Manager, Product Marketing / Sr. Manager, Product Marketing (Technology) - The Toro Company

Who Are We?

The Toro Company is a homegrown, Minnesota-based company that has been in business since 1914. We pride ourselves on providing world-class equipment to help maintain the environment that we love, while putting an emphasis on giving back to the communities that surround us.From residential lawns and gardens, to venues such as St Andrews Links and Target Field, we are a company with a global footprint and a passion for helping people beautify whatever landscape they may be in. With 100 years of operation under our belt and an average employee tenure of 15 years, come find out what makes The Toro Company the best place in the Twin Cities to build a career.

As a Product Marketing Manager you will support the business objectives of the Commercial Division and the International Division by guiding the development and leading the integration of key company-wide technologies (autonomous, alternative energy, and connected) across the commercial fleet of equipment and leading the digital product portfolio strategy.  Key functions include:  creating and refining the technology strategy for the commercial product portfolio, leading the development of technology roadmaps for the division, identifying and developing the business case for key technology integration driven by unmet customer needs, leading divisional product marketing teams on technology integration across the product portfolio, supporting the development of cross-department processes and procedures to support new technologies, and collaborating with peers company-wide to identify and drive synergies.

What Will You Do?

• Develop, present, and execute multi-generational product plan for digital, autonomous, connected, and alternative energy technology in order to accomplish relevant product line, departmental, and divisional objectives.

• Coordinate and execute voice of the customer activities and other market research required to fully understand future technologies.

• Participate in specialization groups, product development, and DCI team meetings on a regular basis.

• Partner with product marketing managers to lead tech-focused product projects through key project stage gates.

• Assist with the ongoing management and evolution of existing technologies in use across the product portfolio.

• Plan and deliver technology related sales training, including participation in live training events and recorded webinars.

• Work closely and collaborate with the Irrigation division on developing and executing joint strategies.

• Coordinate with product managers to create tech-focused content for sales training tools and marketing collateral materials.

• Monitor competitive environment and develop and contribute data to create competitive technology related comparisons for use in training the Toro and distributor sales teams.

• Collaborate with regional marketing managers, sales team, and finance team regarding digital and related technology pricing strategies.

• Support industry trade shows, customer experience events, and other key activities.

• Coach product marketing manager(s), associate product marketing manager(s), marketing associate(s), and/or marketing interns, and provide general oversight for all digital and technology categories managed by team of direct and indirect reports.

• Represent the Commercial & International divisions by leading special projects as assigned.

• Complete other assignments, duties, and tasks as required.

What Do You Need?

• Engineering or technical background is preferred.

• MBA is preferred.

• Strong interpersonal communication abilities and excellent verbal/written communication skills.

• Strong analytical skills.

• Product development experience is preferred. 

• Customer service and people skills are critical.

• Business-to-business experience through a dealer/distribution system is preferred.

For a Manager, Product Marketing:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing or engineering and 8+ years of applicable experience (or MBA with 6+ years applicable experience) in durable goods.

• Experience effectively leading divisional cross-functional teams.

For a Sr. Manager, Product Marketing:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing or engineering and 12+ years of applicable experience (or MBA with 10+ years applicable experience) in durable goods.

• Experience in creating and executing strategic roadmaps.

• Experience in creating the vision and strategy to meet key business objectives.

• Experience in collaborating and leading effectively cross-divisionally on key initiatives.

Other Job-Related Components:

• Works closely with marketing directors, product marketing managers, regional marketing managers, training team, and marketing communications team.

• Contribute to long-range and annual plans.

• Builds strong cross-functional working relationships with Engineering, Sales, Customer Care, IT, and other internal departments.

• Collaborate across divisions and with key internal corporate resources.

• Manage 1-3 direct and/or indirect reports.

• Serves as an advocate for the customer.

• Travel Requirement:  15-20%, including some international travel.