Job description
Senior Global Product Manager – Capital Equipment – IS Division
Waterloo, IA or Hybrid / Remote US
Reports to Vice President of Global Engineering
This role sits within a large, complex industrial organization with a global footprint, multi-site manufacturing, and long product lifecycles. Products are high value, engineered capital equipment sold through direct sales channels to industrial customers.
Role Summary
The Senior Product Manager is the commercial and strategic owner of a portfolio of capital equipment products, responsible for driving profitable growth through deep customer understanding, strong technical insight, and disciplined product lifecycle management.
This role is highly market-facing and requires frequent engagement with customers, sales teams, and engineering teams. The successful candidate will combine hands-on technical credibility with strategic product leadership, ensuring products clearly articulate customer value, differentiate in the market, and deliver financial performance.
Key Responsibilities
Product Strategy & Portfolio Leadership
- Own the long-term product strategy and roadmap for assigned capital equipment platforms
- Identify market trends, customer pain points, and unmet needs through direct customer engagement and market research
- Define product positioning, segmentation, and value propositions aligned to customer workflows and outcomes
- Drive portfolio rationalization, platform strategies, and investment prioritization
Customer & Market Engagement (Market-Facing Focus)
- Act as the voice of the customer, spending significant time with end users, EPCs, and channel partners
- Lead customer discovery efforts including site visits, operational reviews, equipment start-ups and customer assessments
- Support strategic sales opportunities by articulating product value, application fit, and ROI
- Identify strategic market segments and assist in project prioritization to align with customer needs and maximize financial results
- Understand industry trends, regulations and new technologies that help to shape customer needs
- Develop a strong understanding of the competitive landscape including organizational strengths and product positioning
Technical & Product Development Leadership
- Translate customer needs and application requirements into clear product requirements and business cases
- Partner closely with engineering to guide architecture / design decisions, feature trade-offs, and system performance targets
- Ensure product designs deliver measurable customer value (uptime, throughput, safety, efficiency, TCO, etc.)
- Actively participate in design reviews, validation testing, and field trials
New Product Introduction & Lifecycle Management
- Participate in new product introductions (NPI) by supporting APQP launch process
- Coordinate launch readiness across sales, marketing and technical services
- Manage lifecycle activities including upgrades, cost reduction initiatives, and end-of-life planning
- Drive post-launch performance reviews and continuous improvement
Commercial & Financial Ownership
- Participate in the analysis and management of product-level financial performance including pricing strategy, margin / cost targets, and growth plans
- Support forecasting, demand planning, and capital investment decisions
- Monitor product KPIs and recommend corrective actions to improve revenue, margin, and market share
Cross-Functional Influence
- Lead through influence in a matrixed organization across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, service, and marketing
- Provide product training and enablement for sales, applications, and service teams
- Collaborate with marketing on messaging, technical content, and go-to-market execution
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Mechatronics, or similar strongly preferred)
- 5-7+ years of experience in product management, engineering, applications engineering, or technical marketing within capital equipment or industrial systems
- Demonstrated ability to deeply understand equipment operation, applications, and customer workflows
- Proven experience in customer-facing roles supporting complex, high-value equipment definition
- Strong business acumen with experience building business cases and influencing investment decisions
Preferred Qualifications
- MBA
- Experience in industries such as automation, heavy machinery, process equipment, industrial systems, or engineered-to-order products
- Global market experience and familiarity with multi-channel sales models
- Experience managing platform-based products with long lifecycles
Key Competencies
- Technical credibility with customers and internal engineering teams
- Strong customer-value orientation (ROI, TCO, productivity, safety, uptime)
- Strategic thinker with the ability to execute at a detailed, tactical level
- Comfortable influencing senior stakeholders without direct authority
- Data-driven decision maker with a bias toward action
Travel
- Approximately 50% travel, primarily for customer visits, field engagement, collaboration with engineering and industry events
CPM Acquisition Corp. is an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status. CPM Acquisition Corp. offers competitive compensation and benefits, including paid holidays and vacations, 401k, medical/dental insurance, tuition assistance, and more.
