
Product Manager - Rural Lifestyles
Yanmar America Corp
Job description
Product Manager
Location: Adairsville, GA (Onsite)
About the Role
Yanmar America is seeking a strategic, customer-focused Product Manager to lead the long-term success of assigned product categories. This role owns the complete product lifecycle—from concept through commercialization—while serving as the commercial product expert for the organization.
As the voice of the product, you'll work across Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, and our dealer network to develop winning product strategies that drive profitable growth. You'll combine market insights, customer feedback, competitive intelligence, and business analysis to ensure Yanmar products continue delivering exceptional value in the marketplace.
This is more than traditional product management. You'll become a trusted advisor to dealers, customers, executive leadership, and internal teams by translating technical product features into compelling customer benefits and equipping our sales organization for success.
If you're naturally curious, enjoy solving business problems, thrive in cross-functional environments, and have a passion for bringing innovative products to market, we'd love to hear from you.
What You'll Do
Product Strategy & Portfolio Management
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Develop and execute long-term product strategies aligned with business objectives.
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Own the complete product lifecycle from market assessment through product retirement.
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Identify emerging customer needs, market trends, and competitive opportunities.
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Develop business cases, pricing strategies, profitability analysis, and ROI recommendations.
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Build and maintain product roadmaps that support both short- and long-term growth.
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Partner with Engineering to prioritize product enhancements and future development initiatives.
Commercial Product Leadership
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Serve as the company's subject matter expert for assigned product categories.
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Develop deep expertise in product features, benefits, competitive positioning, and customer applications.
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Translate technical specifications into customer-focused value propositions.
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Develop product positioning, messaging, and sales enablement tools.
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Ensure consistent product messaging across Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Dealer Development, and leadership.
Dealer & Customer Engagement
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Build strong relationships with dealers and key customers.
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Conduct dealer visits, product demonstrations, ride-and-drive events, product clinics, and national meetings.
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Train dealer sales teams on product knowledge, competitive advantages, and selling techniques.
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Gather Voice of Customer (VoC) feedback and translate insights into actionable product improvements.
Sales Enablement
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Partner with Sales Leadership to drive retail growth and dealer success.
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Create product training materials, competitive comparisons, presentations, FAQs, and sales tools.
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Support Regional Sales Managers during dealer meetings and strategic customer engagements.
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Lead commercialization efforts by ensuring successful product launches.
Market Intelligence
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Monitor competitive products, pricing, technologies, and industry trends.
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Analyze competitive strengths and weaknesses.
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Deliver strategic recommendations that support product differentiation and business growth.
Cross-Functional Leadership
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Lead cross-functional product initiatives involving Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Operations, Procurement, Manufacturing, and Customer Support.
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Develop project plans, timelines, milestones, and executive communications.
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Support annual planning, forecasting, and investment decisions.
Leadership
- May supervise Product Specialists by providing coaching, mentoring, performance management, and professional development.
What We're Looking For
Required Qualifications
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Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Agriculture, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
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Five or more years of experience in Product Management, Product Marketing, Commercial Strategy, Sales, Engineering, or a related field.
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Experience managing products through a structured Stage Gate or product development process.
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Demonstrated success launching new products and managing complete product lifecycles.
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Experience supporting sales organizations through commercialization, product training, and sales enablement.
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Strong business acumen with experience developing product positioning and go-to-market strategies.
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Excellent presentation and communication skills with the ability to engage customers, dealers, distributors, and executive leadership.
Preferred Qualifications
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Experience in one or more of the following industries:
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Compact Tractors
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Rural Lifestyle Equipment
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Turf Equipment
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Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs)
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Agricultural Equipment
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Outdoor Power Equipment
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Construction Equipment
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What Success Looks Like
In this role, you'll become the trusted expert for your product portfolio across Yanmar America and our dealer network. You'll influence product strategy through customer insight, enable dealer success through exceptional training and commercial leadership, and collaborate across Engineering, Marketing, and Sales to deliver profitable growth.
You'll be equally comfortable discussing technical product specifications with engineers, presenting product strategy to executive leadership, and standing in front of a room full of dealers explaining why Yanmar products deliver superior value.
Why Join Yanmar America?
At Yanmar America, you'll have the opportunity to influence the future of premium equipment solutions while working alongside talented professionals who are passionate about innovation, quality, and customer success. You'll play a visible role in shaping products that make a difference for our customers and dealer partners across North America.
This job description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned. This job description also does not constitute an employment agreement between the employer and employee and is subject to change by the employer as the needs of the employer and requirements of job change.