Technical Product Manager 2

Kontron Americas; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Kontron Americas is seeking a technical product owner to define the strategy, roadmap, and lifecycle for embedded computing products. You will translate customer and market inputs into clear requirements, collaborate with engineering, sales, marketing, and operations, and shape technical positioning and collateral.

Responsibilities include defining use cases, evaluating architecture, supporting pricing and configuration, maintaining lifecycle processes, and engaging customers to ensure

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field required.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• 5–7 years in product management or related field.
• Experience with embedded/industrial computing products.

Responsibilities

• Define product strategy and go-to-market for embedded computing products.
• Translate inputs into clear product requirements and specs.
• Collaborate with engineering on architecture, I/O, power, firmware, and configurations.
• Support pricing, lifecycle, and product messaging.
• Maintain relationships with customers, sales, and R&D.
• Plan training and develop sales enablement materials.
• Provide technical SME input for launches and events.

Skills

Embedded computing

Industrial computing

B2B products

Cross-functional teams

Product lifecycle

Project management

Technical requirement

Pricing and forecasting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

MBA or advanced degree

Job description

Description

Develop and execute the product strategy, technical roadmap, and value proposition for custom and standard embedded computing system products within the Product and Portfolio Management team. This role serves as a technical product owner for assigned products, translating customer, market, regulatory, and engineering inputs into clear product requirements, system-level specifications, technical positioning, and lifecycle plans. The role requires close collaboration with engineering, sales, marketing, operations, quality, and global Kontron product teams to ensure products meet customer technical requirements, financial objectives, manufacturability expectations, and long-term lifecycle support needs. Responsibilities include technical requirements definition, competitive and technology analysis, pricing and configuration support, inventory and lifecycle management, support for product messaging and technical collateral, and customer-facing engagement for complex embedded computing opportunities.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Define the product strategy, technical roadmap, and go-to-market approach for assigned embedded computing products, including revenue, margin, pricing, cost, lifecycle, and technical adoption objectives;

• Translate customer, market, and sales inputs into clear technical product requirements, system-level use cases, prioritized features, and engineering-ready specifications;
• Work closely with engineering teams to evaluate system architecture, platform fit, processor technology, I/O requirements, thermal considerations, mechanical constraints, power requirements, firmware/software dependencies, and product configuration options;
• Support technical feasibility reviews, design trade-off discussions, product configuration decisions, and customer-specific solution definition for custom system opportunities;
• Deliver a clear technical and commercial value proposition that can be used by Sales and Marketing to generate qualified demand and support growth for the assigned product line;
• Maintain close relationships with customers, sales, field application engineers, and R&D to understand current and future needs related to embedded computing platforms, rugged systems, edge computing, AI-enabled systems, networking, storage, and lifecycle requirements;
• Support early adopter programs, evaluation units, prototypes, and minimum viable products to validate product-market fit, technical assumptions, and customer value proposition;
• Collaborate with sales, business development, and engineering to identify target customers, define engagement strategies, and support technical customer acquisition activities;
• Participate in customer discovery, technical discussions, product demonstrations, trade show support, webinars, videos, and other lead- generating activities as the product subject matter expert;
• Serve as a subject matter expert on assigned products, key technologies, competitive products, product architectures, customer applications, and market trends;
• Work closely with Product Management at other Kontron entities such as Kontron Europe, Kontron Asia, and Kontron Slovenia to align product positioning, roadmap inputs, technical configuration details, and regional requirements;
• Manage assigned products with support from the Kontron entity responsible for product design and development, including lifecycle status, engineering change coordination, documentation readiness, and customer communication;
• Conduct competitive analysis of companies offering similar or identical embedded computing, rugged system, edge computing, or integrated platform solutions;
• Maintain and improve product lifecycle management processes, including new product introduction, engineering change review, end-of-life planning, sustaining product support, and portfolio rationalization;
• Ensure product pricing, roadmaps, configuration guidance, datasheets, technical presentations, and sales tools are current and available to North America sales and marketing teams;
• Maintain local evaluation stock and coordinate sample availability to support customer testing, technical evaluations, and early-stage application validation;
• Monitor product line performance, market trends, technology transitions, component availability, customer adoption, and competitive positioning across assigned products;
• Collect future product requirements based on market research, customer feedback, win/loss analysis, engineering input, sales feedback, and application-specific technical needs;
• Plan and support internal and external product training, including technical product training, sales enablement, launch training, and customer-facing technical education;
• Ensure the Kontron website accurately reflects the KAI product portfolio, technical capabilities, focus products, available configurations, and product positioning;
• Work with Distribution Management to support technical product positioning, configuration guidance, and sales enablement for distribution channels;
• Work with Marketing to develop annual marketing plans and provide technical input on target customers, user personas, buyer personas, applications, differentiators, and launch priorities;
• Work with marketing communications and product marketing to execute technical product launches, trade show messaging, product collateral, and sales enablement materials;
• Understand project schedule development, major engineering milestones, product launch deliverables, and cross-functional dependencies required to bring technical products to market.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, or related field required; MBA or advanced degree preferred;
• 5-7 years of experience in product management, product marketing, business development, sales, or related role preferred;
• Experience with embedded computing, industrial computing, technology products, or complex B2B products preferred;
• Product Development Experience in embedded computing
• Experience and being able to understand and modify work in schematics and layouts (embedded computing) high-frequency BUS designs
• Ability to understand customer needs, market requirements, competitive positioning, and product value propositions;
• Working knowledge of product lifecycle management, go-to-market planning, pricing, forecasting, and product launch processes preferred;
• Experience working with cross-functional teams including engineering, manufacturing, operations, sales, marketing, quality, and supply chain;
• Project management experience with the ability to support schedules, deliverables, milestones, risks, and cross-functional dependencies preferred;
• Defense, aerospace, transportation, medical, industrial, regulatory, ITAR, or secure supply chain experience preferred;
• For ITAR purposes, must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident;
• Strong ability to influence and collaborate with cross-functional, global, and multicultural teams;
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate with customers, sales teams, marketing teams, and executive stakeholders;
• Strong presentation, documentation, teamwork, negotiation, and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to set objectives, drive strategic initiatives, manage competing priorities, and work under pressure;
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed, potentially 25% to 50%.