Associate Category Manager (Manufacturing) (EST Preferred)

Responsibilities

The Product Manager is responsible for owning Janico’s product portfolio, defining product strategy and roadmap, and ensuring products are competitively positioned to drive growth. Reporting to the Director of Marketing, this role manages the full product lifecycle, establishes product attribute requirements, and works cross-functionally to support sales, procurement, and customer needs. Portfolio Management & Positioning

• Analyze market trends, customer needs, and competitive offerings to identify gaps and opportunities within Janico’s current product portfolio
• Develop recommendations to support portfolio growth and market expansion, identifying new product opportunities
• Define positioning, value propositions, features, benefits, and core messaging for Janico’s products, providing clear inputs to Marketing for the development of sales tools, collateral, and digital product content

Competitive & Market Intelligence

• Serve as the internal owner of competitive intelligence, maintaining a clear understanding of competitor products, positioning, features, and pricing
• Monitor market trends and customer needs to inform product strategy, portfolio decisions, and differentiation opportunities
• Support commercial team with product cross-referencing and competitive comparisons as needed, developing and maintaining structured reference documentation.

Product Attribute Requirements

• Define product attribute requirements for new and existing products, including physical, functional, and performance specifications (e.g., dimensions, materials, colors, and use-case requirements)
• Collaborate with Procurement to ensure product attribute requirements are clearly communicated to and met by manufacturing partners

Product Strategy & Lifecycle

• Define and maintain the product strategy and roadmap, aligned with company growth goals
• Manage the full product life cycle from ideation and launch through optimization and phase-out
• Identify opportunities for product improvements, line extensions, and rationalization
• Own the cross-functional commercialization process for any new products, collaborating with sales, customers, and supply chain

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Support

• Work closely with shipping, marketing, customer service, accounts receivable and supply chain, to ensure customer needs are met
• Partner with sales to support new business opportunities

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; degree in business, marketing, engineering, or a related field preferred
• 2-4 years of relevant experience
• Strong ability to analyze large quantities of data
• Prior experience in product management, product development, or product marketing within a manufactured or B2B product environment preferred
• Experience working in an industrial, commercial, or distribution-driven environment preferred
• Demonstrated ability to translate market and customer insights into product requirements
• Strong analytical skills, with experience using market, customer, and competitive data to inform product strategy and portfolio decisions
• Experience working with product specifications, documentation, or structured product data preferred
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Procurement, and Operations
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, with strong skills in PowerPoint and Excel
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities and timelines

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