Senior Product Manager

Vive Crop Protection is a sustainable agtech firm focused on innovative solutions for agriculture. They are seeking a Senior Product Manager to devise and execute strategies for product development, manage profitability, and create brand awareness while supporting rapid market growth.

Responsibilities:

• Bringing a deep understanding of the synthetic and biocontrol market and grower pain points and leverage that understanding to optimize the development of future Vive products
• Executing product launch excellence by translating internal coordination to commercial success
• Creating market demand through strategic product development and positioning that succinctly addresses grower needs and existing market gaps
• Exhibiting strong analytical and problem-solving skills despite imperfect information
• Maintaining a healthy mix of strategy and execution in day-to-day work while scaling efforts in support of a rapidly growing business
• Being a resourceful, creative, and self-driven individual with growth stage company experience, who is passionate about building something real in support of the organization’s continued business success
• Consistently managing multiple deliverables to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery
• Accelerate new product development and key business assessments - Within the Product Development Process (PDP), accelerate pipeline development efforts by delivering on level-by-level business assessments (business case, Product Design Document (PDD), COGs, NPV modeling) for assigned product concepts. Ensure new product concepts address market pain points and support rapid market growth of Vive’s technology platforms
• Solidify Vive's market positioning as a biocontrol + technology partner of choice - Leverage existing and future pipeline of Vive biocontrol + synthetic combo products to communicate the strength and differentiation of Vive’s portfolio, enabled via Vive’s Technology Platforms. Ensure appropriate training and positioning of combination products. Assess and recommend new product opportunities for Vive technology + Biocontrol combinations
• Product launch excellence - Execute the launch of Technology Platform(s) and/or Product(s) with excellence. Focus on leading cross-functional product launch teams to bring the assigned Platform(s)/Product(s) to market. Translate internal launch coordination to commercial launch success in Year 1. Ensure the sales team receives appropriate training, product positioning, and go-to-market selling materials (i.e. presentations, sell sheets, field trial data, etc.)
• Forecast revenue and manage product margins - Triangulate Sales and market intel to provide monthly revenue forecast for existing commercial products. Inform Operations regarding regional and seasonal market timing and supply needs. Proactively manage COGs via various market data sources and analyses. Recommend price adjustments, when appropriate
• Responsible for the assigned Vive portfolio brands across Sales, Agronomy, Marketing, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Field Biology and Product Development departments
• Leads brand plan strategy development and market assessment for assigned brands
• Manages product margins and the overall financial performance for the assigned portfolio
• Delivers monthly and annual revenue forecasts
• Manages COGs and product pricing
• Leverages multiple data sources to execute various market analyses
• Delivers branded Vive products with measurable value and market-relevant differentiation
• Collaborates with Sales and Product Development to identify and define new solutions to address market needs, from concept to creation, from field testing to product launch and market adoption
• Develops market-relevant proof points to convey each product’s brand story
• Ensures Vive product pipeline efforts are focused on addressing grower pain points and unmet market needs
• Partners with Sales to align and educate distribution channel partners delivering product to the market
• Serves as a lead contributor on the Vive Pipeline Development Process (PDP) and leads relevant Product Launch Committees
• Provides regular updates regarding product development and regulatory progress vs. timelines
• Leads business cases, product design document and financial modeling completion for assigned product concepts
• Owns and presents to senior leadership new product business cases – evaluates the product pipeline, incorporates market needs and opportunity and determines technical feasibility and development investment required. Including: Executes market assessment and gap analysis; Conducts the competitive assessment; Identifies strategic target markets; Determines regulatory implications; Forecasts market potential; Recommends pricing
• Identifies field data needs and collaborates with Product Development, Field Biology and Technical Field Agronomists to prioritize trial placement & assessment of data
• Ensures alignment from Sales, Marketing, Product Development, Field Biology and Field Agronomy representatives regarding product launch approach
• Leads internal launch coordination to drive commercial launch success in Year 1 by ensuring the sales team receives appropriate training, product positioning, and go-to-market selling materials (i.e. presentations, sell sheets, field trial data, etc.)
• Partners with Marketing colleagues to devise the yearly marketing plan
• Identifies and informs field and customer training needs
• Provides input on field demo program
• Informs communications campaigns
• Coordinates and oversees regulatory lifecycle management with the Regulatory team

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in a marketing or sales related field. Other educational backgrounds considered with relevant experience
• A minimum of 2+ years of previous product management experience, with 6-8+ years of product launch experience overall
• Experience with biologicals/biocontrol products and product leadership in a growth stage company required
• Strong communication skills, ability to distill down complex messaging
• Strong interpersonal skills and a natural collaborator; works across Sales, Agronomy, Marketing, Product Development, Field Biology, Supply Chain and Regulatory to align product development, production, and distribution efforts
• Strategic thinker with strong organizational and independent problem-solving skills
• Challenges mediocrity, ensures Vive products are best in class
• Strong analytical skills – ability to assess the big picture as well as nuance the details
• Data-driven approach to decision-making, despite imperfect information
• Comfortable managing complex projects and initiatives
• Passion for accuracy and detail, including written and oral communications
• Independent, can-do attitude, self-starter
• Travel up to 30-35%
• Valid passport. Must have the ability to travel across US & Canada
• Valid driver's license and good driving record
• Experience in the agricultural industry, specifically within crop protection