Associate Product Manager

Littelfuse is one of America’s Best Mid-Sized Companies (Forbes) and has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois (Best Companies Group) for 11 consecutive years. With its global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, USA, Littelfuse is a leading, global manufacturer of electronic components serving more than 100,000 end customers across industrial, transportation, and electronics end markets. We have more than 17,000 employees with operations in 15 countries. From semiconductors to sensors… switches to fuses and more… we produce billions of electronic components that help our customers empower a sustainable, connected, and safer world. In 2021, Littelfuse had net sales of $2.1 billion.

The Associate Product Manager manages assigned product lines throughout the entire product life cycle by working closely with Sales, Engineering and other support to ensure customer requirements are met.  Monitor and manage revenue and profitability goals of product lines and ensure product fit within the Energy & Industrial Infrastructure Business Unit strategy. Provide support to customers, sales, operations, and engineering on product related matter. Conduct customer research and collect requirements to identify product needs and initiate and manage resulting new product development. Drive cost reduction projects and support sourcing activities.

Product Financial and Operating Performance

• Define pricing for assigned products to support pricing and revenue goals

• Review performance regularly and define and implement actions as necessary to drive top line growth and/or return product margins to required levels

• Support and lead product rationalization, as required by profit profitability, product strategy and supplier strategy.

• Work with sales & customers to assess future demand forecast and provide this input to Operations (for capacity and demand management); also as needed, set safety stock requirements and manage inventory obsolescence.

• Coordinate and ensure that product change requests are implemented according to required processes and customer notification / responses are tracked.

• Support Product Manager with P&L reviews and work on action items for margin improvement

Sales Support & Customer Support

• Participate in Sales activities on an as needed basis, including: Customer visits, lunch & learns, presentations, etc.

• Research and track high potential project targets with sales

• Support sales in responding to quotes and requests for proposals

• Participate in trade shows, technology forums, and other events, as needed

• Provide 2nd level (tier 2) product support and answers to customers on product related topics:  work with Sales, QA, Engineering, and Operations to help ensure that a sufficient level of support is available to customers.

New Product Development / Product Revision:

• Drive engineering and sales in the development of new products according to the Product Roadmap and company strategy.

• Understand needs, opportunities, and capabilities to create product requirement documentation and integrate into the product development process

• Work with Sales, Engineering and Marcom to ensure new products have sufficient product support material, prototypes, early samples, and necessary documentation for successful launch

• Support and participate in sales release process in a timely manner

Other Product Support:

• Drive cost reduction and local sourcing initiatives to improve profitability

• Contribute to product line strategy formation and execution

• Participate in the development, maintenance, and execution of product roadmaps and other product management tools

• Assist the development of internal/external training programs

• Provide support at tradeshows, workshops, and technical standard associations

• 4 year Bachelor’s degree preferred; Degree in engineering or quantitative discipline preferred. This job requires a great deal of mathematics, analysis and communications.  As a result, formal education in these areas is required.

• At least 5 years experience in an operations, technical or technical sales role

• At least 5 years experience in a customer interfacing position

• Advanced user of Microsoft Office applications, including Excel; SAP experience preferred

• Experience in electrical, industrial distribution and/or electrical OEM industries

• Good communication skills: must be able to communicate effectively both verbally and nonverbally in written reports and emails

• Evidence of good organizational skills with history of handling multiple tasks within a rapid pace environment.

Littelfuse strives to empower associate growth and development in a culture of ongoing collaboration and respect for diverse global perspectives and expertise. Our Core Values — Customer Focus, Teamwork, Results-Driven, Integrity, and Innovation — support us on our mission to improve the safety, reliability, efficiency, and performance of our customers' products and systems. We are an equal opportunity employer that takes pride in giving every associate the means and courage to make a difference — everywhere, every day.

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