Head of Product Management at Autocar Business in Birmingham, Alabama

Job description

• The Head of Product Management will own product definition for the Autocar DC-64 and serve as our senior authority on how customers use severe-service conventional trucks across concrete, construction, dump, roll-off, logging, and other demanding applications.
• This leader will spend meaningful time where trucks actually work understanding customer operations, identifying the problems that constrain productivity and uptime, and determining which problems Autocar should solve.
• You will translate those insights into measurable product requirements, optimized vehicle specifications, application architectures, body-integration standards, and a prioritized multiyear product roadmap.
• Product Management owns what the truck must accomplish, for whom, under what operating conditions, and what economic value it must create. Engineering owns how the solution is designed, validated, and released.
• The objective is clear: make every Autocar DC-64 is the best tool , purpose-built for the customer’s specific job, whilst delivering the uptime, productivity, and total cost of ownership that create measurable value over the life of the truck.
• We are looking for an application-driven, field-oriented, technically credible, and commercially grounded product leader.
• You understand vocational trucks from the customer’s point of view and want to see firsthand how they operate, fail, and create value. You can work comfortably with a fleet operator on a jobsite, challenge Engineering with credible application requirements, and connect product decisions to customer and Autocar economics.
• You are customer focused, but not customer dictated. Rather than automatically accepting a requested solution, you identify the underlying operating problem and determine the best scalable answer.
• Most importantly, you can convert individual customer knowledge into repeatable product rules, tools, and solutions.
• Relevant backgrounds may include Class 8 truck OEMs, vocational body or equipment manufacturers, sophisticated vocational fleets, construction or off-highway equipment manufacturers, and application-engineering or vehicle-integration organizations.
• At Autocar, this role will have the opportunity to define how an entire Class 8 vocational platform solves real-world customer operating problems.
• You will have direct access to customers, Engineering, manufacturing, senior leadership, and product-investment decisions - turning deep application knowledge into scalable product solutions that deliver measurable customer and commercial value.

Responsibilities

• Customer & Application Understanding: Spend substantial time with fleets, drivers, technicians, body manufacturers, and equipment suppliers to understand how trucks operate in the real world. Build a fact-based understanding of duty cycles, payload, terrain, productivity constraints, downtime, maintenance, safety, body integration, and customer economics.
• Product & Application Definition: Translate customer operating requirements into clear product definitions and measurable vehicle requirements across chassis, powertrain, suspension, braking, steering, electrical systems, controls, cab environment, body integration, reliability, serviceability, and uptime.
• Scalable Product Intelligence: Convert Autocar’s customer-engineered, build-to-order advantage into repeatable application architectures, proven configurations, reusable engineering solutions, body-integration standards, and intelligent specification methodologies. Establish clear boundaries for when customer requirements justify new engineering.
• Customer TCO & Product Value: Quantify how the DC-64 creates value through productivity, payload, uptime, maintenance, fuel efficiency, vehicle life, body integration, driver effectiveness, safety, and residual value. Partner with Finance, Sales, Service, and Engineering to develop credible TCO, payback, and ROI models.
• Competitive Application Intelligence: Establish objective application-level comparisons against relevant competitors. Understand where Autocar wins, where it must improve, and which differences create measurable value customers will pay for.
• DC-64 Product Roadmap: Own the rolling three-to-five-year product-definition roadmap. Prioritize investments based on customer value, market opportunity, competitive differentiation, TCO, commercial return, engineering and manufacturing complexity, risk, and scalability.
• Field-to-Product Learning: Establish a disciplined feedback loop using field observation, operating data, warranty, reliability, telematics, service, quality, and installed-base information. Ensure lessons from trucks already in service continuously improve future product definitions and configurations.

Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant experience in Class 8 vocational trucks, vocational equipment, off-highway equipment, major truck bodies, or closely related severe-service equipment
• Deep practical knowledge of at least one major vocational-truck application
• Experience working directly with fleets, drivers, technicians, body manufacturers, and equipment suppliers
• Demonstrated ability to translate customer applications and operating problems into vehicle or equipment requirements
• Strong working knowledge of chassis, powertrain, axles, suspension, braking, steering, electrical systems, controls, and body integration
• Ability to quantify customer TCO, productivity, uptime, payback, and return on investment
• Technical credibility to challenge Engineering and commercial judgment to challenge Sales
• Experience influencing cross-functional decisions across Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, Service, and Finance
• Willingness to spend significant time with customers and trucks in actual operating environments
• Willingness to relocate to Birmingham, Alabama; relocation assistance will be provided

Skills

Required

• TCO, payback, and ROI modeling
• Product roadmap development

Benefits

• Attractive compensation package, including base salary and incentive bonus opportunities
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off (PTO) and company holidays
• Location: Birmingham, Alabama
• Birmingham offers the advantages of a growing Southeast business hub with a competitive cost of living, a thriving culinary and entertainment scene, and convenient access to outdoor and weekend destinations.
• Our Autocar facility is located approximately 20 minutes from downtown Birmingham, providing convenient access to the city while maintaining an accessible commute.