Associate Product Manager, Hardlines
Hand2mind is a family-owned company that creates engaging educational materials for children. The Associate Product Manager will oversee the development of educational products and toys, managing a product portfolio from concept to market launch while collaborating with cross-functional teams and overseas manufacturers.
Responsibilities
- Manage 5-12 new products through the product life cycle, from ideation to market launch, ensuring products align with our educational mission and meet quality standards
- Products will include items available to all customers as well as custom items for specific customers
- Take responsibility for project management tasks, including tracking key milestone dates, to ensure efficient project execution
- Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including editorial, industrial design, creative, sales, custom solutions, and marketing, to bring innovative educational products to market on time and within budget
- Work with vendors to quote products, negotiate prices, and determine delivery schedules to meet product launch goals
- Support market research efforts by gathering data, customer feedback, and conducting competitor analysis to identify opportunities, trends, and insights that inform product strategy
- Identify competitors, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, and assess market trends
- Organize, participate, and lead product testing for new concepts
- Participate in data maintenance projects utilizing Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) and product related spreadsheets
- Work closely with Sales and Marketing on key sample requests for customer meetings, photoshoots, video shoots, trade shows, etc
Skills
- Bachelor's Degree required
- 1-3 years of consumer product development experience or 3-5 years working with children (i.e. PreK-5 education, speech language pathology, etc.)
- Excellent organization, presentation, and communication skills (both written and verbal)
- Creative mindset with entrepreneurial spirit who thinks outside the box
- Able to meet multiple, challenging deadlines and work within budgets
- Comfortable with analyzing basic financial data for assigned categories and to make recommendations that support overall brand/product goals
- Excellent at solving problems creatively and/or knowing when to seek help
- Proficient in Microsoft Office
- Able to effectively communicate with key stakeholders including colleagues, executive team, vendors, and customers
Benefits
- Profit sharing bonus potential
- 401k matching
- A variety of other benefits
Company Overview