Product Planner - Cooking Appliances

Job Description

About Midea America Corp

Midea America Corp., is one of the world’s largest home appliance brands, offering the most comprehensive selection of products in the world to fully serve the needs of day-to-day living at home, at work, or anywhere else you go. In North America we strive to aim high, put the customer first, transform and innovate the marketplace, utilizing our commitment, dedication, inclusion, and partnership with our teams. Midea America is a subsidiary of the Midea Group, a global company with over 150,000 employees and operations in more than 195 countries. As a publicly listed company, we are ranked #231 as a Fortune Global 500 company and offer one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry.

Job Summary

The Product Planner is responsible for developing and executing product strategies, portfolio roadmaps, and lifecycle plans for Midea’s cooking appliances, including ranges, wall ovens, microwave ovens, OTRs, CMOs, toaster ovens, etc.

This role identifies consumer needs, market opportunities, competitive trends, and emerging technologies to drive data-informed product decisions and front-end innovation.

Working closely with marketing, sales, engineering, and research teams, the Product Planner develops products that meet consumer needs, achieve business objectives, and strengthens Midea’s market position.

Essential Job Responsibilities

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• Develop and manage product and technology roadmaps for cooking appliances, aligning business objectives with market opportunities through data analytics, AI-driven insights, consumer intelligence, and competitive analysis.
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• Drive front-end innovation by monitoring emerging technologies, smart-home ecosystems, AI-enabled consumer experiences, industry trends, regulatory developments, and evolving consumer needs to identify strategic opportunities, disruptive product concepts, future technology platforms, and long-term growth initiatives.
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• Define product requirements, feature sets, performance targets, user experiences, and value propositions for new and existing products.
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• Develop business cases, pricing recommendations, cost targets, revenue forecasts, and profitability analyses to support investment and portfolio decisions.
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• Create and maintain product specifications, technical documentation, performance claims, validation plans, and supporting records.
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• Support intellectual property activities, including invention disclosures, patent evaluations, competitive patent reviews, and innovation strategy development.
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• Provide strategic direction, product leadership, and technical expertise to cross-functional teams while fostering innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
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• Travel domestically and internationally to collaborate with global teams, suppliers, customers, manufacturing facilities, and development partners in support of product planning and execution.
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Qualifications

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• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Product Management, Product Development, Data Analytics, Marketing, or a related discipline; Master’s degree preferred.
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• 7+ years of experience in product planning, product management, product development, engineering, innovation management, or portfolio management preferably within the cooking appliance industry.
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• Proven experience developing product roadmaps, portfolio strategies, business cases, product requirements, and commercialization plans, translating consumer insights and market opportunities into successful products.
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• Experience leveraging data analytics, business intelligence, AI-enabled insights, market research, consumer analytics, Voice of Customer Data, and competitive intelligence to support innovation and strategic decision-making.
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• Proficiency with business intelligence, data visualization, and analytical tools such as Power BI, Tableau, SQL, Python, and AI-assisted analytics; experience with machine learning, predictive modeling and forecasting.
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• Familiarity with North American appliance regulations, codes, and certification standards, including UL, CSA, ANSI, DOE, ENERGY STAR®, and other applicable safety, performance, energy efficiency, and compliance requirements, is preferred.
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• Strong project management, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively communicate complex technical and business concepts to diverse audiences.
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• Ability to influence and collaborate effectively across engineering, marketing, sales, sourcing, manufacturing, quality, and executive leadership teams.
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• Experience working with global product development teams, international suppliers, and manufacturing organizations in a multicultural environment.
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Disclaimer

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity. All employment is decided based on qualifications, merit, and business need.