Product and Application Manager

Toray Advanced Composites (TAC) is a leading supplier of advanced composite materials for the aerospace, sporting goods, motorsport, and industrial markets. You will find our thermoset composite products on nearly every satellite, space launch vehicle, unmanned aircraft, military and commercial aircraft in production today. TAC also provides composites materials to industrial and recreational applications including mountain bikes, medical prosthetics, and sports equipment.

Our thermoplastic prepregs, known in the industry as Cetex®, are found in a wide range of commercial and military aircraft, including large wing structures and interior applications like seats and galleys. Our Cetex products are available in unidirectional tape or fabric form in a variety of engineered thermoplastic resins including PEEK, PPS, PEI as well as a full line of performance thermoplastics including Nylon, PET, PC/ABS, HDPE, and PP.

SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONS:

The Product Manager will lead the integrated strategic oversight, planning, and management of Toray Advanced Composites’ (TAC) product portfolio, working closely across functions. This includes commercial aspects with Sales & Marketing, manufacturing and capacity with Operations, and technology/qualification roadmap efforts with R&PT/Expert Services. The person in this role will actively lead and participate in cross functional initiatives associated with the portfolio. The position will act in a customer-facing role and will work closely with the internal teams to drive growth of Toray’s Thermoplastic product portfolio.

The Product Manager will effectively link product growth strategies across the Sales, Marketing, Technology, and Operations organizations as the Toray Composites businesses rapidly grow and expand. This includes outlining priorities for new product development, facilitating new product introduction processes, and product lifecycle management. The Product Manager is responsible for creating clear, accountable processes to maximize profit, revenue and production efficiency from a portfolio management standpoint. 

This role includes leading the Field Application Development Team and a dotted line oversight of the Thermoplastic Product Manager role.

Please note roles and responsibilities are subject to change with or without advanced notice.

MAJOR DUTIES AND REQUIREMENTS: 

• Lead the Application Development efforts including direct management of the existing Field Expert Services team covering both Thermosets and Thermoplastics
• Specifically manage the Thermoplastic product portfolio and drive further development and success in the marketplace
• Establish TAC’s value proposition, strategy and product development needs within the key market segments
• Collect market information, including competitive benchmarks, trends, opportunities, customer expectations and market needs
• Act as the liaison between Sales, Manufacturing Operations, Research & Technical teams, being an integral member leveraging the new Sales, Inventory & Operation Planning information 
• Coordinate new opportunity screening and lead New Product Introduction (NPI) activities for the Thermoplastic product portfolio and recommend and champion new product line extensions to further differentiate Toray in the composite marketplace
• Lead portfolio and product management process integration between key TAC locations
• Translate market needs into product requirements; work in collaboration with the technology/R&D functions to prioritize product development activity – work with commercial team to develop robust business cases to justify new development programs 
• Have extensive knowledge of TAC product cost structures, product standards creation and validation and future economy of scale cost modeling
• Establish pricing strategies for the product portfolios & consult the sales organization on price setting, pricing strategies and negotiations
• Support business development efforts revolving around woven, unidirectional thermoplastic composite materials as well as supplemental products
• Assess market segment attractiveness, planning, annual sales budget and forecast development
• Provide sales support (internally and externally), customer education and customer support
• Support trade shows and other market related activities, working closely with the marketing team with product launches, marketing campaigns and creation of supporting marketing collateral including SDS, PDS and whitepapers 
• Capture, interpret and communicate market/customer requirements and needs
• Closely track key competitor activities and adapt TAC strategy to changing market conditions
• Work with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities
• Assist in measuring /monitoring portfolio profitability 
• Ensure sales and service product training occurs, develop product demos and decide on demo content
• Create long-term competitive strategy for the product portfolios 
• Track capacity and raw material supply issues in collaboration with operations
• Member of the Global Product Management team developing and implementing business process alignment across TAC globally
• Support product stewardship activities, ensuring that regulatory, sustainability, and compliance considerations are incorporated into portfolio decisions throughout the product lifecycle. This includes engaging with internal and external stakeholders to develop TAC’s proactive product stewardship strategy and development of sustainable and EH&S optimized materials 

EXPERIENCE AND/OR EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS: 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, chemical, material science or related field or equivalent education/professional experience required
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience leading product development, application development and/or sales teams in a highly technical manufacturing environment
• Experience in the composite materials industry preferred 
• Proven ability to develop and execute tactical sales and marketing plans in a technical environment desired
• Experience in strategic planning and execution 
• Knowledge of new product development (NPD) and new product introduction (NPI) processes 
• Experience in establishing costing and pricing models for products and services in the composites industry 
• Experience working in a customer-facing technical role 
• Ability to make decisions with limited set of data and high level of ambiguity
• Effective in taking charge and pushing beyond boundaries and ability to solve problems creatively and/or provide on the spot solutions
• Ability to understand the business impact of the decisions taken
• Excellent industry and technical knowledge
• Flexible schedule and ability to travel ~50% or more visiting customers, technology centers and TAC facilities if not residing locally.
• Advanced abilities with MS Office software tools (Word™, PowerPoint™, Excel™)
• Excellent communication skills required

Physical Requirements:

Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.

Salary range:  $150,000 - $195,000

Toray Advanced Composites employment practices offer equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against its employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other basis prohibited by law. Equal employment opportunity will be extended to all persons in all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, transfer, discipline, layoff, recall, and termination.