Sr. Product Manager

Digital Control Incorporated (DCI) is the world’s leading supplier of underground locating and steering products for the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) industry. Since the introduction of this revolutionary technology 30 years ago, Digital Control has been at the forefront of trenchless technologies that enable the efficient installation of underground utilities such as fiber optic, telecom, gas, and water lines world-wide. DCI’s products are valued for their durable design, ease of use and uncompromising commitment to customer service.

DCI is seeking a Sr. Product Manager to drive global product strategy, partner with R&D in achieving New Product Development (NPD) and assure market success for products assigned. This highly collaborative role requires an understanding of applicable technology, knowledge of relevant DCI industries and markets, ability to uncover unmet customer needs, and to apply modern practices for sales enablement. Working with a team of product managers, engineering project managers, engineering team architects and leaders in the organization, you will apply your knowledge of NPD and industrial applications to shape our product ecosystem's strategic product roadmap. Managing key product lines, you will ensure seamless integration with our broader product suite while delivering customer value and driving requirements that consider the needs across global markets.

Responsibilities

• This position requires tight partnership with the R&D and (Outbound) Marketing teams.
• Perform Industry and Market Research:

• New products and businesses: Identify new products and/or new business opportunities consistent with the corporate strategy. Research opportunities sufficiently well to justify investments to stakeholders.
• Industry: Become the resident expert on the competitors and competitive offerings for your assigned product area and/or industry or market segment.
• Market: Become the resident expert on the customers and customer needs for your product area and/or market segment.
• Visit customers: Research will require both paper studies and travel to understand customers and those who have chosen to purchase competitive products.

• Product Strategy: Define a winning product strategy for your assigned product area and/or market segment that also considers other elements of the DCI ecosystem (hardware and software) and aids a winning overall ecosystem.
• Project Portfolio Management: Prior to product roadmaps, work with other product managers and the R&D team to propose (for the Leadership Team) an investment plan in new products that accounts for and balances risk/payback, new/old markets, high margin/price-sensitive markets, high growth/low growth markets, etc.
• Product Roadmap: Working with other product managers and the R&D team, develop a roadmap proposal (for the Leadership Team) that is financially justifiable as the best use of funds, and accounting for the balance accepted for Project Portfolio Management.
• Acquisition Strategy: Consistent with the DCI corporate strategy and your product strategy, propose (to the Leadership Team) acquisition opportunities. Justify them in terms of strategic alignment, synergies and financials.
• Diversification Strategy: Consistent with the DCI corporate strategy and aligned with other guidance given by the Leadership Team, propose (to the Leadership Team) diversification opportunities. Justify them in terms of strategic alignment, synergies and financials.
• New product launch Strategy: Work with the (Outbound) Marketing team to develop the strategy for launching new products, including key areas on which to focus messaging.

• Project Financial Valuation: At various points in the New Product Introduction (NPI) process, perform (or refresh) Project Financial Valuation (using approved tools and methods) to justify new product and/or new business opportunities.
• Product Requirements (with R&D): During the “fuzzy front end” of the NPI Process (prior to the “Development” phase) work with R&D leaders to create and refine Product Requirements Documents (PRDs).
• Projections for Financial Impact of New Products: Aid in creating a full financial projection of the impact of New Product plans to demonstrate how revenue and profit will be impacted by these plans.

• Current product issues: Various issues may arise with current products. For those product areas assigned to you, consider these current issues of the highest priority since they may have a direct impact on a customer or on a potential sale.
• EoX: The responsibility for decisions and coordination for End-of-Sale, End-of-Life, End-of-Support also fall on this position.

• Exceptional writing skills are required for this position. Communication will be required to various internal partners, key stakeholders and field employees. You must be able to craft compelling, concise, consistent messages that inspire trust and drive alignment.

• Process Improvement: As always, continuous improvement is essential. Participate in NPI Implementation Retrospectives and own/drive post-launch Market Retrospectives.
• Autonomy: Must operate with a high degree of autonomy and handle complex, high-impact, and highly visible products. Must be able to handle high levels of ambiguity.
• Mentoring: May be required to mentor other Product Managers.
• Travel: Up to 25% travel may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, science or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of experience in Product Management or similar roles.
• Experience in manufacturing companies.
• Experience in market and industry research.
• Experience in developing product strategy and roadmap planning.
• Experience with customer‑centric solutions and product definitions.
• Experience working with engineering teams.
• Ability to navigate construction sites and other potentially hazardous environments.
• Strong ability to communicate technical concepts, make trade‑offs, and evaluate new ideas.
• Exceptional business writing skills with the ability to explain complex ideas to varied audiences.

Desired Skills and Knowledge

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in business.
• Experience with electronic measurement devices, systems and/or products.
• Industry experience in manufacturing, construction, tools, or other heavy industries involving technical products in diverse environments.
• Experience with Voice of the Customer (VOC) or similar processes.
• Experience with Project Financial Valuation tools and metrics.
• Experience in working with UX design, mechanical, electrical, and software engineering teams.
• Experience with common project management methodologies.
• Working knowledge of Lean, Agile, and Scrum methodologies.
• Experience with Project Portfolio Management.
• Experience as a designer in New Product Development (NPD).
• Proficiency with tools like scheduling tools (like MS Project and Asana), bug tracking tools (like Jira) and documentation sharing tools (like Confluence and SharePoint).