Senior Product Manager, R&D Technology - The Toro Company

Who Are We?

With roots dating back to 1914, The Toro Company was built on a tradition of quality and caring relationships. Today, the company is a leading worldwide provider of innovative solutions for the outdoor environment, including turf and landscape maintenance, snow and ice management, underground utility construction, rental and specialty construction, and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions. Through a strong network of professional distributors, dealers, rental stores and retailers in more than 125 countries, we proudly offer a wide range of products across a family of global brands to help golf courses, professional contractors, underground construction professionals, groundskeepers, agricultural growers, rental companies, government and educational institutions, and homeowners – in addition to many leading sports venues and historic sites around the world.

Your Opportunity:

The Senior Product Manager, R&D Technology supports the business objectives of the Landscape and Contractor Group (L&C) which consists of Toro, Exmark and Spartan lawn mower brands, by guiding the development and leading the integration of key company-wide technologies (autonomous, alternative energy, and connected products) across the L&C fleet of equipment and leading the digital product portfolio strategy.  Key functions include:  creating and refining the technology strategy for L&C product portfolio, leading the development of technology roadmaps for the divisions, 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.

Sponsorship:

• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

• We are unable to consider OPT, J1 or F1 students, nor sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment VISA at this time - regardless of expiration date.

• Must be willing to obtain/maintain an active and valid US Passport and a non-expired US Driver's license.

Work Location:

• Candidates have the choice of where their home office base would be:Bloomington, MN Toro's International Corporate Headquarters;Beatrice, NE at Exmark's Division Headquarters;or Batesville, ARK at the Spartan Mowers Division Headquarters.

• The current team works a hybrid model with 3-days on-site and optional 2-days remote;or 5-days on campus (varying on the culture of the location).

• Other job locations and/or fully remote is not available at this time.

• This role includes travel 15%-20% (both domestic and international) with related expense reporting duties.

What Will You Do?

To grow and build a successful career with The Toro Company, you will be responsible for: 

• 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 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 peer divisions within TTC 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 L&C and distributor sales teams.

• Collaborate with product 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 manager(s), associate product 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.

What Do You Need?

To be considered for this role, an individual should meet the following minimal requirements: 

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in marketing or engineering.

• 12+ years of applicable experience (or MBA with 10+ years applicable experience) in durable goods.

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

• Strong analytical skills.

• Customer service and people skills are critical.

• 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.

Preferred:

• An MBA is preferred.

• Engineering or Technical background is preferred.

• 6+ years’ experience in the outdoor power equipment industry preferred.

• Product development experience is preferred. 

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

• Prior experience with the L&C ( Landscape & Contractor) dealer channel preferred.

Other Job-Related Components:

• Works closely with marketing directors, product managers, regional sales 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.

• Occasionally: Exposure to outside weather conditions;Exposure to wet and/or humid conditions (non-weather);Exposure to extreme heat or cold (non-weather);work near moving mechanical parts;work around fumes, airborne particles, or toxic chemicals.

• While performing the duties of this job, the noise level in the work environment is usually loud.

• The employee mustoccasionally lift and /or move more than 20 pounds.

• Specific vision abilities required by this job include Close vision; Distance vision; Color vision; Peripheral vision; Depth perception and ability to adjust focus

What Can We Give You?

At The Toro Company, we are always working to make sure our employees know just how valued they are. In addition to a competitive salary, an affordable and top-tier medical/dental/vision plan, 401k, and many other great benefits - The Toro company offers employees at our Bloomington, MN HQ location a variety of perks, including: 

• Dress for your day - We know you're more productive when you're comfortable, which is why TTC employees are encouraged to take advantage of our casual, corporate environment. 

• Food- Take advantage of our onsite café, which serves both breakfast and lunch. With a Caribou Coffee attached, you can grab a snack and a coffee at any time during your day. 

• Wellness - The Toro Company’s HQ offers complimentary use of our onsite fitness facility to employees. In addition to physical well-being, TTC offers a variety of mental health and financial health resources to all employees.  

• Volunteerism - The Toro Company is proud to provide employees 20 hours of paid time to volunteer in the community. 

• Summer Hours – Enjoy a flexible schedule during the summer! By working a little more during the first few days of the week, TTC employees at our Bloomington HQ are able to start their weekends early and leave by noon on Friday. 

• Competitive Salary– A reasonable pay range for this opportunity is $125,900 - $168,900.The pay range takes into account skills, experience, education, and location. It is not common to be hired at or near the top of the range; compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. Cash compensation is one piece of our competitive total rewards package. If you need to, you can access your pay early with the One@Work app, formerly the Even app. 

At The Toro Company, we are committed to fostering a secure and trustworthy recruitment process for our applicants. Recruitment fraud is a potential threat to job seekers, so please be aware that throughout our recruitment process, you’ll never be required to pay any fees or disclose personal financial details when applying to TTC opportunities.   

The Toro Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants based on merit and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military service, or other non-merit factors. We are committed to creating a welcoming environment for all employees.

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