Product Manager

Huhtamaki, Inc.; De Soto (KS); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Huhtamaki, Inc. seeks a Product Manager for Custom Packaging in Kansas. You will define product, customer, and pricing strategy, own the product line P&L, and drive new launches from concept through commercialization.

You will collaborate across Technology & Development, Operations, Supply Chain, and Sales to deliver profitable, scalable packaging solutions for FMCG customers while navigating sustainability and regulatory pressures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, finance, engineering, packaging science, operations management, or equivalent.
• Experience in product management, packaging development, technical sales, operations, or project management in a manufacturing or B2B context.
• Demonstrated commercial ownership: pricing, margin, or P&L responsibility for a product, line, or account, and the ability to explain what drives a margin.
• Ability to develop presentations that persuade senior management, stakeholders, and customers.
• Willingness to travel up to 30%, including customer sites and manufacturing plants.
• Proficient with MS Office 365 products, including MS Teams.

Responsibilities

• Translate customer specifications into manufacturable, profitable product — and defend the margin when cost drivers move.
• Formulate product, promotional, customer, and pricing strategy for your lines, optimizing asset utilization and profitability.
• Hold direct accountability for product line P&L; contribute to the development and tracking of financial metrics.
• Provide clear direction to cross-functional teams — Technology & Development, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercialization — to deliver projects accurately, on time, and within budget.

Skills

Product management

Pricing & margins

P&L ownership

Cross-functional collaboration

Presentations

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor's degree (marketing, finance, engineering, packaging science, operations)

Tools

Microsoft Office 365

MS Teams

Job description

Job Summary

Enjoy a career, packaged with care, whilst helping protect food, people and the planet. We are a key global provider of sustainable packaging solutions. We’re on a mission to make all packaging recyclable, reusable, or compostable. Every day, we ensure the hygiene and safety of food and drink for people around the world. We are Huhtamaki. You could be part of our vision. Because it’s our talented people that make it happen. Our people on the shop floor producing innovative, sustainable products. Our people in our offices delivering excellence for our customers every day. It’s every one of us working together. We offer a place where you can feel safe, be supported, and make an impact so we can all focus on the future together.

This is a custom packaging role, not a consumer brand marketing role. You will work directly with FMCG customers to turn packaging requirements into products our plants can make profitably, at scale, and on time. The lines you would own — QuikSpread, Ultrakan, and Edgeprep (paper dairy containers) — are custom, technically demanding, and built around specific customers. Our customers are under real pressure: sustainability commitments, EPR regulation, and the shift from plastic to fiber. That pressure is the opportunity — this role helps FMCG brands make that transition, and owns the P&L for the products that result.

Purpose

Define product, customer, and pricing strategy for the Custom Packaging product lines. Own the product line P&L and deliver against corporate sales and profit targets annually. Lead new product launches and new business onboarding from concept through commercialization.

Accountabilities

Translate customer specifications into manufacturable, profitable product — and defend the margin when cost drivers move. Work cross-functionally, with influence rather than formal authority, to achieve business objectives.

Essential Functions

• Customer & Market Expertise: Develop deep command of key FMCG customers’ go-to-market strategies, work processes, and competitive environment. Maintain expert knowledge of raw material markets, distribution scenarios, packaging formats, and cost drivers for fiber-based custom packaging. Track sustainability and regulatory pressures (including EPR) shaping customer packaging decisions, and translate them into product opportunities.
• Product Strategy: Formulate product, promotional, customer, and pricing strategy for your lines, optimizing asset utilization and profitability. Hold direct accountability for product line P&L; contribute to the development and tracking of financial metrics. Manage pricing directly with customers to meet profitability targets and ensure fair practices.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Provide clear direction to cross-functional teams — Technology & Development, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercialization — to deliver projects accurately, on time, and within budget. Partner with Sales and Sales & Operations Planning on demand forecasts, market intelligence, and capacity planning. Act as a genuine advocate for the Sales team: responsive, technically credible, and present when a customer issue needs solving.

Is This the Right Role for You?

• You are likely a strong fit if: You are energized by a technical packaging problem — you want to understand how the thing is actually made, not just how it is positioned. You would rather own a P&L than contribute to someone else’s. You can hold a technical conversation with an engineer in the morning and a commercial one with a customer in the afternoon.
• This role is probably not for you if: Your product management experience is primarily brand marketing — advertising, consumer promotion, agency management, merchandising. You prefer working from a defined roadmap handed down from above; custom work rarely arrives with a plan attached.

Job Qualifications Required

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, finance, engineering, packaging science, operations management, or equivalent.
• Experience in product management, packaging development, technical sales, operations, or project management in a manufacturing or B2B context.
• Demonstrated commercial ownership: pricing, margin, or P&L responsibility for a product, line, or account, and the ability to explain what drives a margin.
• Ability to develop presentations that persuade senior management, stakeholders, and customers.
• Willingness to travel up to 30%, including customer sites and manufacturing plants.
• Proficient with MS Office 365 products, including MS Teams.

Preferred

• Working knowledge of paperboard, fiber-based, or converted packaging — how it is made, and what the process will and will not tolerate.
• Experience working with FMCG / CPG customers on custom or bespoke packaging.
• A track record of launching new products or onboarding new business, from concept through first commercial run.
• Familiarity with the sustainability and regulatory landscape reshaping packaging — EPR, recyclability, plastic-to-fiber conversion.
• The instinct to solve the problem rather than route it: the person others come to when a launch is stuck.

Environment Work

Work within an office setting with controlled climate conditions; hybrid work schedule, with regular travel to customer sites and manufacturing facilities. Commitment to Huhtamaki’s values — Care, Dare, Deliver — and to our ethical standards.

Travel

Travel: up to 30%.

Mission

We’re on a mission to be the first choice in sustainable packaging solutions so we can protect food, people and the planet. We need talented people like you to make that happen. We’re growing as a business which is opening up new roles and opportunities so it’s an exciting time to join us. We promise to offer a place where you can feel safe, be supported and make an impact, so we can all focus on the future together.