Product Manager

Carboline • Vernon Hills, IL

4h • $85,000 - $125,000

About The Position

Rust-Oleum Corporation is a worldwide leader in protective paints and coatings
for both home and industry. We offer a wide range of products including
decorative fashion paints and finishes, durable industrial, roof repair, and
flooring coatings and, of course, our famous rust-fighting formula that started
it all.

We are seeking a Commercial Product Manager – Professional Paint
with hands-on experience in the architectural coatings market, ideally with exposure to
professional paint users, contractors, retailers or distributors.

In this role, you will translate market insight and customer understanding into
winning paint and coatings products that drive profitable growth. You will work
closely with cross-functional partners—including R&D, Sales, Marketing, Supply
Chain, and Product Operations—to manage products from concept through launch and
ongoing optimization.

This position is best suited for someone with a commercial, market-driven
mindset and a background in consumer or professional goods.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field
• 7-10 years of total professional experience, with at least 5 years in the architectural or industrial coatings industry
• Direct experience with professional paint, coatings, building materials, or adjacent categories strongly preferred
• Demonstrated ability to work with market data, customer insights, and financial metrics using tools such as Excel or Power BI
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, especially with R&D, Sales, Marketing, and Operations
• Practical project management skills with the ability to manage multiple initiatives at once
• Commercially minded problem solver who enjoys turning insights into real, sellable products
• Confident communicator who can influence stakeholders and present ideas clearly to varied audiences
• Comfortable operating in a hands-on, business-focused product environment

Responsibilities

• Help set the product strategy and priorities for assigned architectural coatings categories, ensuring alignment with company growth goals and market opportunities
• Serve as the voice of the professional end user, developing a deep understanding of contractor needs, jobsite challenges, application requirements, and buying behavior
• Conduct and synthesize market research, field visits, customer interviews, and competitive analysis to uncover insights and identify growth opportunities; this role would work very hands-on with painters and contractors
• Monitor competitive products, pricing, positioning, and market trends to ensure offerings are differentiated and relevant
• Partner with R&D to guide new product development, from early-stage ideation and concept development through testing, launch, and post-launch improvement
• Manage and evolve an existing product portfolio, including line extensions, renovations, and lifecycle decisions for mature products
• Define product positioning, value propositions, feature sets, pricing, and go-to-market strategies tailored to professional paint customers
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to support commercialization efforts, ensuring products are clearly understood and successfully adopted in the field
• Translate complex technical or formulation concepts into clear, customer-focused messaging that resonates with non-technical audiences
• Track product performance using practical business metrics (sales, margin, mix, adoption) and recommend actions to improve results
• Support launch execution, training materials, and internal alignment to ensure smooth rollouts
• Contribute positively to the broader product team through collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement

Benefits

• After 30 days of employment, you will be eligible for a benefits package that includes medical, dental, life, disability and business travel insurance, flexible spending accounts, EAP, stock purchases and vacation/sick days/parental leave.
• We also offer a 401(k) plan after three months of employment and offer a company match.
• Associates are vested in the RPM Pension plan after completing five years of service.
• Rust-Oleum offers 9 paid holidays and two floating holidays per year.
• You are also eligible to earn three weeks of vacation on an annualized basis.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager