Product Manager - Additive Manufacturing System

Velo3D is a technology company that provides the industry’s most advanced fully integrated metal 3D printing solution for mission-critical parts.

Some of the most pioneering companies, including SpaceX, Honeywell, and Lam Research, use the Velo3D solution to drive defense innovation, improve aerospace applications, enhance transportation efficiency, and produce critical oil & gas applications.

While conventional 3D printing and traditional manufacturing methods impose strict design and performance limitations, Velo3D supports true design freedom and allows engineers to build the complex parts they need without compromising performance or quality for manufacturability. In our quest to support tomorrow’s innovations, we enable parts to be printed to exact standards of consistency, quality, and repeatability.

Velo3D has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023. For more information, please visit velo3d.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Position Overview

At Velo3D, we’re proud to offer innovative Additive Manufacturing (AM) systems that meet the needs of our industrial & defense customers. To help us continue expanding our AM (metal 3D printer) products, we’re in search of an experienced product manager to lead the success and proliferation of Velo3D AM products in the global market.  This role includes managing the planning and execution of Product Management activities throughout the product lifecycle.  You will own the product master plan for the company’s Sapphire family of metal 3D printers and associated software/process products. You will use key metrics to track the effectiveness of the product plans. The ideal candidate will have a keen eye for gaps in product offerings and an innovative mindset for filling them. This person should be a highly skilled market analyst with a proven ability to strategize the full lifecycle of a product, from conception to release. We’re looking for a confident leader who can guide cross-functional teams in the creation of products that improve customer experience and grow market share.

Responsibilities

• Regularly analyze market needs together with a detailed understanding of competitive AM systems compared in detail to Velo’s current & future planned AM product capabilities.
• Manage the short- and long-term AM product roadmap based on your latest market assessments to prioritize product opportunities for the company that are most profitable to invest our resources; this includes analyzing current customer needs, current market trends, and potential partnerships from an ROI and build-vs.-buy perspective
• Document product requirements with clear, crisp, detailed product specifications and cost-benefit analysis to lead fact-based decision-making that ensures approval for the most profitable R&D investments for the company to achieve its financial goals.
• Drive the product planning processes for cross-functional teams in groups such as engineering, program management, manufacturing, marketing, field sales & services.
• Develop, implement, and maintain “product development through launch” timelines across multiple departments
• Drive the execution of all processes in the product lifecycle for your AM products, including product and market research, competitor analysis, planning, positioning, requirements and roadmap development, and product launch
• Appraise new product ideas and strategize appropriate go-to-market plans
• Create product strategy documents that describe business cases, high-level use cases, technical requirements, revenue, and ROI
• Manage collaboration and communication with other teams, both internal and external, to ensure teams have what they need to work efficiently toward the success of the company with your AM products. This includes helping guide the go-to-market and maintenance plans through product launches and beyond.

Requirements and qualifications

• 7+ years of product management experience, preferably 10+ years.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering is preferred
• Experience in product management of a hardware-based and software-based products that deliver value to industrial & defense customers (e.g. capital equipment)
• Worked at a company with an excellent product management reputation, where you were schooled in the effective product management (PM) fundamentals, applied PM best practices, and experienced successful market results from your product management execution.
• Solid understanding (and a deep curiosity to learn more) about how design & manufacturing technologies are applied in industries such as Space, Aviation, Oil & Gas/Energy, and branches of the Defense industry. Experience in metal additive manufacturing is a plus.
• Ability to serve as the internal Voice of the Customer, driving business outcomes and customer success through your AM products
• Aptitude and experience in making data-driven decisions
• Ability to champion new ideas, and effectively collaborate across the organization, with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• A self-directed, proactive individual will succeed in this impactful position who also has a “Process oriented” mindset with a penchant for details
• Calm under pressure and persistent in driving product management expertise and ownership inside Velo3D for your AM product (i.e. within 3-6 months of joining).