Company Description
QAD is building a world-class SaaS company, and we are growing. We are looking for talented individuals who want to join us on our mission to help solve relevant real-world problems in manufacturing and the supply chain.
We are a virtual first company and your primary work experience will be virtual / working from your home. Occasional travel to a physical office may be required to enhance working relationships, collaboration, design, strategy and alignment.
Job Description
As a QAD Product Manager for Global Trade and Transportation, you’ll be the vital link between the market and our organization. You’ll leverage your deep expertise in global trade, transportation execution (including parcel shipping), and import/export compliance to identify market opportunities, pinpoint competitive advantages, and differentiate our Global Trade and Transportation software products. Your insights will be crucial in helping QAD customers succeed. You’ll also analyze market segments, collaborate with leadership to select strategic targets, and develop compelling product roadmaps that define our future vision and plans.
The Product Manager role is a dynamic blend of strategic and tactical activities. You’ll collaborate closely with Solutions Marketing, Vertical Marketing, Sales, Services, and Service Delivery teams to translate market challenges into compelling strategies, robust product roadmaps, and sound business plans. During development, you’ll partner with R&D Development Teams and Product Owners. Beyond creation, you’ll be instrumental in developing go-to-market and launch plans, providing essential product expertise and thought leadership to the entire QAD community, including our customers and partners.
What You’ll Do:
- Act as the “messenger of the market” from the outside into the rest of the organization.
- Analyze various market segments and collaborate with leadership to choose the best ones to pursue.
- Develop product development roadmaps to illustrate the vision and plans for the future.
- Develop and maintain business proposals that make a compelling case for new or continued product investment.
- Collaborate with other stakeholders such as product marketing on the creation of positioning for products.
- Manage the entire product line life cycle from sunsetting legacy products to prototyping and testing new features/products and ideas.
- Drive buy-build-partner analysis and review potential partner relationships for the product where necessary.
- Know why QAD is winning and losing in the market, and drive changes to QAD products and processes to create improvement.
- Keep a finger on the pulse of the competition, and develop strategies and tactics to reduce the threat.
- Train and steer product owners so that they can effectively steer QAD Engineering teams to develop solutions that customers can successfully implement.
- Serve as the internal and external evangelist for the assigned product offering, including presenting at QAD Conferences, Sales workshops, User Groups, partner groups, and specific customer events.
- Assist Sales in positioning and convincing customers of the benefits of QAD products via presentations, customer visits, and participating in sales calls.
- Assist Support in case of escalations or customer debates about fit for the QAD applications. This can require acting as an R&D escalation manager and working directly with an R&D/Support team to resolve the escalation.
Product Strategy and Roadmap: Leverage understanding of assigned product offering/area processes, best practices, market problems, trends, and competitive landscape to provide input and innovative thinking to the strategic product direction, influencing the business direction for new and existing solutions in assigned product offering/area. Participate in the development of the product roadmap, and product business plans, and build, buy, or partner decisions. Integrate products, services, and partners into a coherent and profitable portfolio.
Development Plan: Work with R&D product owners, architects, and project managers to translate product roadmap and product positioning into requirements, development plans, and release schedules. Regularly work with product teams during development projects to ensure continued alignment on solution objectives and use scenarios. Report development progress to stakeholders and management.
Launch and Go-To-Market: Assist Solutions Marketing and Go-To-Market teams to develop effective early adopter and launch programs. Assist in the creation of product positioning, product content, sales tools, and channel training. Collaborate with Customer Success, Service Delivery, and Marketing departments to ensure organizational readiness.
Partnership with the Customer: Support customer-facing activities like strategic sales/presales calls, discoveries, events, or escalations with presentations, demos, and/or research. Develop strong relations with strategic customers, sales channels, and service delivery.
Research and educate: Conduct research on industry trends, market problems, competitive landscape, win/loss and analysts as the foundation for all activities above. Remain abreast of current functional and technical progress. Share research insights with all QAD stakeholders.
Qualifications
Relevant bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, or computer science, or comparable experience in Product Management organizations.
Graduate Program (MBA, MIB or Masters): Advanced degree desirable.
ASCM (APICS) certification is a plus.
5+ years of marketing, development, implementation services, sales, or product management experience.
Experience with Global Trade and Transportation Execution is required.
Experience with the Pragmatic Institute Product Management Framework is a plus.
Tech savvy and passionate about building products.
Track record of using qualitative and quantitative data to prioritize and drive decision-making.
Relevant experience with ERP or Supply Chain software development or implementation in QAD selected target markets. Experience with / understanding of QAD products is a plus.
Metrics-driven: Strong analytical and synthesis skills are a must, including the ability to absorb and process large amounts of data into actionable information.
Experience with best practice agile scrum development principles.
Curious and comfortable holding professional conversations with our target buyers and users.
Must be a strong writer and public speaker in front of large, senior groups.
Excellent people and management skills to interact with staff, colleagues, cross-functional teams, and third parties.
Subject matter expert/GTTE industry experience a strong plus.
Additional Information
- Your health and well being are important to us at QAD. We provide programs that help you strike a healthy work-life balance.
- Opportunity to join a growing business, launching into its next phase of expansion and transformation.
- Collaborative culture of smart and hard-working people who support one another to get the job done.
- An atmosphere of growth and opportunity, where idea-sharing is always prioritized over level or hierarchy.
- Compensation packages based on experience and desired skill set
About QAD:
QAD Inc. is a leading provider of adaptive, cloud-based enterprise software and services for global manufacturing companies. Global manufacturers face ever-increasing disruption caused by technology-driven innovation and changing consumer preferences. In order to survive and thrive, manufacturers must be able to innovate and change business models at unprecedented rates of speed. QAD calls these companies Adaptive Manufacturing Enterprises. QAD solutions help customers in the automotive, life sciences, packaging, consumer products, food and beverage, high tech and industrial manufacturing industries rapidly adapt to change and innovate for competitive advantage.
QAD is committed to ensuring that every employee feels they work in an environment that values their contributions, respects their unique perspectives and provides opportunities for growth regardless of background. QAD’s DEI program is driving higher levels of diversity, equity and inclusion so that employees can bring their whole self to work.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.
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