Product Manager - eMobility

General Summary

The Product Manager will manage the Connectivity based Vehicle Software rollout and work with other Connected Car team members to re-define the connected EV driver experience.

As part of managing Connectivity based Vehicle Software rollouts, the manager will schedule, coordinate quality management, develop and review software release notes, and recover any relevant costs. This role will coordinate all cross functional activities required for software rollout.

As part of re-defining the connected EV driver experience, the manager will identify EV driver touchpoints, support the development of product strategies to increase engagement with the Kia brand, negotiate with EV experience partnerships and manage day to day operations with partners.

This role will be responsible to manage other Operational management aspects for a Kia Connect launch like engaging with Marketing team for product marketing, Sales and Training teams for product training and Quality teams for Issue management, Finance Team for budgeting matters.

Connected experience is key to overall vehicle ownership experience and this candidate will ensure quality concerns and customer issues are addressed within management established SLAs and long-term issues have a workable plan for resolutions. This includes both quality standards with the organization and others measured within the industry.

As Kia gears towards providing a world class connected solution, the Product Manager will play a key role in driving the product engagement with the customers and also ensure our offering is competitive and centered towards a personalized customer experience.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Priority One – 20%

• Vehicle Software Launch Coordination and Management.

Priority Two – 20%

• Manage feature/service launches from concept to launch and post-launch support.
• Develop the product concept and write business requirements for the engineering team. Identify and prioritize product features that will deliver the most value to customers. Prioritize and deprioritize features as needed to ensure timely and high-quality product releases.
• Assist management in developing business cases for the strategies and lead the effort. 
• Actively work towards exceeding the conversion targets for the connected services and products.

Priority Three – 15%

• Manage cross functional requirements for software change management. This involves working closely with cross-functional teams, such as engineering, product management, and marketing, to define program requirements, establish timelines, and allocate resources effectively.

Priority Four – 15%

• Support new services ideation, customer research, discussions with affiliates, global headquarters, and vendor.
• Proactively identify areas for market and customer research and coordinate with the research team to gather data and insight about target personas, user experience, product needs, customer pain points, loyalty, and the purchasing decision process for the product.
• Proactively analyze data, identify opportunities, develop promotional programs, and run campaigns to meet business goals for different streams of products and services.
• Leverage consumer and market insights to tap into new opportunities and deepen existing markets.
• Using analytics and customer segmentation – develop and measure marketing funnels to enhance engagement, click-through, and conversion.

Priority Five – 15%

• Customer & Program risk management from quality standpoint. Develop program health KPIs and ensure compliance with partners and affiliates
• Monitor and report on KPIs and the effectiveness of marketing initiatives to the management team and use data to create future marketing strategies.

Priority Six – 15%

• Budget Planning and Cost Recovery

Personally Performed Duties 

• Manage multiple projects with competing priorities and ensure seamless operations and delivery based on business needs
• Working with R&D and engineering teams to develop features and products relevant to Kia NA customers and then work with product owners to convert them into user experiences.
• Ensure all product launch meets quality standards and passes necessary quality gate process as established by the company
• Develop and update policies and procedure documents on Kia Connect product customer lifecycle.
• Manage cross functional relationship for product marketing, trainings, adoption, and customer engagement.
• Perform research and keep self-updated on emerging relevant technologies and competitive offerings.
• Serve as a subject matter expert, providing assistance with questions, issues, and requests.
• Track data/service usage and any related budgeting and management
• Develop KPIs for quality and customer service and ensure management support to meet or exceed the defined KPIs

Qualifications/Education

• Bachelors degree in engineering, computer science, or related sciences, or equivalent work experience required
• MBA preferred
• PMP preferred
• Certified Product Owner Certification preferred

Job Requirement

• Overall Related Experience:
  • 8+ years of overall industry experience
  • 5+ years of experience in program management
  • 5+ years of relevant product management experience, prefer experience with consumer and mobile product management
• Directly Related Experience:
  • Relevant Automotive or Connected Car based project management experience a plus.
  • Experience in presenting to Executives the high-level picture and go into details with Developers and operations team.
  • Experience in tracking metrics associated with system usage and user behavior and deriving actionable improvements.
  • Experience managing technical integration projects for customer facing applications.
  • Experience developing business models for new products and promotions
  • Knowledge in building out customer research processes and reporting findings to business and product management.
• Other Requirements:
  • May travel up to 20% as required by job. Occasional travel may be required domestically and/or internationally
  • Perform other duties as assigned.

Specialized Skills and Knowledge Required

• Ability to lead internal and external teams/task forces.
• Strong analytical skills - Ability to quickly absorb customer requirements.
• Excellent verbal, written communication and presentation skills is must
• Program management experience; ability to successfully manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Fluency in developing product specs and writing user stories
• Ability to make sound judgments based on tradeoffs of complex problems, stakeholders, and constraints
• Ability to effectively lead cross-functional teams to project completion.
• A general understanding of data security and privacy.
• Ability to work in a fast moving agile environment and create a balance between multiple competing priorities.
• Preparation for engagement reviews and quality assurance procedures.
• Develop / Implement post-launch product monitoring plans to ensure product expectations met.
• Must possess Advanced PowerPoint portfolio
• Agility and flexibility to deal with ambiguity and comfortable working in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.
• Experience developing customer facing content and messages.
• Exceptional analytical, conceptual and problem-solving abilities with results focused mindset
• Ability to gain respect and trust of business and technical stakeholders their relative domains.
• Strong interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to lead diverse/cross-functional teams, as well as mentor, motivate, and elicit work output from peers and other team members.
• Work with management to create product roadmap and related strategies.