Lead Platforms Manager

Lead Platform Manager

Vitamix is unquestionably the premium brand of high-performance blenders, known for its top-notch company culture and climate. It is an important component of what makes Vitamix unique and successful, and the reason why Vitamix is recognized as a Top Workplace, NorthCoast99 Winner, and Smart Culture Award recipient. Throughout its 100+ year history, Vitamix has encouraged and promoted healthy lifestyles for both its customers and employees. Employees enjoy multiple wellness programs and perks, a free Vitamix machine, and an onsite fitness center. Vitamix also offers a flexible work environment, great work culture, healthy living initiatives like fitness reimbursements, and opportunities for advancement. For consumers, Vitamix can be found domestically in places like William Sonoma, Sur la Table, Crate & Barrel, Target, Amazon, and at Vitamix.com, and is in over 130 countries around the world. Ultimately, Vitamix is the Global-leader in high-performance blending solutions for home and commercial use, is preferred by chefs and is found in many of top restaurants around the world. It is relied upon by culinary schools in the U.S. and has been used to train thousands of students and master chefs worldwide. If it is not a Vitamix, it's just a blender.

Vitamix is seeking a Lead Platform Manager who will develop and advance product platform architectures and initiatives across the global product portfolio. Reporting to the Sr. Manager, VE & Platform Strategy, this role will translate platform strategy into actionable technical roadmaps and initiatives that increase reuse, reduce complexity, improve product economics, and accelerate product development. This role will serve as a technical and cross-functional leader, partnering with Product Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Quality to develop scalable product architectures that optimize customer experience, performance, quality, cost, manufacturability and speed to market.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop system and subsystem platform architecture requirements that enable component reuse, reduce complexity, and support product differentiation across the Vitamix portfolio.
• Translate platform strategies and product roadmaps into actionable technical roadmaps, requirements, specifications, and execution-ready initiatives.
• Analyze product architectures, subsystem usage, BOM and cost data, quality information, and competitive products to identify platform and value improvement opportunities.
• Lead technical evaluation of platform opportunities and tradeoffs across performance, quality, cost, manufacturability, complexity, scalability, and customer experience.
• Partner with Product Management and Engineering to define critical system/subsystem requirements, interfaces, and architectural boundaries for current and future products.
• Develop platform metrics and business cases that quantify opportunities for reuse, complexity reduction, cost improvement, and development efficiency.
• Lead cross-functional architecture reviews, teardowns, workshops, and other activities to identify opportunities and align teams around platform solutions.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, materials, components, and manufacturing processes for potential application across product platforms.
• Provide technical leadership to project teams to ensure platform intent and architectural decisions are effectively implemented through product development.
• Develop and continuously improve platform architecture documentation, methods, tools, and processes to enable effective reuse across Vitamix.

Position Qualifications:

• Experience: 7+ years related engineering experience with significant product development experience
• Experience with high volume consumer products, appliances, or electromechanical products preferred
• Demonstrated experience with product architecture, systems engineering, platform development, value engineering, or related disciplines
• Demonstrated experience influencing and leading cross-functional technical teams without direct authority
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Engineering
• Master's degree in Engineering or related field is preferred
• Technical Skills: Strong systems-thinking capability with an understanding of product architectures, subsystems, interfaces, and component interactions
• Experience applying product and manufacturing economics, including BOM cost, manufacturing processes, tooling and capital considerations
• Working knowledge of product development and engineering methods such as DFMA, FMEA, DOE, and related tools
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts and business tradeoffs across functions

Other Requirements:

• Critical Thinking - Ability to break down complex information, identify key elements, and assess their validity and relevance.
• Communication - Ability to express ideas clearly, confidently, and succinctly in both formal and informal settings.
• Relationship Building - Ability to establish, maintain, and cultivate positive relationships with individuals, teams, and external stakeholders to foster a collaborative environment.
• Influence - Ability to persuade and guide others towards a desired outcome.
• Emotional Intelligence - Demonstrates the ability to effectively manage one's own emotions and understand, empathize with, and influence the emotions of others, fostering positive relationships and collaboration.
• Flexibility - Ability to adjust quickly to changing priorities, new information, and diverse situations, while remaining focused on achieving goals.
• Resourcefulness - Leverages available resources and contacts to overcome obstacles and achieve project goals efficiently.
• Process Improvement - Demonstrated ability to analyze workflows, identify inefficiencies, and implement process improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce costs.
• Organizational Skills - Effectively manages time, prioritizes tasks, meets deadlines, and maintains systems for achieving goals.
• Attention to Detail - Consistently maintains high standards of quality and accuracy across different tasks and projects.
• Reliability/Dependability - Highly reliable, proactive self-starter; can be counted on to complete assignments on time.
• Initiative - Proactive problem solver, takes calculated risks, and seeks opportunities for improvement.
• Team Motivation/Engagement - Effectively addresses morale challenges and utilizes a variety of approaches to energize and engage team members.
• Change Leadership - Champion a culture of continuous improvement and adaptation, encouraging employees to embrace change to align with organizations vision and goals.
• Delegation/Empowerment - Delegates tasks and responsibilities, ensuring clear expectations, providing necessary support, and holding individuals accountable for outcomes, while fostering a culture of trust and empowerment.

Physical Demands:

• Ability to sit up to 8 hours per day, with walking and standing required frequently
• Visual acuity is required to perform activities such as: preparing and analyzing data, viewing a computer terminal, reading documents, reports, and emails
• Repetitive hand movements for tasks like typing or assembly

Amount of Travel Required: Up to 10% travel required

# of Direct Reports: 0

Work Schedule/Shift: Monday-Friday 8:00AM 5:00PM

Work Arrangement: Hybrid

Work Environment: Office