POSITION: Customer Product Strategy Senior Manager
POSTING END DATE: 21/07/2024
LOCATION: Gaydon, Warwickshire (UK) / Hybrid
SALARY: Competitive
JLR is a House of Brands. Range Rover. Defender. Discovery. Jaguar. Truly distinct, global brands that embrace our modernist design philosophy and are emotionally compelling and unique. JLR’s Reimagine strategy - to realise our vision to be proud creators of the most desirable, modern luxury brands, for the most discerning of clients - is delivering a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design and we are transforming our business to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.
WHAT TO EXPECT
This exciting role is at the heart of developing our next generation of Modern Luxury vehicles. The successful candidate will be a member of the senior leadership of the Product Strategy function, and will play a critical role in leading the development of future products and services at JLR.
In Product Strategy we are a nimble, passionate team at the heart of future product conception. Leading the partnership between Creative, Engineering, Marketing, Research and Corporate Strategy, we develop aligned product concepts which are compatible with JLR business targets, brands and capabilities, delight our customers and meet our strategic ambitions.
We have responsibility for the upfront context and initial definition of Product Concepts, ensuring compatibility with our wider Corporate and Brand Strategies, and projecting forward to understand future global trends and customer insight.
We are looking for a candidate who will play a crucial role in leading the development of our Customer Strategy, working with experts across the business to bring our customers to the forefront of decisions about products, services and technology.
Spanning all Brands you will define the future customer hypothesis and develop a deep understanding of their needs for our future vehicle and customer experience programmes. You will also own the revenue equation for pre- programmes, developing a customer offer that delivers the right balance of volume, price, mix and uptake.
Operating with a high level of responsibility, autonomy and exposure, you will lead a team of multi-disciplinary Customer Experts to ensure a consistent approach across all activities and projects.
THE ROLE
Key Responsibilities
- Customer foresight
- Develop a deep understanding of target customer needs for our future products to drive towards a single product order card (e.g. pains, gains, unmet / unstated needs, experience and feature proposition)
- Validate target customer hypotheses through robust and aligned research briefs delivered in collaboration with GCI
- Map outputs into both off-cycle and on-cycle processes and workplans to ensure a clear and concise customer signal to Engineering and Vehicle Programmes teams
- Market equation and customer offer
- Lead the revenue equation inputs for all strategic projects and ensure consistency of methodology across the department
- Generate aligned volume, price, and mix inputs across the enterprise (especially our House of Brand colleagues) in support of a robust position
- Develop the customer value proposition including the core product and extended offer
- Customer experience (CX)
- Generate Cross-Brand and Brand specific customer experience briefs aligned with our Modern Luxury formula
- Ensure the right experiences areas are prioritized for development within the off-cycle process in support of robust commodity and technology roadmaps
- Drive CX into product and service development and Engineering processes to ensure experiences with the best customer outcomes and profitability make it to market
- People and process
- Manage and develop direct reports working across a range of Brand and Cross-Brand aligned projects and programmes
- Management of required Governance, including milestone reporting, project status reporting, financial reporting and risk and issue management
Key Interactions
- Product Strategy Brand and Cross-brand Teams: Working with the wider Product Strategy teams to understand requirements and needs to support their studies and programmes
- Cross-Carline (XCL) Technology and Engineering: Work to provide inputs into both on and off-cycle processes and clearly communicate customer priorities to these stakeholders
- House of Brands: Working closely with House of Brand teams (including XCL), and Demand Planning to ensure alignment on respective brand strategies, processes, data, and single order card inputs
- Regions: Work with regional teams to ensure customer nuances and cultural tastes in different markets are considered within all projects
- Global Customer Insights: Agreeing and aligning priorities, budget allocation and workplans for customer research needs
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience
- Data and evidence driven but comfortable with dealing with uncertainty, providing judgement and drawing conclusions
- Curious, thoughtful, challenging
- Able to turn complex situations into clear summaries and priorities
- Strong skills in building and managing relationships, collaborating with multiple stakeholders. Ability to work in a complex and cross-functional environment to influence and build consensus
- Strong communication skills with an ability to bring others on the journey and effectively communicate Product strategy across the business and key stakeholders
- Has a bias for thinking about customer needs and experiences
- An ability to assess trends and bring a future mindset to strategic challenges
- Strong financial acumen and understanding of key financial metrics governing programme health
- Has a global perspective, a strong understanding of the industry and of JLR business functions
- A strong and empathetic people manager, comfortable working in a matrixed environment
Personal Profile
- Demonstrates our Creators' Code behaviours of Customer Love, Unity, Integrity, Growth and Impact
#WEAREJLR
At JLR, we are passionate about our people. They are at the heart of our business. We are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive culture that is representative of our global customers and the society in which we live; a culture in which every one of our employees can bring their authentic self to work and reach their full potential.
You will find the opportunities to further your career with a world-class team, access to select two of our luxury premium vehicles to lease at an extremely favourable cost compared to traditional company car lease schemes, membership of a competitive pension plan, private medical cover (which includes travel insurance) and performance related bonus scheme. All this and more makes JLR the perfect place to continue your journey.
This role may offer the opportunity for hybrid working where you can split your time between working from home and in the office. At JLR, hybrid working is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement providing employees with more choice and flexibility around how, when and where they work, if suitable for their role. Further details can be discussed with the Hiring Manager at interview stage.
Please be aware that we may close this vacancy for applications before the stated deadline if we receive a high volume of interest. We strongly advise you to submit your application as early as possible.