Overview

Flex-Tek is a global manufacturing company serving Aerospace, Construction, and Heating markets, and is a division of Smiths Group. We are seeking a Product Strategy & Commercialization Manager to convert market insight, customer needs, and business capabilities into profitable product growth. This role owns product strategy and lifecycle priorities, leads cross-functional new product development projects, identifies new uses for existing technologies, and creates a stronger communication loop between the field, engineering, and sales.

The position will be hired for two business contexts: Gastite, focused on plumbing, HVAC, tubing, fittings, and engineered connection systems; and HVAC Air Distribution, focused on Royal Metal Products, Thermaflex, sheet metal components, flexible ducting, and adjacent HVAC air movement applications.

Primary Purpose of the Role

• •Own and advance product strategy, portfolio priorities, and lifecycle decisions for the assigned business.
• •Lead cross-functional new product development and commercialization projects from concept through launch.
• •Identify new applications for existing technologies, manufacturing capabilities, and product platforms.
• •Create a disciplined field-to-engineering-to-sales communication loop that converts customer feedback into actionable product requirements.
• •Feed validated market and technology insights into long-term business strategy, roadmap planning, and innovation priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Product Strategy and Portfolio Management

• •Develop and maintain product roadmaps aligned with business-unit growth objectives and Flex-Tek strategy.
• •Manage assigned products through lifecycle stages including concept, launch, growth, margin optimization, refresh, and end-of-life.
• •Assess portfolio gaps, market trends, competitive offerings, technology shifts, code changes, and customer pain points.
• •Support pricing, positioning, channel strategy, margin improvement, product rationalization, and investment prioritization.
• •Create business cases for new products, product extensions, and technology-driven growth opportunities.

New Product Development Project Leadership

• •Lead cross-functional NPD projects from opportunity definition through commercialization and launch handoff.
• •Define project scope, customer requirements, target economics, launch criteria, risks, timing, and success metrics.
• •Coordinate engineering, sales, marketing, operations, sourcing, quality, manufacturing, and finance stakeholders.
• •Facilitate stage-gate or equivalent project reviews and ensure decisions are documented and action-oriented.
• •Drive launch readiness, field validation, training content, sales enablement, and post-launch performance tracking.

Technology Commercialization and Application Development

• •Identify new applications where existing manufacturing capabilities, product platforms, or technologies can solve customer problems.
• •Translate technical capabilities into commercial value propositions and market-entry plans.
• •Partner with engineering and operations to evaluate feasibility, manufacturability, compliance, risk, and cost position.
• •Build early opportunity funnels and screen concepts based on market size, differentiation, margin potential, channel fit, and execution complexity.
• •Support strategic make/buy/partner recommendations when capability gaps limit commercialization speed.

Voice of Customer and Field-to-Engineering Communication

• •Establish a structured process for capturing field feedback, customer needs, competitive intelligence, and installation challenges.
• •Convert Voice of Customer input into clear product requirements, application use cases, and prioritized development actions.
• •Serve as the communication bridge between sales, field teams, customers, engineering, and leadership.
• •Participate in customer visits, ride-alongs, distributor meetings, trade shows, product training sessions, and field troubleshooting reviews.
• •Ensure product decisions reflect both technical feasibility and real-world customer adoption drivers.

Long-Term Strategy Support

• •Provide market and product insight for annual strategic planning, roadmap reviews, and innovation portfolio discussions.
• •Maintain a forward-looking pipeline of product, application, technology, partnership, and adjacent-market opportunities.
• •Identify growth themes, capability gaps, regulatory shifts, competitive threats, and customer trends that should shape long-term strategy.
• •Prepare concise executive recommendations supported by market evidence, customer insight, financial assumptions, and risk assessment.

Working Relationships

• •Internal: Sales, engineering, innovation, operations, quality, sourcing, finance, marketing, customer service, product training, business-unit leadership, and Flex-Tek leadership.
• •External: Customers, contractors, distributors, OEMs, rep agencies, suppliers, industry partners, installers, and relevant standards or code stakeholders.

Requirements

• •Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Marketing, Construction Management, Product Management, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• •5+ years of experience in product management, product development, application engineering, technical sales, business development, program management, or a related commercial or technical role.
• •Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional projects without relying solely on direct authority.
• •Strong technical aptitude with the ability to understand manufacturing processes, applications, product performance, and customer requirements.
• •Commercial mindset with experience developing business cases, evaluating market opportunities, and communicating value propositions.
• •Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills with an ability to communicate effectively with executives, engineers, sales teams, and customers.

Preferred Qualifications

• •Experience in HVAC, plumbing, building products, fluid conveyance, tubing, fittings, ducting, air distribution, sheet metal products, or contractor and distributor channels.
• •Familiarity with stage-gate, lean product development, portfolio management, lifecycle management, or product roadmap processes.
• •Experience launching products through distributor, contractor, OEM, or specification-driven channels.
• •MBA, advanced technical degree, product management certification, project management certification, or equivalent practical experience.
• •Prior exposure to codes, standards, regulatory requirements, product testing, field validation, and installation practices.