Director of Product Strategy – Metalworking Machinery

Location: Remote, U.S.-based preferred

Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance bonus, and executive-level growth opportunity

A growing industrial machinery company is seeking a Director of Product Strategy to lead and expand a portfolio of metalworking and metal fabrication equipment. This is a high-impact role for someone who understands the metal machinery market and can translate that knowledge into a practical growth strategy.

This is not a maintenance-mode product role. The company is looking for a commercially minded product leader who can evaluate the current portfolio, identify market gaps, sharpen positioning, influence sales and marketing direction, and help determine where the business should invest next.

The portfolio includes manual, semi-automatic, and CNC-adjacent machinery used by fabrication shops, machine shops, industrial maintenance teams, manufacturers, and trade professionals. Product categories may include saws, lathes, mills, drill presses, brakes, shears, ironworkers, tube and pipe benders, presses, press brakes, fiber laser, CNC cutting, and other metal processing equipment.

What You Will Do

You will own the product and market strategy for a metal machinery portfolio and help define how the business wins in its target categories. You will work closely with leadership, sales, marketing, sourcing, engineering, suppliers, and channel partners to turn market intelligence into action.

Key responsibilities include:

• Build a clear product and category strategy for metalworking and metal fabrication equipment.
• Identify where the company should grow, defend, reposition, source, rebrand, improve, or exit.
• Analyze competitors, customer needs, market pricing, product gaps, and channel dynamics.
• Develop a practical roadmap tied to revenue growth, margin improvement, customer demand, and market opportunity.
• Partner with sourcing and engineering teams to evaluate supplier capabilities and product opportunities.
• Create a compelling “how we win” story for leadership, sales, marketing, distributors, and customers.
• Help shape launch plans, sales tools, product messaging, service expectations, and channel strategy.
• Support pricing, positioning, lifecycle management, and business case development.
• Influence cross-functional teams without needing a large direct-report structure.
• Help build the product management function as the business grows.

What Makes Someone Successful Here

The right person brings deep knowledge of the metalworking machinery space and knows how equipment is bought, sold, supported, and used. They understand that success is not just about launching products. It is about knowing the customer, understanding the competitive landscape, building the right channel story, supporting the product after the sale, and making smart commercial decisions.

This person should be equally comfortable talking with executives, suppliers, sales teams, distributors, and people who use machinery every day.

Ideal Experience

• 10+ years of experience in product management, product marketing, category management, business unit leadership, market development, or commercial strategy.
• Direct exposure to metalworking machinery, fabrication equipment, machine tools, CNC equipment, chip-making, saws, forming equipment, or closely related industrial capital equipment.
• Strong understanding of manual, semi-automatic, and CNC equipment categories.
• Experience working through industrial distribution, dealers, integrators, national accounts, direct sales, or eCommerce channels.
• Ability to assess product-market fit, pricing, margins, competitive position, and growth opportunity.
• Experience developing product roadmaps, go-to-market plans, launch strategies, and sales enablement tools.
• Strong financial acumen, including comfort with ROI, margin, business cases, and P&L tradeoffs.
• Ability to influence engineering, sourcing, marketing, sales, and leadership teams.
• Experience managing or mentoring product talent is helpful, but this is initially a hands-on leadership role.

Helpful Product Background

Experience with any of the following would be valuable:

• Band saws
• Automatic or semi-automatic saws
• Lathes
• Mills
• Drill presses
• Ironworkers
• Press brakes
• Tube and pipe benders
• Shears
• Brakes
• Hydraulic presses
• CNC cutting systems
• Fiber laser
• Plasma or waterjet equipment
• Machine tools
• Fabrication machinery
• Metalworking accessories, tooling, or service programs

Leadership Style

The company needs a player-coach who can operate with urgency, curiosity, and ownership. The ideal candidate is practical, commercially driven, collaborative, and confident enough to bring a point of view. They should be able to tell the whole story, not just report the data.

This role is a strong fit for someone who wants to own a market, build something, and help shape the next phase of growth for an established industrial machinery platform.

Why This Role Is Compelling

• Remote role with meaningful executive visibility.
• Opportunity to own and build a growth strategy.
• Broad metal machinery portfolio with room to expand.
• Ability to influence product, channel, marketing, sourcing, and commercial direction.
• Strong platform for future advancement as the business grows.
• Opportunity to help transform a traditional product portfolio into a more focused, market-led growth engine.

Additional Information

• Travel 25-30%
• Full benefits package