Manager, Product Management

The Company: Cognex Corporation 

Cognex is the largest, most successful and recognized global player in industrial machine vision! We are a financially strong, international company with no debt and have been in business for over 40 years. Using advanced optics, image sensors and artificial intelligence software Cognex vision and ID systems capture an image then analyze it to make sense of what’s being seen. We are deeply committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable work environment, guided by our "Work Hard, Play Hard, Move Fast" culture, which celebrates employee innovation, determination, and dedication in a dynamic, fun, and distinctive atmosphere. 

This position is located in our corporate HQ in Natick, MA on a hybrid basis - 3 days in the office and 2 remote

The Team: 

Delivering Cognex ID and Vision Automation Solutions into various Retail/Commercial/Freight Distribution Centers, Parcel & Postal and Airport Baggage Handling Industries is one of the fastest growing segments in Cognex, what we define as our Logistics business.   

As a member of the Product Management team, you will work closely with the team of Product Managers, Product Marketers, Engineering, Marketing Communication, Field Service & Support, and Sales. You will assist in defining, developing, and deploying the go-to-market strategy for Cognex Products and Solutions. This includes analyzing market research, presenting proposed solutions to internal stakeholders, mapping customer experience, executing release plans, and developing the skill level of the deployment team and partner integrators. 

Job Summary: 

In this role, you will work with Sales to identify customer technical needs, prioritize impactful projects, and develop strategies that meet application requirements and align with Cognex’s goals. You’ll help create project proposals by evaluating technical feasibility, costs, and profitability. 

Your market research and project experience will guide future product development, ensuring Cognex products address the changing logistics and automation markets. 

This position covers all aspects of product management: market definition, design and development, launch, ongoing sales support, and product line profitability. You will collaborate with senior sales and engineering leaders on strategy and contribute to the long-term business roadmap. 

Key Responsibilities: 

Responsible for introducing new products for logistics, focusing on Machine Vision Solutions.  This involves strategy development and leading engineering, operations, marketing through product requirements, concept, creation and market introduction. 

Strategic Execution

• Work with sales and product marketing to strategically capture technical and commercial market requirements, constructively relaying into a product plan with reliable data which can be used to prioritize product development and strategic initiatives. 

• Complete competitive technology assessments, against use case applications to identify system advantages and deficiencies 

Cross-Functional Integration:  

• Collaborate with each of the engineering departments in Cognex to ensure the product plans and proposed solutions reflect the needs of the evolving Logistics market. 

• Directly work with customers, sales and local field engineers to validate products in real use-case runtime environments. 

• Liaise between departments as the product subject matter expert for technical application knowledge 

Team Leadership: 

• Track KPI’s which enable us to drive intelligent business decisions that are aimed towards the department targets

• Guide, coach, and mentor team members to achieve individual and team goal​

Influence and Communication: 

• Provide outreach support for sales including the creation and delivery of presentations, demonstrations, tools and materials which support the promotion of product line introductions and technology education

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

• 5 years of Product Management Experience

• Engineering, SCRUM management, and or sales experience desired

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

• Working knowledge of machine vision, industrial programming, signal processing, lighting and optics in industrial settings and processes preferred

• Highly influential and able to get work done through others in a cross functional team environment

• Keen desire to learn and understand the business and productizing elements that surrounding the market technology

• Capable of filtering relevant information for data analysis, and able to identify key business and technical information and able to identify immediate risks

• Willingness to travel 20%, mainly across the US and Europe 

• Bachelor’s Degree in Technical Discipline or MBA preferred