Product Manager, Commercial OPE

Human Ventures LLC; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Human Ventures LLC is seeking a Product Manager in Charlotte, North Carolina, to establish and build connections within the commercial outdoor power equipment market. You will define strategies and specifications that cater to dealer needs while collaborating closely with overseas engineering teams.

The ideal candidate has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and 7-10 years of relevant experience. You will be responsible for shaping product lines from the ground up, creating documentation, and driving pricing strategies. This role requires both customer interaction and technical expertise, making it unique and impactful.

Qualifications

• 7-10 years in commercial outdoor power equipment or adjacent categories.
• Career progression from engineering to product management.
• Experience shipping products from specification to launch.

Responsibilities

• Spend time in the field with dealers and service technicians.
• Translate dealer feedback into engineering requirements.
• Manage product specification reviews with China engineering.

Skills

Technical troubleshooting

Product management

Engineering collaboration

Customer relationship building

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent

Job description

About the position

We're entering the commercial outdoor power equipment market as an organization. We don't have established dealer relationships yet, and we're building our overseas engineering capability as part of this expansion. This is genuinely new territory for us. Which means you get to build something from the ground up. You'll define how we think about commercial customers, how we work with dealers, how we collaborate with our engineering team in China, and what kind of company we become in this space. You're not executing a predetermined playbook—you're helping write it. You'll own outcomes in a way that rarely happens in mature product lines. You're the bridge between two worlds: a dealer's service garage and a China engineering lab. You need to be equally comfortable troubleshooting a spec issue with a maintenance technician and debating motor efficiency tradeoffs with your overseas engineering team. This role requires someone who can walk into a dealer environment without flinching, understand the technical and commercial pressures they face, and translate those needs into precise engineering specifications that your China counterparts can build right the first time.

Responsibilities

• Spend significant time in the field with dealers, service technicians, and fleet operators to understand their needs and how they buy.
• Build the foundation for lasting relationships with dealers.
• Translate dealer feedback and field friction into engineering requirements.
• Champion serviceability and total cost of ownership as competitive advantages.
• Lead product specification reviews with China engineering.
• Manage the process of getting specs right before manufacturing starts.
• Develop documentation and processes that will scale for team collaboration.
• Build a roadmap based on dealer input and competitive reality.
• Own category P&L, monitor margin, drive pricing strategy, and identify cost reduction opportunities.
• Conduct voice-of-customer research in the field.
• Define competitive positioning based on dealer feedback and assessment.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Business Administration, or equivalent.
• 7-10 years in commercial outdoor power equipment, commercial landscaping equipment, or directly adjacent categories (small engines, industrial compressors, etc.).
• Career progression from design or manufacturing engineering into product management.
• Has shipped at least two complete products end-to-end: from specification through engineering review, manufacturing validation, and launch.
• Experience working with overseas engineering teams (Asia-based preferred).
• Comfort moving between dealer/service environments and technical engineering conversations.