Director Of Product Development

Job Summary

StoneAge Tools is looking for an energetic, forward-thinking Director of Product Development to join our dynamic and growing team. StoneAge is an employee-owned company and has a culture of teamwork, self-leadership, customer service, and a shared vision of excellence. The mission of this role is to drive new product development and custom solutions, helping StoneAge achieve its vision of having a working industrial cleaning robot in every industrial facility in the world.

About StoneAge Tools

StoneAge Tools is the global leader in the design and manufacture of high-pressure waterblast tooling and automated, IoT-enabled/robotic equipment, based in Durango, CO. Think squirt guns on steroids run by humans and robots. StoneAge Tools is a subsidiary of StoneAge Holdings, along with its sister company Breadware, an IoT product development firm that helps clients build and launch IoT-enabled products. We are an innovative, employee-owned company that is on a mission to change our industry and the world through the advancement of technical products and services – and with our unique, people-centric culture.

About The Role

The Director of Product Development is responsible for developing and supporting the delivery of product solutions to customers. This involves setting the strategic priority of product development to deliver sustained value and provide excellent customer support through solutions and field services. This role plans and directs the resources and processes required to implement the vision and strategy for new product development, custom engineered solutions, and product lifecycle management of existing products.

This person leads future innovations and develops the long-range product and solutions vision and strategy to meet StoneAge Tool’s corporate objectives. This position is responsible for maintaining close relationships with the global StoneAge teams and customers and identifying market opportunities by staying current on needs and trends.

Our ideal candidate will be collaborative, strategic, technical, and motivated. They will be an excellent team builder and work cross-departmentally with peers to develop and launch new products. They must be able to work under pressure and effectively manage timelines and expectations across the organization. Mechanical, electromechanical, and software experience preferred as StoneAge is developing IoT-enabled equipment. They must care deeply about the customer experience and be passionate about creating products and solutions that improve our customers’ lives, inspiring them to say, “why would I choose anyone but StoneAge.”

This position leads Product Development Engineering (mechanical, electrical, firmware and software), Engineering Research & Development, Product Management, and Custom Engineered Solutions while serving as a partner on all StoneAge efforts requiring integrating or implementing technology.

This position reports to the CEO and is part of the StoneAge and the Breadware Executive Management Team (EMT).

Requirements

The Director Product Development is expected to:

• Collaborate with Breadware (sister organization), utilizing them as an engineering resource to leveraging skills sets and increase product development efforts
• Collaboratively lead the Engineering leadership team to prioritize the use of shared resources
• Prioritize the product and technology roadmap, projects, and backlog using product business cases
• Monitor product profitability over time, manage ongoing pricing strategies, oversee product obsolescence planning and execution
• Manage and execute the engineering and product development budget
• Manage a healthy and purposeful Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio designed to protect and grow the company’s market position and disrupt competition - chair the patent review committee
• Develop and lead a dispersed Engineering team to meet current and future product, technology, solutions, services, and business requirements
• Create, maintain, and execute a product and technology roadmap using the voice of the customer, market intelligence, competitive information, and company capabilities
• Foster a team culture that is consistent with the StoneAge OWN IT mindset. Hold 4 Own It performance chats with direct reports, providing feedback and helping them grow personally and professionally.
• Identify and pursue new opportunities in existing and adjacent markets that leverage available or planned products, services, or technologies
• Partners to deliver marketing and product requirement documentation with prioritized features and corresponding justification – serve as an approver for final product marketing and launch plans

Essential Functions

New Product Strategy, Development, and Launch:

• Define business objectives and product vision for all proposed product development projects
• Curate and maintain a global IP portfolio, manage patent lawyers during any litigations
• Solves problems that face product development and integration
• Manage a product and technology roadmap prioritized by ROI, strategic importance, and technical/resource fit
• Accountable for product development velocity and the effective use and prioritization of engineering resources
• Partner with Operations to incorporate Design for Manufacturing into all new product designs. Participate in NPI meetings
• Work collaboratively with Sales and the StoneAge EMT as appropriate to validate and size market opportunities
• Identify technologies to bring into internal and external systems to increase productivity and market position
• Leverage external resources as needed to achieve business objectives and mitigate risk
• Identify all certifications and regional requirements necessary for product success
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to develop and execute effective launch strategies for new products, including product training, messaging, sales enablement hardware and applications, and launch materials
• Develop, maintain, and oversee the Product Development Process. Work with all departments to determine internal operational capacity and mitigate schedule deviation risks. Ensure design and readiness reviews are complete and follow the PDP process

Product Health:

• Partner with PLM and Finance data teams and product strategy to analyze product profitability and sales success. Team with Sales, Operations and Marketing to develop and execute strategies to stimulate product sales or cost reduction as required
• Participate in quality reviews to identify design improvements to improve yield and manufacturability
• Provide information for product pricing; in collaboration with PLM, Sales, and Purchasing develop pricing models and strategies for new products as well as maximize profitability of current products
• Work with sales and quality to coordinate product warranty and recall issues ensuring all appropriate departments are aware of the issue and solution and coordinate with market division Sales Managers to ensure this information is accurately and timely communicated to customers and the dealer network
• Provide leadership on product forecasts to support Operations when necessary

Industry Participation:

• Drive change and enhance StoneAge’s reputation and standing in the industry through committee participation, writing and presenting white papers, and collaborating across companies
• Visit our customers with internal partners learning the industry and representing StoneAge as an innovative, industry changing company
• Attend trade shows to gain market intelligence, identify opportunities for partnership, assess the competitive position, and leverage emerging technologies
• Ensure that engineering team members are getting field and customer exposure by traveling to job and customer sites at least annually.

General:

• Works collaboratively with the StoneAge/Breadware EMT and their staff to ensure buy-in from all stakeholders
• Participates and/or leads company Strategic Planning meetings and initiatives
• Lead committees and meetings to drive collaborative and expeditious decision making
• Delegate the review and approval of product catalogs and technical marketing information
• Communicate product roadmap changes regularly with all company-wide stakeholders
• Provide reports to the Board of Directors when required by CEO
• Provide ongoing supervision and coaching of Engineering Team
• Work with Human Resources and/or the CEO on any departmental people issues
• Ensure communication of product-related news to all team members and coordinate with market division Sales Managers to communicate news to dealer and customer network

Knowledge And Training Requirements

• Practice self-leadership
• Be excited about people management and have the ability to galvanize teams. Must recognize and recruit talent to build an effective multi-disciplinary team
• Have a B.S. degree or higher in Mechanical or Electrical Engineering from an accredited educational institution. MBA is a plus
• Ability and motivate a geographically dispersed team to move quickly and in step with operations and sales partners
• Anticipate and communicate potential problems and adapt to changing timelines and design specifications and/or delays that occur and implement necessary adjustments
• Know how to build relationships with dealers and customers effectively
• Have extensive experience in the delivery of complex multi-disciplinary products
• Communicate and interact effectively with team members at all levels through both verbal and written means
• Have 15+ years of engineering experience and 10+ years in engineering management, 2 years of which spent leading engineers in a high-growth company
• Be a good teammate
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with other employees and be highly collaborative
• Deliver on the StoneAge/Breadware Assurance Promises
• Embrace and demonstrate the StoneAge “OWN IT” mindset and behaviors daily
• Strong technical competence to guide tradeoffs and good product design decisions
• Have experience in product research and development

Other Information

• Extended working hours may be needed during peak seasons or to meet project deadlines
• Must be able to lift heavy loads using proper lifting techniques as outlined in the StoneAge Safety Policies
• Travel is required (branch locations, customer visits, tradeshows)

We value the diversity of the people we hire and serve. Diversity at our company means fostering a workplace in which individual differences are recognized, appreciated, respected, and responded to in way that fully develop and utilize each persons talents and strengths.

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with a guaranteed match
• Paid holidays
• StoneAge offers a comprehensive benefits program that includes:
• Group health, dental, and vision insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Wellness rewards program, and much more!
• Paid time off

Even more excited, we are an employee-owned company with profit-sharing and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP"), in which shares of company stock are allocated to eligible employees each year.

Our "Own It" mindset captures what many of us consider the biggest benefit of all: a highly engaged, collaborative workplace where everyone matters and every employee makes a significant impact.

Please visit our website at www.stoneagetools.com to get a better sense of our company and our employee-owned culture!