven decision making.

Profile:

• Proven track record of success in product management within the polymer, plastics, or compounding industry, with experience developing and executing product strategies that drive measurable business results.
• Skilled in managing and rationalizing product portfolios across multiple businesses, markets, and customer segments.
• Strong understanding of polymer materials, resin systems, and compounding processes.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance technical and commercial considerations. Adept at market planning, business case development, and product positioning.
• Core capabilities include product and portfolio analysis, profitability assessment, lifecycle management, stage-gate process execution, market and segment strategy development, value proposition validation, voice of customer insights, and go-to-market planning.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and collaborate across levels of the organization; able to communicate effectively, manage conflicts, and align cross-functional teams toward common goals.
• Highly organized with the ability to prioritize, multitask, and lead complex projects within defined timelines.
• Strong interpersonal and team-building skills with experience working in a global, matrixed environment.
• Experience in B2B marketing, particularly within specialty materials, plastics, or chemicals industries, is preferred.

Requirements:

• At least 5-8 years of experience in product management function in multinational polymer, resin, or plastic compounding organization.
• Experience in speciality plastics, chemicals or materials industries preferred.
• Strong analytical, financial, and business acumen.
• Experience supporting customers in automotive, industrial, medical or consumer goods markets preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage product lifecycle and deliver profitable growth.
• Ability to travel up to 20-25% domestically and internationally.
• Cross regional and cross-cultural working experience.
• A degree in engineering or chemistry, MBA desirable.
• Ability to travel about 30% of time within and outside region.

This description is a summary of principal responsibilities and is not intended to include all duties that may be assigned.

Teknor Apex is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any protected status under state or federal laws. Must be 18 years of age or older to work at Teknor Apex.