Director of Product Development

Pinnacle Executive Search Co.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Pinnacle Search, a growing manufacturer of engineered products, seeks a Director of Product to own product and portfolio strategy and lead a market-driven product management capability. Reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer, this leader will establish a structured voice-of-customer process, develop pricing and positioning, and steer the commercial side of new product development and launches.

The role focuses on a diverse range of residential, commercial, structural, and OEM applications, with

Qualifications

• Leadership in product management or equivalent role.
• Proven ability to translate market insight into product requirements and business cases.
• Strong pricing awareness and P&L understanding.

Responsibilities

• Own 3–5 year product and portfolio roadmap.
• Identify growth opportunities based on market and customer insights.
• Build a structured voice-of-customer process and translate insights into requirements and business cases.
• Develop product positioning, value propositions, and pricing by application.
• Lead commercialization of new products from business case to launch and post-launch performance.
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Operations, and Finance on investments.
• Evaluate portfolio performance and identify rationalization opportunities.
• Drive disciplined product lifecycle management and launch metrics.

Skills

Leadership

Product strategy

Voice of customer

Pricing strategy

Cross-functional leadership

Lifecycle management

Job description

Pinnacle Search has been retained by a growing manufacturer of engineered products and alternative materials to identify a Director of Product.

This is a high-impact opportunity for a commercially minded product leader to build and lead a market-driven product management capability. Reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer, this individual will own product and portfolio strategy, establish a structured voice-of-customer process, develop strategic pricing and positioning, and lead the commercial side of new product development and launches.

The company serves a diverse range of residential, commercial, structural, and OEM applications and has significant opportunity to expand its product portfolio, enter new applications, and better capture the value its products deliver.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and develop the 3 to 5 year product and portfolio roadmap
• Identify and prioritize growth opportunities based on customer needs, market attractiveness, competitive position, economics, and operational capabilities
• Build a structured voice-of-customer process and translate market insight into clear product requirements and business cases
• Develop product positioning, value propositions, and value-based pricing strategies by product and application
• Lead commercialization of new products from business case through launch, adoption, and post-launch performance
• Partner closely with Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Operations, and Finance to prioritize product investments
• Evaluate portfolio performance and identify opportunities to invest, reposition, rationalize, or exit products and SKUs
• Establish greater discipline around product lifecycle management, launch metrics, portfolio economics, and investment decisions

Ideal Background

• Product management leadership experience within engineered products, building products, plastics, polymers, materials, industrial manufacturing, or adjacent physical-product categories
• Experience owning product strategy, roadmaps, commercialization, and lifecycle management
• Strong understanding of pricing, gross margin, product economics, and P&L drivers
• Demonstrated success translating customer and market insight into new products and profitable growth
• Experience working closely with Engineering, Operations, Sales, and manufacturing teams
• Strong commercial judgment paired with enough technical depth to understand product performance, manufacturing constraints, and engineering tradeoffs
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and influencing decisions without relying solely on direct authority

We are particularly interested in product leaders who combine customer curiosity with strong financial and commercial discipline. The right individual will be comfortable challenging assumptions, prioritizing competing opportunities, and building structure in an organization with significant growth potential.

This role is based in the western Chicago suburbs and is not REMOTE.