Associate Product Line Manager

Molex; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Molex is seeking an Associate Product Line Manager to join our Optical Connectivity team focused on growing profitability in the data center market. You will partner with the Product Line Manager, engineering, manufacturing, and sales to define product requirements and drive deployments in the field.

This onsite role is based at Hudson, WI or Eden Prairie, MN. You will manage roadmaps, pricing, documentation, and cross‑functional projects, traveling 10–20% as needed to understand customer

Qualifications

• Experience contributing to product and lifecycle management activities.
• Experience forecasting inputs, pricing data, and financial reporting.
• Experience coordinating across crossfunctional teams (engineering, sales, operations, manufacturing).
• Market and technical acumen, with experience supporting competitive analysis and market research.
• Effective written and verbal communication with stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel approximately 10–20%.

Responsibilities

• Monitor hyperscale and cloud data center trends to shape the product roadmap.
• Collaborate with customers, engineering, and manufacturing to capture detailed requirements.
• Assist in managing the product lifecycle from concept through launch.
• Define and implement strategic pricing and maintain pricing in the system.
• Prepare product specifications, application notes, and competitive materials.
• Coordinate with engineering, operations, and PM teams to ensure timely delivery.
• Engage with hyperscale customers on requirements and integration considerations.
• Analyze product performance data and field feedback for improvements.
• Develop promotional content for product developments and drive awareness.
• Deliver product overview trainings to global sales, customers, and distributors.
• Travel as needed to meet with customers and understand challenges.

Skills

Product lifecycle management

NPI tracking

Forecasting

Pricing data

Cross-functional collaboration

Market research

Technical documentation

Communication skills

Travel readiness

Education

Bachelors degree or higher in engineering, business, or related discipline

Job description

Your Job

We are seeking an Associate Product Line Manager to join our Optical Connectivity team focused on driving profitable growth in the data center market. In this role, you will work on cutting‑edge fiber optic connectivity products that enable the world's largest cloud providers to achieve higher speeds, lower latency, and greater network reliability.

As an APLM, you will partner with the Product Line Manager, engineering, manufacturing, and sales to support key customers by defining product requirements, managing the development process, and executing successful deployments in the field. This is an opportunity to gain deep expertise in optical interconnect technology while contributing to products that power the global internet.

In this role, you will be responsible for controlling the P&L, understanding the market space, supporting the development of the product roadmap, and completing training and marketing initiatives.

Location

This is an onsite role based at either our Hudson, Wisconsin or Eden Prairie, Minnesota locations.

VISA sponsorship is NOT available for this role.

What You Will Do

• Market & Technology Research - Monitor hyperscale and cloud data center trends, optical networking standards, and competitor offerings to shape our product roadmap and direction.
• Requirements Definition - Collaborate with customers, engineering, and manufacturing teams to capture detailed product requirements for fiber optic interconnects, ancillary products, and cabling systems.
• Roadmap Execution - Assist in managing the product lifecycle from concept through launch, including prototype evaluation, testing, and production readiness.
• Pricing Strategy - Work alongside Product Manager to define and create strategic pricing strategies. Will be responsible for ensuring pricing is maintained in the system.
• Technical Documentation - Prepare and maintain product specifications, application notes, and competitive comparison materials.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration - Coordinate with engineering, operations, and program management teams to ensure timely product delivery and quality.
• Customer Engagement - Support technical discussions with hyperscale customers, addressing application requirements and integration considerations.
• Performance Tracking - Analyze product performance data and field feedback to identify improvements or next‑generation features.
• Product Marketing - Develop an actionable strategy for creating promotional content focused on product developments to ensure customer awareness.
• Product Training - Collaborate with Molex Sales & Marketing to deliver product overview trainings to global sales, end customers, and distribution partners.
• Travel - Travel as needed to meet with customers to gain a better understanding of technical challenges and collaboratively work towards a solution set which exceeds customers expectations.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Experience contributing to product and lifecycle management activities, such as NPI tracking, specification documentation, and product readiness support.
• Experience supporting business and financial activities, including forecasting inputs, pricing data, and financial reporting.
• Experience coordinating across crossfunctional teams (engineering, sales, operations, manufacturing) to gather inputs, track assigned actions, and support execution.
• Market and technical acumen, with experience supporting competitive analysis, market research, and data gathering to inform product decisions.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly communicate within the team and with both technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated curiosity and desire to build product, industry, and market knowledge while growing toward increased scope and ownership.
• Willingness and ability to travel approximately 10‑20% of the time in support of customers, product activities, and crossfunctional collaboration.
• Bachelor's degree or higher in engineering, business, or a related discipline.

What Will Put You Ahead

• Understanding of fiber optic applications and products.
• Experience in a B2B environment.
• Experience developing technical marketing collateral.
• Familiarity with data center architectures and networking technologies.

For this role, we anticipate paying $100,000 - $130,000 per year. This role is eligible for variable pay, issued as a monetary bonus or in another form.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E‑Verify. Please click here for additional information. (For Illinois E‑Verify information click here, aqui, or tu).