Director - Digital Product Management

Alliance Laundry System•Ripon, WI

About The Position

The Director of Digital Product Management is responsible for delivering value to customers of our globally connected IoT platform: a digital ecosystem spanning five hardware brands, hundreds of thousands of connected machines, and millions of users worldwide. This role serves as the primary voice for our digital solutions across our distribution network, reporting directly to the CTO and combining product leadership with executive customer engagement and sales team enablement. The ideal candidate is an inspirational leader who can command a room, build credibility with customers and partners, and translate complex IoT capabilities into compelling business value. They bring expertise in modern product methodologies, SaaS, payment solutions, and IoT platforms, with proven ability to energize sales teams and win over key customers. This is a high-visibility role requiring someone who can represent our digital platform at the executive level with major accounts worldwide.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field (MBA or advanced degree preferred).
8+ years of product management experience, with 3+ years in a leadership role in a SaaS, payment, or IoT platform environment. B2B or B2C IoT experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated success in customer-facing roles with proven ability to build executive relationships and win business.
Exceptional executive presence and presentation skills—someone who lights up a room and creates energy around our products.
Proven track record of building relationships with key customers and influencing buying decisions at the C-level.
Experience training and enabling indirect sales channels, particularly in two-tier distribution models.
Ability to translate technical product capabilities into compelling business value propositions.
Comfortable as the face of a product line at industry events, trade shows, and executive briefings.
Expert knowledge of modern product management methodologies, including customer discovery, agile development, and user-centric design.
Proven track record of transforming customer insights into successful digital products, ideally in IoT or connected device ecosystems.
Strong technical acumen with understanding of IoT architectures, cloud platforms, and mobile/web applications.
Experience working with agile software development teams and coordinating with hardware product development.
P&L management experience with demonstrated ability to improve product profitability.
Inspirational leadership style that motivates teams and energizes stakeholders.
Driver of action with a bias for execution—someone who moves from strategy to results quickly and holds teams accountable for delivery.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills across all levels.
Data-driven mindset with a track record of using metrics to inform decisions.

Nice To Haves

Experience in commercial equipment, B2B IoT, or related manufacturing sectors a plus.

Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Development
Drive competitive intelligence and ensure we're building the right products that customers love and that work for our business.
Maintain deep knowledge of the competitive landscape, market trends, and emerging technologies through direct customer engagement and industry analysis.
Identify customer pain points, competitive threats, and opportunities for product innovation that differentiate Alliance in the market.
Collaborate with executive leadership to develop and execute the digital product vision, strategy, and roadmap, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and the broader hardware product strategy.
Champion customer-centric thinking and design a Voice of Customer (VOC) program to systematically capture and act on customer insights, ensuring customer needs drive all product decisions.
Improve the team's processes related to product planning, discovery, and development.
Directly own and execute product management responsibilities for specific initiatives, serving as a model for the team.
Ensure successful delivery of all new features, measuring adoption and business impact.
Develop metrics to measure customer experience and product performance, using insights to inform product evolution and demonstrate business value.
Customer & Partner Engagement
This role is the face of our digital products to key customers and channel partners.
Serve as a compelling, executive-level presence in strategic customer meetings, demonstrations, and industry events. Someone who can walk into a room and create excitement about our platform.
Build and maintain relationships with key accounts, acting as a trusted advisor who understands their business and delivers solutions that drive measurable results.
Lead high-stakes customer presentations and product demonstrations that differentiate Alliance in competitive situations.
Partner directly with major customers to understand their evolving needs and translate insights into product direction.
Represent Digital Products at industry trade shows and customer events as a thought leader and platform champion.
Sales Enablement & Channel Development
Our distribution model requires training and empowerment of salespeople throughout ALS and our distribution network.
Develop and deliver training programs that equip Alliance sales teams to effectively train distributor sales teams on our digital platform value proposition.
Create scalable sales enablement materials, presentations, and demonstration frameworks that cascade effectively through our distribution network.
Partner with Commercial leadership to align product messaging with go-to-market strategy and ensure our channel partners can articulate digital product value.
Build feedback loops from the field to inform product priorities and identify market opportunities.
Drive digital product adoption by empowering our sales organization to confidently position and sell platform capabilities.
Team Leadership
Developing people is core to every leadership position within Digital Products. This role leads a global team of approximately 10 people.
Lead, mentor, and develop a team including Digital Product Managers, UX Designers, and other supporting roles to foster a high-performing, collaborative, and customer-focused culture.
Drive cross-functional engagement with Digital Product Development and Support, Commercial, and Marketing to ensure seamless product delivery.
Instill a customer-first mindset within the team, encouraging regular customer interaction and empathy-building activities.
Build team capability in financial acumen, sales enablement, and customer presentation skills.
Partner with the Sr. Director of Software Engineering and Sr. Director of Digital Operations and Support to maintain platform health, prioritizing technical debt, bug fixes, and enhancement requests that improve stability and performance.