The Opportunity ToolsGroup serves hundreds of manufacturers globally for their Demand Forecasting, Inventory Optimization and Replenishment needs. As Product Manager for our manufacturing solutions, you will drive the strategy around serving this critical market and the delivery of high-impact capabilities that address core customer challenges, including planning around BOM complexity, multi-site production networks, and service expectations that make inventory decisions economically outsized (line-down risk, missed delivery penalties, premium freight, expediting).
The Role As an Industry Solutions Product Manager (Industrial / Discrete Manufacturing), you will define and drive ToolsGroup's market-facing product priorities for discrete manufacturing, including industrial equipment, components, automotive/assembly, high-mix manufacturing, aftermarket service parts, and related discrete environments.
You will: - Own the "manufacturing POV" for product discovery and prioritization (what matters, why it matters, and what to build next). Map "day-in-the-life" workflows for planners, supply chain leaders, and operations stakeholders in discrete manufacturing.
- Translate manufacturing workflows into product bets with clear problems, measurable outcomes, and actionable roadmap candidates. Capture market needs, run structured feedback loops with customers and partners and translate insights into prioritized product requirements that drive development work.
- Partner with go-to-market teams (Sales, marketing, etc.) to shape value propositions and brand promise. Engage as a key subject matter expert in strategic customer conversations-discovery, value engineering, solution validation, and roadmap discussions.
- Operate hands-on with AI tools to accelerate discovery, prototype workflows, create user journeys, PRDs, acceptance criteria in partnership with design/engineering) and validate solution direction with customers and internal teams.
- Create Repeatable "Manufacturing-First" Assets including product templates, demo storylines, and ROI narratives. Advise on complementary services offerings.
- Drive cross-functional execution to deliver market compelling value, support enablement and RFP/RFI inputs and customer-facing engagements.
What You Bring (Minimum Qualifications) Experience (Required)
- 7+ years of experience either:
A) Working in or with industrial/discrete manufacturing organizations in roles tied to manufacturing planning/operations (supply chain planning, production planning, materials, inventory, operations excellence, digital transformation), and you have reached a level where you were responsible for defining key processes/solutions used in core manufacturing workflows; OR
B) Building enterprise SaaS products used by manufacturers for inventory optimization, production planning, APS, MRP, S&OP / IBP, or adjacent planning/optimization domains.
Product Craft + Communication (Required) - Proven ability to translate messy, real-world workflows into clear product direction: problem statements, requirements, prioritization logic, and success metrics.
- Customer-facing confidence: you can lead discovery sessions, challenge assumptions professionally, and communicate value to practitioners and executives.
- Strong written and verbal communication-able to move between executive narratives and detailed workflows.
AI Comfort (Required) - Comfortable using AI tools to accelerate product work (research synthesis, requirements drafting, prototyping, workflow exploration), while maintaining rigor and validation discipline.
Preferred / "Nice to Have" - Experience with (or strong familiarity with) supply chain planning and APS ecosystems-how manufacturers integrate planning with ERP/MES and surrounding systems, S&OP, Inventory management/optimization.
- Background in implementing, supporting, or product-managing planning solutions across manufacturing contexts (production planning/scheduling, inventory optimization, S&OP/IBP).
- Comfort collaborating with Design on prototypes and with Engineering/Data Science on feasibility tradeoffs and instrumentation.
