Product Manager

Job title: Product Manager

Location: West Midlands – hybrid working option with 2-3 days per week in office

Salary: £30,000 - £35,000 (depending on experience)

Sector: Home Furnishings

Job type: Permanent

Job reference: RG/23630

The company:

A true market leader in their industry, our client has excellent market presence and reputation supplying major retailers with a fantastic range of home furnishing products. They pride themselves on being the number 1 supplier in their industry and are well recognised as a market leading business.

The role:        

This role will be responsible for managing a successful and large product portfolio from conception through to launch. Based on consumer and trade research and customer briefs, you will launch both branded and private label products into the UK market for the company’s largest customer, ensuring profitable development.

Key Responsibilities:

• Identify and create new product opportunities which fulfil market and customer requirements and deliver required margins and a cohesive pricing architecture.
• Take ownership of the NPD process from concept to delivery ensuring products launch on time, to specification and within budget. 
• Able to identify key trends / gaps in the market for new product development opportunities
• Able to manage full product life cycle, including exit plans and strategy.
• Develop long term strategies to ensure the product ranges are competitive and meet the customer and market requirements, along with meeting the long-term business objectives.
• Ensure all new product launches support the brand strategy, values, positioning and meet the business and customers’ requirements.
• Liaise with UK, European and Far East factories to identify suitable suppliers and negotiate prices to ensure maximum profitability and market place retail pricing.
• Have strong Far East background and competent when sourcing products directly from factories.
• Liaise closely with the in-house design team and ensure clear briefs are issued for all projects.
• Support the sales team with customer visits and attendance at customer events.
• Analyse and provide consumer, category and brand information to support channel marketing and sales in category management and sales presentations.
• Work collaboratively with design to execute packaging designs, literature and POS consistent with the range and brand, that will deliver sales and profit growth based on business and customer objectives.
• Identify and understand problems in order to prioritise and find appropriate solutions through creative thinking and a hands-on approach.
• Conduct periodical reviews of the brand, competitors, category, customer and consumer trends to monitor marketplace dynamics and performance.
• Conduct annual pricing reviews for the relevant product ranges ensuring an appropriate balance between price positioning, sales volumes and the margin achievement.

The person:

The ideal candidate will:

• Have full product life cycle management experience, having managed a consumer product portfolio.
• Have the ability to work under pressure and manage different projects at the same time.
• Be organised and methodical with high attention to detail.
• Have the ability to communicate to a wide range of people at all levels, both verbally and in writing.
• Have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to work well as an individual or as part of a team.
• Have strong presentation skills, coupled with good analytical skills.
• Be IT literate with strong Excel and PowerPoint skills.
• Be able to understand profit and loss calculations and basic business finance, e.g. gross margin percentages and calculations, etc.
• Have 3+ years product development experience
• Be able to work on multiple projects at any one time
• Be self-driven, results orientated with a positive outlook and a clear focus on product and business profit. Be trend led and a keen eye for design.
• Have a current clean or near clean driving licence.

Contact: Rina Gokani

Reference: RG/23630

Email: rina@cavendishmaine.com

Tel: 01275 813027

Candidate care:

By responding to this advert you consent to Cavendish Maine processing the personal data included within this application.

If your application is successful we will contact you to discuss the opportunity in more detail, within 48 hours of receiving your application.

Should you not hear from us within 3 working days please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please be advised that if unsuccessful for this role we may keep your details in our hold file, during which time you may be contacted for other suitable vacancies.  If you do not want us to do this please call us to advise.

In the meantime, we would like to thank you for your interest in Cavendish Maine.