Director of Products (60936)

At Core Health & Fitness, our purpose is to live and share our passion for fitness. We bring innovative health and fitness solutions to the global market with brands like StairMaster, Schwinn, Nautilus, Star Trac, Throwdown, Wexer, Gym Rax, Core Fit Collective and we're still growing. We press into the future of fitness to ensure the creation of quality products and programming that meet the needs of an ever-evolving industry.

At Core we are committed to building an energetic, diverse, and inclusive workspace. We value our differences and see community strength in diversity and representation. We're always on the lookout for innovators, dreamers and doers who are passionate about fitness and wellbeing. We explore all opportunities to improve ourselves, our business partners, and our community. If you're looking for a fulfilling career in helping people, find the best version of themselves, you've come to the right place.

We are looking for a Director of Products to join our growing team!

General Position Summary

The Director of Products is responsible for the strategic leadership, long-term vision, lifecycle management, and commercial success of Core Health & Fitness' assigned brands and global product portfolios. This role serves as the business owner for the product portfolio, establishing product strategy, driving innovation, leading cross-functional product development, and ensuring successful global commercialization.

The Director of Products owns the overall portfolio strategy, including product roadmaps, investment decisions, business cases, pricing strategy, profitability, lifecycle management, and portfolio optimization. This position partners closely with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Customer Experience, Digital Solutions, and Executive Leadership to deliver innovative products that drive sustainable revenue growth, profitability, market share expansion, and customer satisfaction.

The Director serves as the Voice of the Customer (VOC) within the organization by translating market insights into strategic product initiatives while leading competitive intelligence, emerging technology evaluation, and future product innovation-including connected fitness, AI-enabled solutions, software integrations, and digital experiences.

The Director of Products is expected to influence organizational strategy through executive presentations, data-driven recommendations, and portfolio performance reporting while ensuring alignment with corporate growth objectives.

Essential Functions / Major Responsibilities

Strategic Product Leadership

• Own the long-term strategic vision, roadmap, and lifecycle management for assigned brands and global product portfolios.
• Develop and execute annual product strategies aligned with corporate objectives and long-range business plans.
• Lead portfolio rationalization efforts, including new product investment recommendations, product refreshes, and end-of-life decisions.
• Develop business cases supporting new product investments, market expansion opportunities, and portfolio optimization initiatives.
• Establish pricing strategy, positioning, and commercialization plans to maximize revenue, profitability, and market competitiveness.
• Serve as the business owner responsible for overall portfolio performance and commercial success.

Product Lifecycle Management

• Lead products through the complete lifecycle from concept through launch, growth, maturity, and retirement.
• Define product requirements and business objectives for new product development based on customer needs, market opportunities, and financial goals.
• Partner with Engineering to prioritize product features, innovation initiatives, and technical investments.
• Ensure successful New Product Introduction (NPI) processes across all cross-functional departments.
• Maintain accurate product portfolio information across ERP, PLM, CRM, Sales, and Operations systems.

Financial Ownership

• Own product portfolio financial performance, including:

• Revenue growth

• Gross margin

• Profitability

• Product P&L

• Forecast accuracy

• Develop annual revenue forecasts and long-range portfolio plans.

• Perform ROI analysis, pricing analysis, profitability assessments, and investment modeling.

• Recommend strategic actions to improve portfolio financial performance.

Voice of Customer & Market Leadership

• Lead Voice of Customer (VOC) initiatives to understand customer needs, market trends, and buying behaviors.
• Translate customer insights into product requirements and innovation opportunities.
• Lead competitive intelligence activities including benchmarking, pricing analysis, competitive positioning, and market trend analysis.
• Monitor industry developments, emerging technologies, and evolving customer expectations to inform product strategy.

Innovation & Digital Product Strategy

• Drive innovation initiatives across the product portfolio.
• Evaluate and develop strategies for connected fitness, AI-enabled experiences, software integrations, digital ecosystems, and emerging technologies.
• Identify opportunities for future product differentiation through technology, customer experience, and digital transformation.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead cross-functional collaboration across:

• Engineering

• Operations

• Supply Chain

• Quality

• Sales

• Marketing

• Finance

• Customer Experience

• Service

• Executive Leadership

• Influence organizational priorities and facilitate alignment across multiple business functions.

• Support manufacturing readiness, quality initiatives, supply planning, and commercialization activities.

• Partner with Sales and Marketing to develop launch strategies, product messaging, sales enablement, and customer training.

Executive Leadership & Communication

• Present portfolio strategy, investment recommendations, business cases, product roadmaps, and financial performance to Executive Leadership.
• Support executive and Board-level presentations as requested.
• Deliver presentations to ownership, executive leadership, distributors, strategic customers, and industry partners.
• Communicate portfolio performance through KPI reporting and strategic business reviews.

Global Product Management

• Lead global commercialization initiatives for assigned product portfolios.
• Partner with international sales leaders to identify regional market opportunities and product requirements.
• Ensure product strategies support both domestic and international growth objectives.

Specific Job Requirements

• Exceptional executive presence and communication skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and influencing abilities.
• Strong strategic planning and business leadership capabilities.
• Demonstrated financial acumen including forecasting, pricing strategy, business case development, and P&L management.
• Ability to lead multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills utilizing data-driven decision making.
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority across multiple functional organizations.
• Strong organizational and project leadership skills.
• Experience leading cross-functional product development teams.
• Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders at all organizational levels.
• Self-directed with the ability to drive initiatives with minimal supervision.
• Travel approximately 20-30%, including international travel as required.

Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Engineering, Product Management, or a related discipline required.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years' experience of Product Management experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of commercial product leadership experience.
• Experience owning product strategy and product portfolio management.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams throughout the product lifecycle.
• Experience developing business cases, financial models, and investment recommendations.
• Global product management experience preferred.
• Strong financial acumen with experience managing product P&L.
• Experience with ERP systems, Salesforce, Power BI, PLM software, Microsoft Office Suite, and project management software.
• Fitness equipment, connected fitness, or consumer durable goods industry experience preferred.
• Trade show and customer-facing experience preferred.

Job Specific Competencies

• Budgets/Cost Control - Plans for and uses resources efficiently, always looks for ways to reduce costs, creates accurate and realistic budgets, tracks and adjusts budgets, contributes to budget planning.
• Global Perspective - Has a global view and is comfortable and effective working with global partners, understands global markets and international considerations.
• Organizational Savvy - Operates within the organization's formal and informal structures, builds allies and relationships across departments, uses allies to build consensus and create results, is appropriately diplomatic, understands others' roles and perspectives, can sell projects and ideas across the organization.
• Strategic Thinking/Management - Creates and communicates a long-term vision, balances short and long term goals, keeps own and team's work aligned with overall goals, understands the market and can predict change, understands the industry and the competition, creates and adjusts strategic plans.
• Decision Making/Judgment - Recognizes problems and responds, systematically gathers information, sorts through complex issues, seeks input from others, addresses root cause of issues, makes timely decisions, can make difficult decisions, uses consensus when possible, and communicates decisions to others.
• Integrity/Ethics - Deals with others in a straightforward and honest manner, is accountable for actions, maintains confidentiality, supports company values, and conveys good news and bad.

Working Conditions

The physical and environmental demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Work may require:

• Bending, stooping, reaching, twisting, lifting, pushing, pulling and moving items - The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Requires the ability to move around and maneuver products when necessary. Occasionally lift and carry items weighing up to 15 pounds
• Walking and Standing - Requires moving around
• Requires corrected vision and hearing to normal range
• Requires working under stressful conditions or working irregular hours
• Requires extensive travel

Work Environment

Work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions: work performed in an office environment. Position involves frequent communication and interaction with internal and external customers.

Position Status

Level: Manager

FLSA: Exempt

Supervises: Product Managers when applicable

This job description reflects management's assignment of essential functions. It is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, and duties. The responsibilities, tasks, and duties of the employee might differ from those outlined in the above job description and, other duties as assigned, might be part of the role. It does not restrict the tasks that may be assigned nor is it considered a contract of employment overriding at-will employment.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification document form upon hire.

Core Health& Fitness is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, creed, disabled veteran status, marital status, or Vietnam-era veteran status. If you are a person with a disability and you need assistance in applying for a position with Core Health & Fitness, please contact our Human Resources department at hr@corehandf.com and direct assistance will be provided.