Product Manager

Who Are We?

Have you ever gone into a grocery store or convenience store for things like milk, bagged salads, or frozen pizza? The coolers and freezers you find those and other food products in are what we do!! Zero Zone is a manufacturer of reach-in and open refrigerated and frozen food display cases as well as the refrigeration systems that work behind the scenes to cool the cases, keeping the food fresh! We also make powerful industrial refrigeration systems for food warehousing, pharmaceuticals, and even ice rinks!

Our company is structured across 2 divisions - the Display Case Division, located in North Prairie, WI, Waukesha, WI, and Mukwonago, WI and the Refrigeration Systems Division, located in Ramsey, MN and Dyersville, IA.

What Are We Like?

At Zero Zone, you will be a valued member of the Zero Zone team, able to take ownership of your own career path. We believe in hard work, teamwork, collaboration, and respect, and we have grown through dedication to our Purpose: "Preserving customer valuables through refrigeration." For over 60 years, we have been a leader in refrigeration, and our people are well known for exceptional customer service. We also believe we are the COOLEST coworkers (pun intended)! This is an opportunity for you to make a difference in the refrigeration industry with one of the top leading manufacturers in the country! Come grow with us!

What Can We Offer You?

• Vacation and Personal Hours (after only 30 days!)

• Competitive Wages

• Comprehensive Benefits Package (medical, dental, vision, life insurance, STD, LTD, AD&D, HSA/FSA, EAP)

• 401k and Profit Sharing

• 10 Paid Holidays

• Flexible Schedules

• Casual Dress Code

• Wellness Programs and Incentives

• Steel Toe Reimbursement

• Employee Engagement Programs

• One-time Home Computer Reimbursement

• And more!

What Will You Do?

Under the direction of the Marketing Director, the Product Manager role will lead the marketing and business product strategy for our systems business. He/she/they would be responsible for cross functional leadership in defining core product portfolio, driving future growth, value proposition, market positioning, strategic pricing, complexity reduction and overall roadmap development to drive margin and share. This role will also collaborate and work closely with sourcing, operations and engineering teams in filling portfolio gaps and working through key launch deliverables The role requires someone with a strong business acumen, analytical skills, a high sense of urgency.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Product Lifecycle Management

• Create, execute, and maintain a product strategy to guide new product development efforts for the product categories.

• Manage all products throughout all stages of their life cycle, developing strategies for development, introduction, continuing contribution, and discontinuance, while maximizing their profitable existence and synergism with all products of the business.

• Develop and execute short-term and long-term strategic growth plans for assigned product platforms to grow the business.

• Create and deliver clear, concise value propositions for each product and present it to customers.

• Responsible for successful launch and commercialization of new products.

• Act as a liaison with sales, engineering, manufacturing and appropriate division personnel to communicate and deliver product solutions that maintain market leadership.

• Market Research

• Develop market strategy based on researching customer pain points & unmet needs, market sizes, and buyer personas. Direct and perform market research to define market size, growth and trends including pricing, competition & opportunity.

• Investigate and understand customer/market expectations; define product strategy that meets expectations of customers, distributors, sales and the division.

• Collect and synthesize customer insights (VOC) and competitive intelligence through customer interviews, market research, and channel knowledge.

• Business Ownership

• Responsible for improving product performance - Metrics include sales volume, margins, and market share.

• Improve product profitability and deliver growth through cost reductions and recommends pricing adjustments.

• Make pricing recommendations that position the products to win in the market while maximizing margin potential for the business.

• Other duties may be assigned.

Requirements for Effective Performance:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, marketing or business administration is required; MBA is preferred
• A minimum of 2 to 4 years of relevant experience in a product based, business-to-business environment. 1-2 years of that experience should specifically be in product management
• Experience and a proven track record in successfully working with refrigeration products and applications in large industrial organizations desired
• Must be able to travel up to 25% - occasional international travel

Skills/Abilities/Specifications:

• Strong business acumen. Proven history of successful business cases, conducting complex financial analyses developing financial models
• Well organized, aggressive self-starter with the willingness to learn and grow with an ability to establish plans independently with limited direction or supervision
• Proven ability to analyze current business issues, end-user needs.
• Must possess technical aptitude to understand product capabilities and consumer needs.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills to convey vision

Behavioral & Environmental Requirements:

• Maintain a positive work attitude. Zero Zone expects all employees to behave and communicate in a manner which will facilitate good relationships with customers, clients, co-workers, and supervisor.
• Safety toe shoes and safety glasses are required while in production areas.
• Regularly required to sit, stand, and walk throughout the office and production areas; have use of hands and fingers to use a computer, telephone, and other office equipment; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 15 pounds.