Director Product Strategy

KDS Strategic Search Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Excellent benefits

Travel opportunities

Senior leadership exposure

Job summary

KDS Strategic Search Group is seeking a Director of Product Strategy to guide the future direction of a global industrial manufacturer serving B2B markets. The role blends product management, marketing, market intelligence, and strategic vision to shape long-term growth.

The Director will collaborate with engineering, product management, sales, marketing, and senior leadership to develop a 360-degree view of the market and determine where to invest next.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product management, strategy, or related leadership.
• Industrial/technical B2B experience is preferred.
• Strong market intelligence and VOC experience.
• Proven ability to drive cross-functional initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Develop a multi-year product and portfolio strategy based on market insights and business priorities.
• Build deep market understanding by engaging customers, sales, and industry experts.
• Lead Voice of the Customer efforts and translate insights into opportunities.
• Define value propositions, positioning, and go-to-market strategies.
• Collaborate with engineering/R&D to assess feasibility and priorities.
• Create business cases, demand forecasts, and ROI for investments.

Skills

Product strategy

Market intelligence

Voice of the Customer

Executive presence

Cross-functional

Stakeholder comms

Technical liaison

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree

MBA

Job description

Position Type: Full-Time Employee + Excellent Company Benefits

Travel Requirement: Approximately 50% during the first year, primarily domestic, with occasional international travel. Travel is expected to decrease to approximately 25% thereafter.

The Position: We are seeking a Director of Product Strategy to help define the future direction of a global manufacturer serving industrial and technical B2B markets.

This is a senior product strategy leadership role focused on understanding where the market is going, identifying what customers will need next, and translating those insights into future product direction, investment priorities, and long-term growth.

The Director will work closely with engineering, product management, sales, marketing, and senior leadership to develop a 360-degree view of the market and determine where the organization should invest next.

The ideal candidate will bring a blend of product management, marketing/commercial experience, market intelligence, and strategic vision, along with enough technical depth to work credibly with engineering and technology teams.

You'll Own

• Develop and drive a multi-year product and portfolio strategy based on customer needs, market intelligence, technology trends, competitive activity, and business priorities.
• Build a deep understanding of the market by working directly with customers, sales teams, industry experts, and internal stakeholders.
• Lead Voice of the Customer efforts, including uncovering needs customers may not clearly articulate and translating those insights into future product opportunities.
• Read and interpret market trends, competitive dynamics, customer behavior, and emerging technologies to identify where the organization should invest next.
• Translate market and customer intelligence into actionable product priorities and future roadmaps.
• Partner closely with engineering and R&D to evaluate technical feasibility and influence future product direction and feature priorities.
• Identify opportunities for new products, services, and solutions that can create meaningful differentiation and long-term growth.
• Develop business cases for new product investments, including market potential, demand forecasting, ROI, timing, and risk.
• Define and refine value propositions, market positioning, pricing considerations, and commercialization strategies.
• Partner with product management, sales, and marketing to ensure product strategy can be effectively translated into go-to-market execution.
• Bring together perspectives from customers, commercial teams, technical teams, and senior leadership to create a clear strategic point of view.
• Present product strategy, market insights, recommendations, and investment priorities clearly to senior leadership.

An Ideal Candidate Will Have

• 10+ years of progressive experience in product management, product strategy, or closely related product leadership roles.
• Strong product management experience combined with meaningful marketing, commercialization, or market-facing experience.
• Demonstrated ability to think beyond traditional product management and develop a point of view about where a market, technology, or product category should go next.
• Experience within an industrial, technical, engineered-product, automation, industrial technology, or similarly complex B2B environment.
• Proven experience gathering market intelligence, reading market trends, and converting those insights into product strategy and roadmap decisions.
• Strong Voice of the Customer experience, including direct interaction with customers to identify unmet or emerging needs.
• A strong combination of technical and commercial understanding. An engineering background is not required, but candidates must have a proven record of working successfully with technically complex products or technologies.
• Demonstrated experience bringing multiple meaningful products or major product initiatives from concept through market introduction, ideally at least two.
• Experience working closely with engineering or R&D to translate market and customer needs into actionable product direction.
• Experience evaluating new product opportunities through business cases, financial modeling, ROI analysis, forecasting, and market potential.
• Strong understanding of positioning, value propositions, commercialization, and go-to-market strategy.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to communicate strategic recommendations clearly to senior leadership and customers.
• Bachelor's degree required.

Preferred Experience

• Direct experience with industrial products or technology used in demanding operating environments.
• Experience working across multiple geographic markets, although a primarily North American background is completely acceptable.
• Experience working through distributors, channel partners, or other indirect routes to market.
• Experience managing or influencing product P&L.
• MBA or advanced technical degree.

Success Looks Like

Success in this position starts with developing a much clearer view of where the market is headed and what customers will need next, then translating that insight into a credible future product roadmap.

This person should be able to get in front of customers, ask the right questions, listen closely, understand both market and technology trends, and identify opportunities that may not yet be obvious.

The right individual will bring more than traditional product management. They will bring a point of view, challenge conventional thinking, and help the organization determine what its next generation of products and solutions should look like.