DUTIES AND CORE RESPONSIBILITIES DESCRIPTION:

·       Understand Aftermarket business model and developments.

·       Able to collect Market Intelligence from the market and customers to evaluate and report on market trends and align/update strategic product roadmap accordingly. Conduct market research and develop business cases for new product lines. Direct competitive benchmarking to ensure product competitiveness and produce detailed product requirements for the engineering team

·       Develop and maintain product strategy including short- & long-term planning and execution process. Develop a process & KPI’s to evaluate strategy, execution and results

·       Develop product management tools, systems and processes to support product launch and development. Develop product marketing and sales tools to drive sales growth

·       Analyze market pricing and target cost to drive correct decisions and achieve targeted profitability

·       Responsible to manage Product Life Cycle and portfolio, drive continuous product improvements, product and market segmentation, support new and existing product forecasting. Report on new products revenue monthly

Liaise and collaborate with Engineering, Global Product Management, Purchasing, Operation/Planning, Sales, Marketing and other departments about new product

·                development, product line coverage, establish respective product value proposition and provide direction for market and price positioning

·                Responsible for his/her product line price positioning and sustainable profitability

·                Develops, through coordination with the organization, profitable growth strategies for respective products

·                Identify and effectively communicate critical aspects of their products

·                Monitor quality of products and packaging (appearance, performance, attributes) and take corrective actions. Act as link between Quality Department and local Sales & Marketing teams

·                Regularly analyze risks and opportunities in order to support sales operations

·                Analyze competitive product offerings and customers request for tailor made products and provide response (incl. tenders, Private Label RFQs) in due time

·                Report regularly about product line profitability and projects status

·                Calculate coverage of responsible products vs competition. Prioritize and monitor development new SKU’s. Contribute to development of regular catalogues (paper & electronic ones). Inform regularly relevant departments about new product introductions

·                Additional responsibilities: participate customer events, provide support for trade show exhibits, attend industry meetings and develop network

·                Recurrent travel by car and by air will be required.

·                This job description is not an exhaustive list of all tasks, responsibilities and requirements. These may be amended, added, removed or changed according to the business needs.

REQUIREMENTS:

·                 EDUCATION: Minimum/Essential: Bachelor Degree in Business, Management, Engineering.

·                 Respective product ranges knowledge and proven track record (at least 3 years) as a product planner, specialist within the Automotive Aftermarket

·                Experience or aspiration to work in an international business environment

·                Experience in developing a strategic planning process and its implementation.

·                Possess an understanding of financial (profitability) reporting

·                Fluent in English language is essential and at least one other main European language (FR, ES, IT, DE, PL, RU)

·                 Good computer skills. Highly proficient in MS Office tools: Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Knowledge of SAP is a plus