Product Manager - Fire Suppression, Firefighter Air Replenishment Systems (FARS) - Remote

Johnson Controls, Inc.; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in fire safety solutions is seeking a Product Manager to drive the growth of its Fire Suppression product line. The role involves product strategy development, market analysis, and cross-functional collaboration. Ideal candidates will have strong product management experience, particularly with tangible goods, and a background in fire protection or related industries is preferred. This position allows for work from a company office or remotely, offering a chance to impact global markets.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years business experience, at least 3 years in product management with tangible products.
• Experience in phased-gate product development processes.
• Comfortable interacting with customers and able to travel 10-20%.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the growth of product segments under Fire Suppression.
• Develop multi-generational product roadmaps and manage lifecycle processes.
• Analyze market trends and oversee customer engagement.

Skills

Product management

Product development

Market analysis

Strategic communication

Project management

Financial acumen

Customer interaction

Education

Four (4) year degree in business or an engineering field

Job description

What will you do

The Product Manager is responsible for the overall growth of the assigned product segments under Fire Suppression, Firefighter Air Replenishment Systems (FARS). Major responsibilities include integrating newly acquired businesses into JCI, driving revenue growth and business scale through developing multi-generational product road maps for the product life cycle from idea inception to new product introduction through obsolescence. This individual will also oversee cost-out / value engineering initiatives, gather customer and market insights, and advocate for code adoptions via non-profit and/or third-party organizations.

Significant cross functional interaction and project management leadership is required across the organization with global sales, engineering, manufacturing, sourcing, and other functions. This role will also support an adjacent non-profit organization to advocate and lobby for relevant code adoption and product acceptance. This position reports to the Senior Director, Product Management, will be based in North America, and work from either a JCI company office or remotely.

How you will do it

Product Market Insight:

• Assesses the market, product trends & voice of customer information.

• Conducts sizing & segmentation of markets

• Conducts regular competitive & regulatory research and analysis on product line.

Product Strategy:

• Develops the product line strategy based on all relevant data and insights to meet customer needs

• Determines the value propositions of individual products in the product line.

• Communicates the strategy, value prop, and pricing guidelines plus gains alignment with the greater organization.

Development:

• Defines the multi-generational product line roadmap.

• Develops new product concepts in existing and new markets / channels buy following the JCI phase-gate process and by running multi-stakeholder development teams.

• Defines product requirements including cost, quality, and timing targets.

• Delivers detailed business cases for new products / enhancements.

Deployment

• Participate as the Subject Matter Expert for tradeshows, customer events, industry & regulatory associations.

• Collaborate with the complementary nonprofit org leadership teams and business development leads in setting annual new targets based on intelligence gathering

Lifecycle Management:

• Leads cross functional team through product lifecycle process including introductions, product line analysis, value assessment and SKU rationalization activities.

• Understands product portfolio at a global level (SKUs, pricing, profitability, sales by customer / channel, quality, warranty)

• Analyze sales trends and communicate with end customers on market and product updates.

• Interface with end-users, sales, engineering, marketing, and operations

What we look for:

Required:

• Four (4) year degree in business or an engineering field

• Minimum of 7 years business experience, with at least three years in a product management role with hard good / tangible products.

• Product management and product development in a phased-gate process experience

• Comfort and experience in interacting with external customers

• Success in accelerated business scaling from North America into global markets

• Experience working in a matrix business structure and working collaboratively with multiple functions on joint programs

• Excellent written & verbal English communication skills

• Strong financial and general business acumen

• Ability to travel to customer sites 10-20% of time.

Preferred:

• Previous experience within a fire protection, fire service or infrastructure related industry;

• MBA a plus

• Experience in New Venture Integrations (acquisitions) to incorporate small businesses into corporate entities

• Advocacy for non-profit organizations in the fire service industry

• Proven ability to drive results via disciplined execution amidst organizational ambiguity