Manager, Customer Strategy & Market Insights

About the Role

As the Manager, Customer Strategy & Market Insights, you will support Car Audio and customer pursuit strategies by integrating market intelligence, consumer insights, stakeholder input, and HARMAN Car Audio’s technologies, brands, and priorities.

Working across Customer Account Management, Product, Brand, Marketing, Design, Engineering, Consumer Insights, and Strategy, you will synthesize perspectives and ensure customer-facing teams have accurate, differentiated, and strategically aligned information reflecting HARMAN’s capabilities, market dynamics, competition, and consumer needs.

A key focus will be tracking automotive, branded-audio, technology, competitive, and consumer trends to guide decisions. You will identify insight gaps, coordinate research, and translate findings into practical input for customer strategies, value propositions, and business discussions.

You will coordinate cross-functional input, incorporate stakeholder feedback, and translate complex information into clear narratives, recommendations, and materials for executive reviews and customer engagement.

Success requires strong business judgment, market curiosity, project-management discipline, customer confidence, and excellent communication skills.

In this role, you will report to the VP, Business and Brand Strategy.

What You Will Do

• Support the development of customer-specific strategies by gathering input from cross-functional teams (including CAMs, Product, Marketing, Engineering, etc.) and connecting OEM priorities with HARMAN Car Audio capabilities and strategic direction.

• Develop and maintain market, competitive, and consumer-insight materials covering automotive audio systems, OEM activity, competing suppliers, technology trends, brand positioning, regional dynamics, and changing consumer expectations. Translate these insights into practical input for customer strategies, value propositions, and sales discussions, and identify where additional research or insight is needed.

• Coordinate cross-functional teams to develop strategic recommendations, customer narratives, market analyses, communication videos, executive materials, and other high-priority deliverables.

• Plan on-site customer immersion experiences, including objectives, agendas, strategic themes, demonstrations, stakeholder participation, logistics, and follow-up actions.

• Support the development of strategic and executive-level presentations by managing template requirements, consolidating cross-functional input, building PowerPoint slide content, scheduling working sessions, and managing review cycles.

• Produce short-form videos that explain HARMAN Car Audio's strategy, capabilities, market insights, or key initiatives in an accessible and engaging format.

• Support the development of outbound Car Audio communications, including website content, general customer pitch materials, capability presentations, strategic messaging, and foundational sales-enablement tools.

What You Need to Be Successful

• 7+ years of project-management experience, with demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple contributors, manage deadlines, resolve gaps, and deliver high-quality work in a fast-moving environment.

• Strong strategic-thinking skills, with the ability to connect customer priorities, market dynamics, competitive activity, technology capabilities, brand positioning, and consumer needs.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convert complex technical, commercial, and strategic information into clear and compelling recommendations.

• Advanced PowerPoint skills, including presentation architecture, executive storytelling, visual hierarchy, data visualization, slide design, and editing.

• Experience supporting customer strategies, value propositions, sales-enablement materials, market analyses, or other strategic business communications.

• Ability to engage confidently and professionally with automotive OEM customers, senior leaders, Customer Account Managers, technical experts, designers, and cross-functional stakeholders.

• Practical proficiency with generative AI and other AI-enabled productivity tools for research, synthesis, ideation, analysis, content development, and workflow improvement.

• Strong business judgment and intellectual curiosity, with the ability to quickly understand unfamiliar technologies, brands, customers, and market dynamics.

• Excellent attention to detail, particularly in relation to data accuracy, messaging consistency, strategic alignment, visual quality, and readiness for external audiences.

• Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and provide structure to ambiguous or rapidly evolving business needs.

• Ability to operate effectively across global teams, cultures, functions, and time zones.

Bonus Points if You Have

• Previous experience in automotive, automotive audio, consumer electronics, technology, a Tier-1 supplier, or an automotive OEM.

• Familiarity with branded automotive audio, premium consumer brands, vehicle technology, infotainment, acoustics, or automotive electrical/electronic architectures.

• Experience supporting global sales organizations or working directly with automotive Customer Account Managers.

• Experience supporting customer account strategies, value propositions, go-to-market plans, or strategic sales-enablement programs.

• Experience planning customer workshops, innovation immersions, executive meetings, product demonstrations, or experiential events.

What Makes You Eligible 

• Willingness to travel 20% of the time.

• Willingness to work hybrid in the HARMAN Novi, MI office 3+ days a week.

• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen. 

What We Offer

• Access to employee discounts on world-class products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, and more).

• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University.

• Competitive wellness benefits.

• Tuition reimbursement.

• “Be Brilliant” employee recognition and rewards program.

• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development.
   

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HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.