Product Manager, Headphones

[VALARIE]

Monster is now the world's leading manufacturer of high performance cables that connect audio/video components for home, car and professional use as well as computers and computer games.

Monster Cable is an indispensable component for music lovers, audiophiles, recording studios, sound professionals, musicians, custom-installers and home theatre enthusiasts. Monster's audio cables increase the clarity, dynamics and power of the audio signals that travel through them. Monster video cables deliver the sharpest, clearest picture possible with naturally vivid color from traditional and digital television, projectors, home theatre and satellite systems.

Monster Cable is actively seeking Product Category Manager to support growth opportunities within our Product Management team in the headphones category.

Each Product Category Manager is responsible for developing and articulating the strategic direction for a full product line, and is compensated based upon the P&L of their category. They will provide direction and guidance to a cross-functional team of engineers, industrial designers, strategic buyers, creative artists, copywriters, analysts, and sales people responsible for the design, build, marketing, and selling of their particular product category. In addition, they will partner with other PCMs, Market Area Managers (MAMs), and sales people to support and maintain Monster’s product development process.

The Product Category Manager will:
Create, manage, and consistently update a category business plan consisting of an evergreen product roadmap, a product lifecycle management plan, and a market and technology assessment
Partner with Sales, Marketing and Training to ensure the development of successful sell-in and sell-through strategies
Regularly communicate product plans and objectives to all necessary internal and external constituents
Serve as a key category and product Evangelist both internally and externally
Collaborate with sales managers, merchandisers and external agencies (CEA, NPD, etc.) to assess the competitive landscape
Partner with the following internal constituencies to:
-CEO – align the product category business plan with the Head Monster’s strategic corporate vision
-Sales – assess and address channel opportunities, channel strata and customer requirements, including developing strong relationships with key customers, dealers and reps by regularly accompanying the Sales team into the field
-Trainers – co-author and monitor the effective rollout and execution of sales floor training programs
-Engineering – define product specifications, proactively manage the entire product lifecycle, and provide detailed guidance on release requirements, action items and deliverables as they pertain to product specification and design, engineering, project management, and quality assurance
-Marketing – develop product launch plans, packaging, POP, and ongoing promotions and product revitalization campaigns
-Supply Chain – develop optimized processes based upon actual costs in order to build accurate sales forecasting and inventory management plans
-Merchandising – develop effective pricing and product positioning plans appropriately aligned to the product lifecycle
-Finance – develop accurate profitability, cost analysis, and financial planning models
Build products and product lines consistent with Monster’s brand
Maintain professional relationships and drive objectives with external partners such as suppliers, technology alliances, manufacturers, customers, and others
Work within and help to evolve Monster’s product development process

Qualified candidates for these positions can demonstrate 5 or more years of progressively more responsible experience as a Product Manager in the consumer electronics, consumer products or high tech industries with a successful track record delivering bottom line profits based upon their strategic vision and direction for a significant product line. Successful candidates possess a powerful drive to innovate, prioritize and multi-task in a dynamic environment.

Characteristics
Creative, big-picture thinker capable of distilling information gleaned from a number of disparate sources into a compelling product vision
High initiative, results-oriented individual who delivers on-time and within budget
Team builder who routinely forms strong relationships with diverse constituencies in pursuit of a common goal
Superior written and verbal communication skills

Desirable Qualifications
Successfully managed an entire product life cycle
Experience managing a product category characterized by high volume sales of multiple SKUs
Preference given to candidates with relevant category experience in the Consumer Electronics industry, particularly in accessories and/or attachments
Bachelors degree required, preference accorded candidates with an advanced degree and/or exceptional work experience

[wavoman]

I did a little detective work. The OP is totally legit.

This job is posted on Monster's own web site, under "Careers". Word for word.

Most likely explanation: Poster VALARIE is in HR/recruiting for Moster Cable, and decided / was told that posting jobs on internet forums is a good way to unearth candidates.

We should be proud that Head Fi was picked for this!

VALARIE should have (a) created a profile clearly identifying the affiliation with Monster [if in fact there is such an affiliation -- but why would someone just join and post this as their first post otherwise?], and (b) put a preample in at the top explaining that this job opening exists at Monster, and also how to apply. In fact, just the preample and a hot link to the careers section of the Monster web site would have been preferable. Why didn't the moderators suggest that -- this is what http was invented for -- links instead of snips (use snips only when you need to reference one tiny part of an html page and there is no internal anchor).

[jude]

Valarie is a legitimate representative of Monster Cable. It's my fault that her profile isn't marked as such, and I should have considered that before I approved the post, to avoid confusion.

I was thrilled to find out they wanted to post this job posting here, as it's certainly feasible that we have qualified candidates for the job within this headphone-crazy community of ours.

If you think you're qualified for the position--and you're interested--then follow through. Again, this is totally legitimate, and I'll mark her profile now.