Assistant Product Marketing Manager

This is a wonderful opportunity based in the McLean, VA area for a Junior Product Marketing Manager.  This position has global responsibilities to bring assigned products to the marketplace and to the distribution organization. It is somewhat of a job sharing assistant position as you will be tasked with aiding a very senior product marketer that is based out of the UK.   You will be required to promote the commercial success of assigned products by focusing externally to successfully meet customers’ needs, achieved by successful planning and collaboration with distribution and engineering functions.

Our client is the world-leading supplier of visual analysis software, with their aim being providing the best solutions to help their clients make sense of masses of data and complex scenarios.

Their products are proven from short-term tactical operations to long term strategic planning and are used extensively in Law Enforcement, Government Agencies and the commercial sector.  They are part of a much larger organization in the $8 Billion+ range in revenues.

GENERAL “MUST HAVE” EXPERIENCE

• 3+ years of experience with product marketing and management for software products


• Up-to-date technology industry knowledge


• Both tactical and strategic in their skill sets


• Experienced with customer interfacing


• Government market experience (US Federal Security Clearance desirable but not required)

Preferred

• Familiarity with law enforcement, intelligence and/or Department of Defense


• Pragmatic Marketing’s Practical Product Management course

SPECIFIC SKILLS

Responsibilities

• Interacting directly with customers to establish and develop mutually beneficial relationships to gain understanding of customers’ business and business problems and priorities.


• Understand detail of the customers’ tasks and outputs and buyers’ performance requirements and constraints.


• In the context of the Product and Capabilities Roadmaps, formulate and maintain the global product plan for each assigned product, covering tactical and strategic goals and timescales and communicate it to all stakeholders.


• Develop and own Business Cases and Market Requirements coordinating and taking input from Sales and Marketing colleagues and other sources throughout the organization.


• Convey the prioritized requirement themes to Product Requirements Manager and collaborate during the requirement refinement.


• Create presentations and White papers and specify demo.


• Assist with global go-to-market Marketing Plan including market messages for the product releases and specify collateral to articulate the benefits and value of the products and the customer business justification.  Ensures effective execution of the plan by vertical sector marketing and sales organizations, including lead generation themes and presenting at events.


• Work closely with vertical marketing managers to convey the generic product proposition and so facilitate the development of vertical-specific proposition messages, value proposition and benefit statement.


• Delivering and facilitating direct sales and channel partner training.


• Actively promoting product’s success in the distribution organization.


• Monitoring financial performance of products against business plans. Negative variance from plan to be proactively investigated with sales and vertical organizations and actions agreed. Prolonged negative variance to be escalated to management with recommended actions. The intent is in the future the role will own the P&L for the assigned products.


• Work within the framework of the High Level Product Process to ensure that product release plans, costs and risks are gated appropriately to minimize risk and maximize return for the company. At gates specified in the High Level Product Process, present materials for management review and approval.


• Prepare product pricing proposals and gain approval in each affected sales territory.


• Establish and develop the “virtual team” relationships with Vertical Marketing Managers, peer Product Marketing Managers, Engineering and Sales.


• Assist in submitting monthly status report data to Senior Product Marketing Manager.


• Travel will be required within the US and overseas and at least quarterly visits to the UK to foster virtual team relationships.


• In addition to these duties, employees are expected to undertake other duties as may reasonably be required.


• Previous experience of a software product business is required.