Vice President of Product Development

Vice President of Product Development

(Product Strategy, Portfolio Leadership & Commercialization)

Location: Greater Indianapolis, Indiana (On-site; relocation required)

Reports To: Executive Vice President, Product Design and Development

Direct Reports: All Product Managers

Company Overview

Westfield Outdoors is a leading Indianapolis-based company specializing in durable goods manufacturing and international importing services. Our focus lies in outdoor leisure products, including camping furniture, tents, shelters, backpacks, trekking bags, soft coolers, pet products, baby products, hunting accessories, fishing tackle, and patio furniture.

As a global leader in OEM and private-label manufacturing for the outdoor industry, Westfield Outdoors is committed to delivering innovative, high-quality products while expanding our portfolio of owned brands and direct-to-consumer capabilities.

Position Summary

The Vice President of Product Development leads Westfield Outdoors’ Product Management organization and is accountable for product strategy, portfolio priorities, commercialization, and lifecycle performance. Reporting to the Executive Vice President of Product Design and Development, this leader manages a team of approximately six Product Managers expected to grow to as many as ten and establishes the operating system through which product opportunities become commercially successful durable goods.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Portfolio Direction

• Lead enterprise product, category, and portfolio strategy across Westfield Outdoors’ durable-goods businesses.
• Translate company priorities, customer needs, market trends, channel requirements, competitive activity, and financial objectives into clear product roadmaps and investment priorities.
• Establish standards for opportunity assessment, business cases, product positioning, value propositions, pricing, margin, and lifecycle decisions.
• Recommend portfolio expansion, rationalization, resource allocation, and development priorities to executive leadership.

Product Management Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop all Product Managers through clear roles, priorities, operating rhythms, performance expectations, and succession planning.
• Ensure category strategies and product roadmaps are coordinated, evidence-based, financially disciplined, and aligned with company objectives.
• Build consistent product-management tools, templates, metrics, documentation, and decision practices across the organization.
• Balance workload and resources across categories while creating accountability for results and cross-functional follow-through.

Development Governance & Commercialization

• Establish and lead stage gate governance from discovery through product development, validation, launch, and post-launch review.
• Partner with the Director of Design and Director of Engineering, working through their separately managed teams to resolve tradeoffs across customer value, performance, cost, quality, risk, and timing.
• Ensure product requirements, financial targets, testing, compliance, samples, packaging inputs, sales tools, and launch deliverables are complete and decision-ready.
• Surface portfolio, schedule, cost, quality, and resource risks early and drive clear escalation and resolution.

Commercial Performance & Executive Leadership

• Define and review portfolio KPIs covering sales, margin, inventory, quality, customer feedback, returns, launch effectiveness, and lifecycle performance.
• Recommend investment, pricing, margin, and corrective actions using financial and performance evidence.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, Ecommerce, Finance, and Operations to connect product decisions with channel needs and commercial plans.
• Present concise portfolio updates, investment recommendations, risks, and decisions to executive leadership.
• Represent the customer and long-term product portfolio in enterprise planning while modeling strong judgment, collaboration, and accountability.

Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive product management, product development, category leadership, or commercialization experience with physical durable goods.
• Significant experience leading Product Managers and multi-category durable-goods portfolios.
• Experience with global sourcing, overseas manufacturing, major retail and ecommerce channels, and executive-level business decisions strongly preferred.

Skills and Competencies

• Enterprise product strategy, portfolio management, financial judgment, and durable-goods commercialization expertise.
• Strong command of customer insight, category strategy, product economics, pricing, margin, stage-gate governance, and lifecycle performance.
• Demonstrated ability to lead Product Management and align peer-led Design and Engineering teams without assuming direct authority over those functions.
• Excellent executive communication, decision framing, negotiation, and organizational change leadership.

Leadership Attributes

• Strategic, customer-centered, commercially disciplined, and decisive.
• Talent builder who sets clear expectations, coaches effectively, and develops strong Product Managers.
• Enterprise collaborator who can resolve tradeoffs and align leaders across functions and geographies.
• High integrity, ownership, resilience, and willingness to travel domestically and internationally up to 30%.

Why Join Westfield Outdoors?

Westfield Outdoors is strengthening product strategy and development leadership across a broad outdoor and consumer-products portfolio. This role offers the opportunity to build the Product Management organization, shape investment and portfolio decisions, and improve how global teams turn customer needs into successful products.

Compensation and Benefits

Westfield Outdoors offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Paid time off and company holidays
• Opportunities for professional development and career growth

Equal Opportunity Employer

Westfield Outdoors is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.