Role Summary:
The Senior Product Manager will be responsible for the overall growth, profitability, and market leadership of the Water Storage Tank, Bath & Kitchen Fittings, and PTMT Taps categories. The role combines category strategy, product management, innovation, portfolio optimization, pricing, and commercial execution. The incumbent will work closely with Sales, Branding, R&D, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Finance, and external stakeholders to identify growth opportunities, develop winning products, strengthen category competitiveness, and deliver business objectives.
Roles and Responsibility:
Category Strategy & Business Management
- Own the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) for the assigned categories with responsibility for revenue, volume, profitability, and market share growth.
- Develop category growth strategies based on market dynamics, competitive landscape, customer insights, and business priorities.
- Continuously track category performance and recommend corrective actions to achieve business objectives.
- Identify short-term and long-term growth opportunities, adjacent product segments, and market expansion opportunities while ensuring alignment with the overall business strategy.
Product Portfolio Management
- Drive end-to-end portfolio management across the product lifecycle, ensuring a healthy balance between growth, profitability, and operational efficiency.
- Conduct regular portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for SKU rationalization, assortment optimization, range expansion, and product mix enhancement.
- Monitor category performance, product profitability, and channel-specific requirements to ensure the portfolio remains competitive, relevant, and commercially sustainable.
- Lead initiatives that enhance portfolio productivity while simplifying complexity.
Market Research & Consumer Insights
- Lead market intelligence through continuous engagement with customers, dealers, plumbers, contractors, architects, consultants, and sales teams.
- Translate market insights into actionable business opportunities by identifying unmet needs, emerging trends, changing customer preferences, and competitive gaps.
- Conduct regular market visits and benchmarking exercises to develop a deep understanding of category dynamics and build data-backed strategies for product development and category growth.
New Product Development & Innovation
- Lead New Product Development (NPD) cycle through a structured Stage‑Gate process, from opportunity identification and concept generation to development, validation, commercialization, and post‑launch review.
- Collaborate with R&D, Manufacturing, Quality, Procurement, and Sales teams to build a robust innovation pipeline aligned with category strategy.
- Develop business cases for new product / category, assess market potential, and ensure successful product launches that deliver sustainable growth and differentiation in the market.
Pricing, Profitability & Value Engineering
- Own category pricing strategy by balancing competitiveness, value perception, and profitability objectives.
- Conduct pricing reviews, competitor benchmarking, and profitability analysis to drive informed pricing decisions.
- Lead Value Analysis (VA) and Value Engineering (VE) initiatives in collaboration with Procurement, Manufacturing, and R&D teams to improve margins, optimize product costs, enhance product performance, and increase overall category profitability without compromising customer value.
Marketing & Demand Generation
- Partner with Branding and Marketing teams to develop category‑specific communication and activation plans.
- Support creation of product collaterals, catalogues, brochures, technical literature, videos, AV content, digital assets, and launch campaigns that strengthen product positioning and visibility.
- Develop modules for customer and influencer engagement initiatives such as plumber meets, architect engagements, dealer programs, internal training, workshops, exhibitions, and product demonstrations to generate awareness, preference, and demand for the assigned categories.
Sales Enablement & Go‑To‑Market Execution
- Work closely with the Business team to ensure effective commercialization of products and category initiatives.
- Develop competitive comparisons, value propositions, product presentations, and training programs that enable field teams to drive conversions and category growth.
- Support new product launches through structured go‑to‑market plans while ensuring alignment across channels, regions, and customer segments.
Stakeholder Management & Cross Functional Leadership
- Act as the central coordinator across all functions involved in category management, including Sales, Branding, R&D, Quality, Manufacturing, Procurement, Supply Chain, Finance, and Legal.
- Drive alignment on category priorities, product roadmaps, launch timelines, and growth initiatives while ensuring seamless execution.
- Build strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to accelerate decision‑making, resolve challenges, and achieve business outcomes.
Skills and Competencies
MBA/Engineering graduate with 8-12 years of experience in Product Management, Category Management, Product Marketing, or Business Management within Building Materials, Plumbing, Bathware, Water Management, Consumer Durables, or related industries.
The ideal candidate should possess strong commercial acumen, experience in NPD, portfolio management, pricing strategy, market research, and stakeholder management, along with the ability to convert market insights into profitable growth opportunities.