The Role
Lead end-to-end lifecycle management for assigned capital equipment product lines: define strategy and roadmap, translate market and customer insights into PRDs, lead cross-functional development and NPI, manage pricing/packaging and lifecycle decisions, and drive commercial performance and cross-functional alignment to deliver on-time, on-budget products that meet revenue and margin targets.
Summary Generated by Built In
Product ManagerLocation: La Vergne, TN (Hybrid/On-site expected)Company OverviewThe Coats Company is a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of automotive service and shop equipment, with a legacy spanning more than 75 years. Coats designs, builds, and services a comprehensive portfolio of tire changers, wheel balancers, alignment systems, lifts, inspection tools, and shop productivity solutions, all engineered for durability, safety, and ease of use in high-performing automotive service environments. Coats’ equipment is proudly designed and built in the United States and supported by a nationwide network of factory-trained service technicians.
Headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee, Coats serves repair shops, tire dealers, car dealerships, and commercial fleets across North America. In 2024, Coats became an independent company backed by Victor Capital Partners, accelerating investments in innovation, portfolio expansion, and service capabilities while continuing to be led by its experienced executive team.Role OverviewThe Product Manager at Coats is responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle management of assigned product lines within the company’s automotive service equipment portfolio. This role bridges customer needs, market insights, and product roadmap execution, ensuring products deliver measurable customer value, strong financial performance, and alignment with Coats’ brand promise of safety, durability, and ease of use.
This role requires 5+ years of product management experience in a capital equipment or engineered hardware environment, ideally serving professional or industrial customers. Automotive aftermarket experience is highly desirable.Key ResponsibilitiesProduct Strategy & Roadmap
Headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee, Coats serves repair shops, tire dealers, car dealerships, and commercial fleets across North America. In 2024, Coats became an independent company backed by Victor Capital Partners, accelerating investments in innovation, portfolio expansion, and service capabilities while continuing to be led by its experienced executive team.Role OverviewThe Product Manager at Coats is responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle management of assigned product lines within the company’s automotive service equipment portfolio. This role bridges customer needs, market insights, and product roadmap execution, ensuring products deliver measurable customer value, strong financial performance, and alignment with Coats’ brand promise of safety, durability, and ease of use.
This role requires 5+ years of product management experience in a capital equipment or engineered hardware environment, ideally serving professional or industrial customers. Automotive aftermarket experience is highly desirable.Key ResponsibilitiesProduct Strategy & Roadmap
- Own and execute the product vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap for assigned equipment lines.
- Identify growth opportunities through customer insights, market analysis, and competitive intelligence.
- Translate market needs into clear business cases, product requirements, and prioritization frameworks.
- Lead cross-functional product development teams (engineering, operations, sourcing, quality, service).
- Define and maintain product requirements documents (PRDs), use cases, and value propositions.
- Balance performance, cost, manufacturability, safety, and serviceability in product designs.
- Support stage-gate and new product introduction (NPI) processes from concept to launch.
- Act as the voice of the customer, leveraging direct customer interaction, field feedback, and service data.
- Partner with Sales, Marketing, and Service to ensure products solve real workflow and uptime challenges.
- Support key customer visits, trade shows, and distributor interactions as a product expert.
- Drive pricing, positioning, and packaging strategies to maximize profitability and market adoption.
- Manage product lifecycle decisions, including line extensions, refreshes, and end-of-life planning.
- Collaborate with marketing on product launches, training content, and customer-facing messaging.
- 5+ years of product management experience in capital equipment, industrial machinery, or engineered products. Automotive aftermarket knowledge and experience is highly desirable.
- Strong understanding of hardware product lifecycles, manufacturing constraints, and cost structures.
- Experience building ROI-driven business cases and managing P&L-impacting decisions.
- Ability to translate customer problems into clear, actionable technical requirements.
- Comfort working closely with engineering teams on tradeoffs involving performance, reliability, and serviceability.
- Proficiency in market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and financial modeling.
- Proven ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization.
- Clear, confident communicator capable of aligning stakeholders from shop floor to executive leadership.
- Bias toward action, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Deep empathy for professional users and technicians.
- Commitment to safety, quality, and ease of use—core principles of the Coats brand.
- On-time, on-budget delivery of new and enhanced products.
- Achievement of revenue, margin, and growth targets for assigned product lines.
- Increased market competitiveness and differentiation of Coats products.
- Strong cross-functional alignment and execution throughout the product lifecycle.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of product management experience in capital equipment, industrial machinery, or engineered products
- Experience with hardware product lifecycles, manufacturing constraints, and cost structures
- Experience building ROI-driven business cases and managing P&L-impacting decisions
- Ability to define product requirements documents (PRDs), use cases, and value propositions
- Experience leading cross-functional product development teams (engineering, operations, sourcing, quality, service)
- Familiarity with stage-gate and new product introduction (NPI) processes
- Proficiency in market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and financial modeling
- Proven ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization and align stakeholders
- Strong communication skills and customer-centric mindset with emphasis on safety, quality, and ease of use
- Automotive aftermarket knowledge and experience
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The Company
What We Do
Coats is a leading smart repair brand specializing in vehicle maintenance systems, service and data that keep work flowing. We offer a full-shop portfolio of tire changers, wheel balancers and aligners, lifts, inspection and compressor technologies, designed and built in the U.S. and serviced locally by our own factory-trained service technicians. Everything we do is designed for ease-of-use and serviceability and delivered with the authentic Coats Attitude. Our team of smart repair pros work in complete alignment with customers on a single mission -- to create High Performing Shops where people keep moving and technology turning.
