Associate Product Manager (Finance)

The Associate Product Manager partners with the Product Director, Operations & Sales to define the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for products and/or product lines. They are the champion of a product and lead cross-functional teams from a product's conception through to its launch. Strong thought leadership is required, coupled with strong communication skills. 

What You'll Do 

Product Strategy & Market Insight: 

• Become the product category expert for the larger Decorative Surfaces offering of the Genesis-Funder offering, including TFL, HPL, 2D/3D foils, edgebanding, printed papers.  
• Supporting to translate voice of customer (VOC) inputs, buying behavior, and perceived value into clear product requirements and business cases. 
• Build and maintain a competitive and trend radar—pricing, décor direction, texture, format, and sustainability claims; track competitor launches/discontinuations and identify gaps. 

Product Development Process: 

• Drive projects through the Product Development Process (PDP). 
• Own cross-functional timelines (SharePoint tasks), risks, and decision logs; ensure samples, data sheets, marketing assets, and SKU setup are complete for launch. 
• Participate in the Commercialization Strategy efforts with Sales/Marketing to accelerate adoption, distributor onboarding, training, and A&D specification pull-through. 

Décor Stewardship & Color/Finish Integrity: 

• Serve as a steward of the décor/decorative surface offering: manage collections, families, and cross-material matches. 
• Review color/texture matches across substrates; provide actionable feedback to suppliers and internal teams for color accuracy across surfaces. 
• Ability to pass a color-acuity assessment (e.g., Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue or similar). 

Business & Portfolio Management: 

• Monitor and track lifecycle performance (adoption, spec wins, service levels, returns); drive cost-outs and SKU rationalization while protecting market coverage. 
• Manage vendor programs within the Genesis-Funder portfolio; coordinate qualification, quality, and commercial terms. 

Field, Customer & Spec Engagement: 

• Partner with Regional Sales Managers (RSMs) on opportunity reviews, line reviews, spec packages, and conversion playbooks. 
• Maintain a sample and literature library; ensure fast, accurate sampling to the A&D community and key OEMs. 
• Attend relevant trade shows/events to identify trends and gather VOC; present product stories tailored to each audience. 

Required Qualifications: 

• BS degree (Business, Engineering, Materials/Design, or related). 
• 3–6 years in product management/marketing or adjacent industrial/commercial role (surfaces, laminates, furniture, millwork, building materials, or adjacent preferred). 
• Demonstrated project ownership within a stage-gate or PDP environment; on-time delivery of cross-functional milestones. 
• Strong analytical skills (advanced Excel or equivalent) for business cases, margin/cost modeling, and forecasting. 
• Excellent communication—able to distill complex technical and commercial info for executives, sales, and specifiers. 
• Detail orientation under speed; organized and process-driven with comfort in fast-paced environments. 
• Color acuity sufficient to evaluate décor/finish matches (willing to complete a color-vision test). 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience with decorative surfaces (TFL, HPL, 2D/3D foils, edge banding) or related engineered materials. 
• Familiarity with OEM, Distributor, and A&D go-to-market motions and specification cycles. 
• Hands-on with PLM/ERP systems (expected to learn Genesis ERP) and collaboration tools (SharePoint, Teams). 
• High proficiency in shared assets for collaborative efforts (includes Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) 
• Exposure to testing/qualification methods for laminated surface products. 
• Experience building commercialization plans with cross functional teams. 

Traits That Win Here: 

• Resourceful, curious, data-driven; comfortable with ambiguity. 
• Customer-back mindset with strong partnering skills across Sales, Marketing, Ops, and suppliers. 
• Creative problem-solver who can balance décor design nuance with product line performance. 

Success Metrics (First 12 Months): 

• Driving the Product Development Process delivering with on time commercialization assigned projects. 
• Launch readiness: Supporting Sales and Marketing in Commercialization efforts (samples, tech data, sell-in tools) within launch readiness timeline. 
• Competitive program maintained and tracked quarterly with insight summaries to leadership. 

Work Environment: 

• Travel up to 20–30% to plants, suppliers, customers, and trade shows. 
• This role interfaces daily with Operations, Sales, Engineering, and Marketing.