Director - Product Planning & Market Research - Automotive - India

JOB DESCRIPTION

- Lead overall Product Planning and Market Research functions for India region. Candidate will be responsible for creating the organization, staffing of key personnel, and building future organizational capabilities. Work closely with headquarter product planning and R&D, and serve as the - voice of the customer- to influence future product development for India region.

- In addition to leading the Product Planning & Market Research team(s), the Director will also have direct responsibility for Brand Strategy.

Brand Strategy Responsibilities:

- Brand investigation & selection study including competitor brand strengths & loyalty study, as well as brand acceptance & opportunity

- Propose brand entry & naming decision

- Identify brand position relative to market & competitive brands including creating brand objectives, brand story, message and position

- Create initial brand strategy such as USP, Price range, Vehicle size,etc

 Lead Product Planning team / Responsibilities :

- Creating ideal future product portfolio for the brand

- Concept creation

- Assessing competitor product strategies

- Identifying product requirements and key selling points

- Model specification setting

- Grade strategy development

- Setting styling direction

- Determining price positioning vs competitive set

- Profit analysis

- Sales volume target setting

- Creating lifecycle plans to keep product fresh

- Provide direction for electrification, mobility, and autonomous strategies

- Work closely with Marketing to collaborate on product launch and promotion strategies

- Director will also oversee the market research function to introduce effective consumer research methodologies and execute as required to support product planning with rationale and direction. Much of the research will need to be done in-house.

Lead Market Research team / Responsibilities:

- Identifying and securing critical data needed for effective product planning and consumer understanding

- Customer segmentation studies

 - Brand acceptance and awareness studies

- Identifying and executing primary research including focus group interviews, product clinics, ethnographies, and other creative methods to identify customer needs

- Monitor industry trends and assess market potential for each product

- Identify new trends in technology and its impact on the business

Qualifications/Experience

- Minimum 10 years experience in a management role in the target company in a product planning or related role

- Additional experience in a market research role is required

- Strong analytical and problem solving skills

- Candidate must have a thorough understanding of the India market (including SUV), customer needs, competitive products & environment, and pricing dynamics

- Must be able to work with limited resources to gather and create data that can be actionable in developing future product plans

- Ability to communicate across cultures

- Must be comfortable presenting to top management

- To work effectively with local China team, at initial stage Director will need to spend ~2-3 months in China headquarter office as well as plan for quarterly business travel to China.

Education: Bachelor's degree in business or automotive related field. MBA preferred.