Director, Product Management

Velan is a global leader in the design and manufacture of industrial valves. Founded in Montreal, the company is recognized for the quality of its products, its technical expertise, and its human and collaborative corporate culture.

The Director, Product Management owns the “what and why” of Velan’s engineered product portfolio: which products we make, for which markets, at what price structure, and when we stop making them. The role turns 75 years of accumulated product breadth into a focused core of products that Velan can sell and manufacture profitably, while protecting Velan’s premium position in nuclear, power, severe service, defense/navy and MRO/aftermarket against low-cost competition.

This is a portfolio-strategy role with a clear mandate: rationalize, sharpen value-based positioning, and make product economics a leading input to roadmap, engineering and commercial decisions. The Director leads the line-level Product Managers and works through influence with Engineering, Commercial, Quality, Operations and the regional business units.

What We Offer

In addition to meaningful work that matches your ambitions and provides diverse learning opportunities, joining Velan means becoming part of a passionate team and enjoying exceptional working conditions:

• Competitive salary and bonus program
• Comprehensive group insurance program
• 24/7 telemedicine service
• Employer contribution of 5% to a retirement savings plan
• Competitive vacation policy
• Paid holiday shutdown during the Christmas season
• Reimbursement of professional association membership fees
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Annual gym membership reimbursement and other wellness initiatives
• Free on-site parking
• Company events (health, family, sports, etc.)
• Fast-track career growth and professional development opportunities

Responsibilities

Portfolio Strategy & Rationalization

• Lead a systematic rationalization of the catalog: SKU consolidation, good/better/best tiering, standardization of designs and variants, and cannibalization risk assessment, concentrating volume and engineering and manufacturing effort on a focused core
• Own product line lifecycle decisions (introduction, sustaining investment, value engineering, end-of-life/retirement) using a transparent, fact-based framework: margin contribution, strategic fit, installed-base obligations, manufacturing complexity and certification burden
• Define and prioritize the product roadmap by vertical (Nuclear, Power, Severe Service, Navy/Defense, Oil & Gas/Refining/Petrochemical, Mining, MRO/Distribution), balancing growth, engineering capacity and margin

Product Economics & Pricing Architecture

• Set pricing structure for each product line: value-based pricing that quantifies total cost of ownership and the reliability premium, list-price architecture, tiering logic, and aftermarket parts pricing guardrails
• Partner with Commercial, which owns price integrity within pricing systems, customer discount structures and deal-level pricing, to ensure the architecture is applied consistently in market
• Partner with Engineering, Procurement and Finance on design-to-cost and value engineering; use cost models and win/loss data to target products where Velan is uncompetitive on cost
• Track realized margin against architecture and feed leakage and competitiveness findings back into the roadmap

Market Intelligence & Customer Insight

• Run competitive intelligence and win/loss analysis by vertical and region, with particular attention to low-cost competitors; translate findings into roadmap, positioning and pricing inputs
• Maintain market size, growth and share views for each key target market, and a rolling multi-year view of where each product line should play
• Bring voice-of-customer and installed-base insight (upgrade, retrofit, spares) into the roadmap with Commercial and Aftermarket

Positioning & Go-to-Market Input

• Own product positioning and value propositions across the portfolio; Commercial’s marketing function owns marketing communications, brochures and campaign execution, with the Director ensuring technical content is accurate and on-strategy
• Support product launches with positioning, technical substantiation and sales enablement inputs; Commercial leads execution

Development Pipeline & Cross-Functional Integration

• Receive validated opportunities from Innovation & Technology and take commercial ownership: business case, roadmap placement and launch readiness, within the stage-gate process owned by the Manager, Product Development Process
• Define requirements and manage cost/performance/certification trade-offs with the VP, Engineering; align roadmap priorities with engineering capacity
• Collaborate with Global Quality on design-for-quality, qualification and certification impacts of portfolio changes
• Collaborate with the Program Manager, PLM so product data, configuration and variants support rationalization and the new PLM platform
• Work with regional BU leaders on regional product offerings and local-for-local requirements (e.g., India, China, EMEA, KSA localization)

Team Leadership

• Lead, develop and set priorities for the Product Managers (by vertical or product line) and the product analyst; establish consistent practices for roadmaps, business cases and portfolio reviews
• Build a Product Management function that is technically credible with Engineering and commercially credible with Sales

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product management, strategy or related commercial/technical roles, with at least 5 years in a leadership role, ideally in industrial or engineered capital equipment (valves, flow control or similar)
• Demonstrated success leading portfolio rationalization, SKU reduction or product line simplification, with measurable margin and complexity outcomes
• Strong pricing and margin analytics background; experience building value-based pricing and TCO arguments for premium products against low-cost competitors
• Experience in highly customized, engineered-to-order environments with large variant counts
• Familiarity with regulated or certified markets (nuclear, defense, ASME/API-governed products) strongly preferred
• Proven ability to influence without line authority across Engineering, Commercial, Quality and Operations in a global matrix
• Comfort with data, cost models and emerging AI/digital tools
• Engineering or technical degree required; MBA or equivalent business credential an asset
• Bilingual (English/French) an asset; additional languages valued

If you recognize yourself in this profile and are excited about this opportunity, we would be delighted to learn more about you!