Director of Controls, Monitoring and Connected Products

Chemelex is a global leader in electric thermal and sensing solutions, protecting the world's critical processes, places, and people. With over 50 years of innovation and a commitment to excellence, we develop technologies that improve safety, reliability, and efficiency across industrial, commercial, and residential markets. Our trusted brands include Raychem®, Tracer®, Nuheat®, and Pyrotenax®.

We're looking for talented individuals who are ready to learn, innovate, and help shape the future of planning and supply chain operations.

Position Summary

The Director of Controls, Monitoring and Connected Products leads the global portfolio strategy, product roadmap, and successful end-to-end delivery of new products and solutions across Chemelex controls, monitoring, sensing and connected products. The Director translates industry, market, customer, competitive and technology intelligence into actionable portfolio priorities, guides product investment decisions and ensures new product programs deliver the intended customer and business outcomes.  The role is accountable for the portfolio choices that support revenue growth, margin improvement, customer value and competitive differentiation.

The Director leads the product and program management team and partners across engineering, commercial, and operational functions to convert portfolio priorities into compelling business cases and executable NPI programs.  The role drives cross-functional execution throughout the complete NPI lifecycle, from opportunity definition and concept refinement through product development, industrialization, commercial readiness and launch.  The role continuously monitors product and portfolio performance to shape future priorities and make product lifecycle decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

Portfolio Strategy and Business Leadership

• Lead the global portfolio vision, product strategy, roadmap and lifecycle direction for controls, monitoring, and connected products.
• Establish portfolio priorities using industry, market, customer, competitive, business and technology intelligence to drive revenue and EBITDA growth.
• Drive product portfolio decisions and product roadmaps, including new product development, product enhancements, platform opportunities, rationalization, and buy, build or partner alternatives.
• Develop, evaluate and implement value propositions, business cases and solution alternatives based on customer value, strategic fit, financial return, technical feasibility and organizational capability.
• Monitor portfolio performance across revenue, margin, growth, quality, portfolio mix, product health and return on investment, and initiate actions to improve results.

Market Customer and Competitive Insight

• Establish a comprehensive fact base incorporating market and business intelligence, voice of customer, customer workflows, win and loss analysis, competitive activity, regulatory trends, technology developments, quality performance and warranty data.
• Translate insights into clearly defined technology/platform strategies, portfolio priorities, product concepts, requirements and roadmaps, working across the organization to shape technology and platform direction.
• Partner with sales, Projects organization, Market Intelligence, regional teams and other market-facing functions to understand needs across geographies, applications and market segments.
• Utilize a disciplined voice of customer system that incorporates direct and indirect customer feedback to identify and prioritize unmet customer needs and pain points.
• Identify emerging opportunities and threats that could affect the portfolio and incorporate proactive actions into strategic business and product plans.
• Support major customer engagements, strategic account discussions, conferences, product councils, and executive-level presentations as needed.

NPI Program Execution & Go-To-Market

• Be accountable for the successful delivery of the portfolio’s NPI programs and their intended customer and business outcomes.
• Translate approved portfolio opportunities into well-defined programs with clear requirements, value propositions, business cases, success measures, resource commitments and integrated execution plans.
• Drive execution across the complete NPI lifecycle, including concept refinement, product development, verification and validation, industrialization, supply readiness, pricing, marketing, training, documentation, service readiness, launch and post-launch evaluation.
• Partner across the organization to ensure the complete product offering is delivered, including required hardware, firmware, software, accessories, supporting assets and capabilities.
• Drive commercial readiness, including value propositions, positioning, messaging, launch plans, sales enablement, training and channel support.  Ensure teams have the tools, training, competitive intelligence, and product knowledge needed to successfully position and sell assigned solutions.
• Review program health, schedule, cost, scope, quality, risk and tollgate readiness; resolve trade-offs and escalate material decisions or barriers requiring senior leadership action.
• Strengthen planning and product development discipline, promote compliance with the company’s NPI process, and contribute to improvements that increase speed, quality, predictability and business value.
• Evaluate post-launch results against the approved business case and use lessons learned to improve future products and programs.

Portfolio and Product Lifecycle Direction

• Shape lifecycle priorities for the portfolio, including product enhancements, quality improvements, cost reduction, value analysis and value engineering, compliance, obsolescence and sunsetting using product, customer, financial, operational, quality and warranty performance.
• Partner with Application Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, and Codes and Standards to address sustaining needs, product improvements, compliance requirements, and market readiness.
• Drive portfolio simplification and rationalization where it improves customer clarity, operational efficiency or financial performance.
• Maintain a balanced portfolio of new development, product improvement and lifecycle actions aligned with business priorities.

Product and Program Management Leadership

• Lead, coach and develop the product and program management team responsible for Control, Monitoring and Connected Products to drive the portfolio strategy, product ownership and NPI delivery.
• Establish clear accountabilities, priorities and operating expectations for product and program managers.
• Hold product owners accountable for managing assigned products as businesses, with clear ownership of strategy, performance, priorities and outcomes.
• Hold program managers accountable for integrated program planning, cross-functional execution, risk management and successful NPI delivery.
• Build strong product and program management capabilities, succession plans and a culture of disciplined execution.

Cross Functional Leadership

• Lead across engineering, commercial, financial and operational functions to align commitments, resolve trade-offs and deliver program and portfolio outcomes.
• Facilitate alignment between commercial, technical, operational, and financial stakeholders.
• Drive accountability across cross-functional teams to deliver business results, resolve trade-offs, and make timely decisions.
• Communicate portfolio strategy, performance, program status, risks, opportunities and recommended decisions clearly to senior leadership.

What You Will Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree required in Engineering, Business, Marketing or a related technical or commercial discipline; an MBA or relevant advanced degree is a plus.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in product management, portfolio leadership, program management or related commercial and technical leadership roles for complex engineered products.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing product and program management teams, with accountability for portfolio strategy and NPI delivery.
• Experience managing products that integrate hardware, firmware, embedded software and connected capabilities.
• Strong technical aptitude and the ability to engage credibly with R&D, Engineering, technical customers and other subject-matter experts.
• Demonstrated success developing product and portfolio strategies, roadmaps, value propositions, business cases, product investment recommendations, pricing strategies and lifecycle plans.
• Experience leading complex, multidisciplinary NPI programs from opportunity definition and concept development through industrialization, commercial readiness and launch.
• Working knowledge of stage-gate, Agile, hybrid, waterfall and other development methods, with the judgment to apply an approach appropriate to the product, program and business need.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including revenue and margin analysis, forecasting, business-case development, return-on-investment analysis and portfolio trade-offs.
• Proven ability to synthesize customer, market, financial, competitive, quality and technical inputs into clear strategic priorities and executable plans.
• Strong people leadership skills, including coaching, developing, prioritizing and holding teams accountable for results.
• Excellent communication, executive presentation, facilitation, influencing and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to lead across functions and regions in a global, matrixed organization with competing priorities and complex decisions.
• Customer focus, sound judgment, high integrity, bias for action, and willingness to travel domestically and internationally as required.