Product Line Manager-Consumer & Wood Products

Job Description

Job Description

ABOUT JOHN BOOS & CO. and JK ADAMS

John Boos & Co. has been crafting premium wood and stainless-steel kitchen equipment in Effingham, Illinois for nearly 140 years, serving foodservice, industrial, and consumer/retail markets. JK Adams Co., based in Dorset, Vermont since 1944, is a heritage American woodworking company specializing in cutting boards, serving boards, and kitchen accessories. The two companies recently joined forces, creating a combined American-made woodworking and foodservice platform with shared scale, expanded resources, and deep wood-products manufacturing capability.

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Product Line Manager — Consumer & Wood Products owns the strategy, lifecycle, commercial performance, New Product Introduction (NPI) readiness, and data readiness of a broad portfolio spanning heritage wood products and consumer-oriented kitchen products across the John Boos & Co. and J.K. Adams brands. This role translates customer, market, brand, operational, and financial requirements into a clear product roadmap that supports growth, margin discipline, design for manufacturability, and brand differentiation across commercial, industrial, retail, consumer, and related channels.

This position sits within Product Management and works cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Operations, Finance, IT, and Data teams across the Effingham, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont facilities. The role ensures product decisions are commercially sound, operationally feasible, financially disciplined, and properly enabled through enterprise systems, product data platforms, and approved governance frameworks.

The role requires disciplined portfolio leadership across products that serve different customers, buying behaviors, channels, and use cases. It must protect the strength and credibility of established wood product lines while identifying adjacent consumer opportunities that fit the brands, can be executed well, and support profitable growth.

This role also plays an important part in the company’s technology and data transformation. The Product Line Manager serves as the business owner and steward of product-line data for the assigned portfolio, ensuring product attributes, item master data, pricing inputs, lifecycle status, digital content requirements, SKU hierarchy, and related portfolio data are accurate, complete, and usable across ERP, MDM, PIM, DAM, CRM, EDW, BI, reporting, and other commercial platforms. As the combined portfolio scales, this role is expected to build the operating discipline, portfolio visibility, data rigor, and cross-functional leadership model that could support future progression into a Director-level role if business needs and performance warrant.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Portfolio Strategy & Lifecycle Management:

• Own product portfolio strategy, roadmap priorities, and lifecycle management for assigned wood and consumer product categories across the John Boos & Co. and J.K. Adams brands.
• Manage the portfolio from concept through NPI, launch, sustaining management, rationalization, and end-of-life.
• Define portfolio priorities across core products, channel-specific assortments, consumer-facing products, and adjacent growth opportunities.
• Recommend product investments, improvements, exits, and SKU-level actions based on customer needs, market trends, operational capability, margin performance, and strategic fit.
• Partner with Engineering and Operations to translate market and customer needs into products that are manufacturable, cost effective, scalable, quality-driven, and suitable for repeatable production.
• Ensure lifecycle decisions are reflected in product documentation, system records, customer-facing content, sales tools, and internal operating processes.

Commercial Performance, Pricing & Margin Management:

• Manage product-line performance for the assigned portfolio, including revenue, gross margin, mix, SKU productivity, channel performance, and lifecycle contribution.
• Partner with Finance, Sales, and Operations to evaluate pricing, standard cost, volume assumptions, margin structure, and profitability improvement opportunities.
• Define pricing logic and product positioning by brand, channel, customer segment, and use case within approved company pricing processes.
• Identify profitability levers, including mix improvement, product redesign, SKU rationalization, packaging changes, sourcing alternatives, and channel-specific assortment management.
• Track and report product KPIs, including revenue, gross margin, SKU productivity, launch performance, on-time launch, and NPI vitality.

Product Data Ownership & Enterprise Platform Enablement:

• Serve as the business owner and product-line steward for assigned portfolio data within approved enterprise data governance standards.
• Ensure product data required for item setup, SKU hierarchy, product attributes, pricing inputs, lifecycle status, packaging, customer-facing content, digital assets, and reporting is accurate, complete, and maintained.
• Partner with Data, IT, Business Systems Analysts, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Operations to align product data definitions and usage across systems and functions.
• Define business requirements for product data, content, attributes, lifecycle workflows, digital merchandising needs, and commercial readiness within relevant enterprise platforms.
• Support data migration, validation, cleansing, and reconciliation activities related to assigned product information during platform implementations or improvements.
• Escalate unclear, conflicting, or undefined product data requirements to the appropriate data governance, systems, finance, or engineering authority rather than creating independent structural standards.

Market, Customer & Competitive Insight:

• Conduct market research, competitive analysis, customer interviews, sales feedback reviews, and Voice-of-Customer work to identify needs, gaps, trends, and differentiation opportunities.
• Translate insights from commercial buyers, industrial users, retail partners, consumer customers, and internal stakeholders into product requirements, assortment recommendations, pricing considerations, positioning, and roadmap priorities.
• Use customer segmentation, channel insights, and product performance data to define portfolio priorities and go-to-market requirements.
• Represent the assigned portfolio in customer reviews, trade shows, sales meetings, line reviews, and key internal planning discussions.
• Maintain awareness of competitive products, merchandising approaches, feature expectations, pricing levels, channel requirements, and consumer behavior across relevant product categories.

Launch Readiness & Go-To-Market Execution:

• Build and manage product launch plans with Marketing, Sales, Operations, Engineering, Finance, IT, and Data teams to ensure operational, commercial, and content readiness.
• Define launch requirements for collateral, packaging, photography, digital assets, product content, sales training, samples, trade-show support, and customer-facing materials.
• Ensure new products are ready for sale across applicable channels with accurate product information, pricing, item setup, digital assets, operational documentation, and inventory readiness.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing to support customer presentations, line reviews, retail and commercial sell-in, channel plans, and go-to-market execution.
• Monitor post-launch performance and lead corrective actions when product, pricing, content, supply, or channel execution does not meet expectations.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Operating Discipline:

• Lead cross-functional alignment across Product, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Operations, Finance, IT, and Data to execute portfolio priorities and resolve product-line issues.
• Establish clear expectations, deliverables, timelines, and ownership for assigned product initiatives across the Effingham, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont facilities.
• Own recommendations and business cases for assigned portfolio decisions while partnering with executive leadership on final approval for major investment, pricing, launch, rationalization, and channel decisions.
• Influence without direct authority while ensuring decisions, trade-offs, risks, and dependencies are visible to leadership.
• Build scalable product management practices, documentation, portfolio routines, and cross-functional operating discipline that can support future team leadership as business complexity increases.
• Travel between Effingham, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont as needed to collaborate with engineering, manufacturing, brand, product, sales, and leadership teams.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Product Management, Industrial Design, Engineering, Data Analytics, Information Systems, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• MBA or other advanced business, technical, product, or analytics-related education preferred but not required.
• Training or demonstrated experience in product management, product lifecycle management, pricing, manufacturing operations, enterprise systems, or data governance preferred.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

• 7+ years of progressive product management, product line management, category management, or related commercial product experience.
• At least 3 years of experience owning or materially influencing a multi-SKU product portfolio, preferably in housewares, kitchenware, foodservice equipment, consumer products, manufacturing, or a related category.
• Experience managing product lifecycle activities, including product strategy, roadmap development, NPI, launch planning, sustaining management, SKU rationalization, and end-of-life decisions.
• Experience working across multiple sales channels or customer segments, including commercial, industrial, retail, consumer, ecommerce, or distributor environments.
• Experience working in or directly with manufacturing operations; familiarity with domestic manufacturing, design for manufacturability, and NPI preferred.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience evaluating product P&L, pricing, gross margin, standard cost, mix, SKU productivity, and channel performance.
• Experience working with enterprise platforms such as ERP, MDM, PIM, DAM, CRM, EDW, BI, PLM, reporting, or related systems preferred.
• Working knowledge of product master data, product attributes, item setup, SKU hierarchy, BOMs, pricing data, digital assets, and product content workflows preferred.
• Experience leading cross-functional NPI, stage-gate, launch, system, data, or transformation initiatives.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Strong ability to connect product strategy, commercial performance, customer needs, manufacturing reality, and enterprise data requirements.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret revenue, margin, pricing, cost, SKU productivity, market, channel, customer, and consumer data.
• High attention to detail and commitment to product data accuracy, completeness, and process discipline.
• Ability to define clear product requirements, business requirements, decision inputs, and cross-functional deliverables.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to align Sales, Engineering, Operations, Marketing, Finance, IT, Data, and leadership stakeholders around a shared plan.
• Ability to influence without direct authority and lead cross-functional teams through ambiguity, trade-offs, timelines, and execution risk.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, especially Excel and PowerPoint; experience with enterprise platforms such as ERP, MDM, PIM, DAM, CRM, EDW, BI, PLM, ecommerce, or project management systems preferred.
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills with the ability to manage multiple product initiatives, launch timelines, data requirements, channel needs, and stakeholder priorities.
• Practical problem-solving ability with sound judgment on when to decide, when to escalate, and when to align with approved governance frameworks.
• Willingness to travel between Effingham, Illinois and Dorset, Vermont and to attend trade shows, customer meetings, product reviews, and key internal planning sessions.

John Boos & Co. is an Equal Opportunity Employer

John Boos & Co. maintains a drug-free workplace.