Product Manager, R&D

As the Product Manager – R&D Initiatives, you will lead exploratory product initiatives that shape AssetWatch’s next generation of offerings. This role blends product strategy, structured experimentation, and cross-functional execution to evaluate new technologies, capabilities, and adjacent opportunities before they enter the core roadmap.

You will primarily partner with the R&D team to design and execute experiments across hardware, software, data science, analytics, and platform capabilities. However, this role extends well beyond R&D. Many initiatives will require pilot deployments with customers, collaboration with Sales and Customer Success, coordination with Operations and Supply Chain, and alignment with Executive leadership.

Your mission is to turn ambiguity into clarity,  transforming early-stage ideas into validated opportunities with clear technical, commercial, and operational implications.

Essential Position Functions

• End-to-End R&D Initiative Leadership: Own exploratory initiatives from hypothesis formation through pilot execution and final go/no-go recommendation.
• Experiment Design & Execution: Define clear success criteria, measurable KPIs, and structured validation plans to assess technical feasibility, customer value, and scalability.
• Cross-Functional Orchestration: Work across R&D, Engineering, Data Science, Hardware, Operations, Sales, Customer Success, and Executive stakeholders to align priorities and drive execution.
• Customer Pilot Management: Partner with Sales and Customer Success to identify pilot customers, scope deployments, gather feedback, and translate field learnings into product insights.
• Commercial & Operational Assessment: Evaluate how new initiatives impact pricing models, service delivery, supply chain, reliability workflows, and internal systems.
• Ambiguity Navigation: Bring structure to loosely defined opportunities, clarify tradeoffs, identify risks, and drive informed decision-making with incomplete information.
• Strategic Communication: Synthesize technical findings and business implications into clear recommendations for leadership.
• Scalability Planning: Ensure validated initiatives can transition smoothly from experimental phase into productization and broader deployment.
• Portfolio Contribution: Help shape AssetWatch’s R&D operating model and contribute to prioritization discussions around innovation investments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field required.
  • 4-6 years of experience in product management, technical program management, R&D leadership, or similar cross-functional roles.
  • Experience leading initiatives that span hardware and software.
   • Experience running pilot programs or customer-facing validation studies.
   • Strong project management and organizational skills.
   • Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, evolving environments.
   • Strong analytical skills with experience interpreting experimental or performance data.
   • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
   • Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.
   • Self-starter mindset with high ownership and accountability.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in industrial IoT, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, or reliability engineering.
  • Experience bringing early-stage concepts to market.
  • Familiarity with hardware validation and deployment processes.
   • Experience working with Sales and Customer Success teams on pilot or beta programs.
   • Startup or high-growth company experience.
   • MBA or advanced technical degree.

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