Global Head of Product Development & Integrity

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Global Head of Product is responsible for defining and leading OX Group’s global product strategy, building a multi-year innovation roadmap, and ensuring the portfolio delivers sustained, profitable growth across every brand, category, and region. The role is accountable for portfolio strategy, product roadmap execution, portfolio optimization, and aligning Product, Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain into a single growth engine.

This role owns and directs product strategy across OX Group’s full portfolio of brands – including OX, BORA, Tracer, and SMART – spanning categories such as Power Tool Accessories, Portable Worksite, Marking Tools, Layout Tools, and Wet Trades, ensuring each brand and category has a clear, well-defined product strategy, roadmap, and portfolio structure that ladders up to a single, coherent Group-wide strategy. The role is also accountable for product integrity across the portfolio, ensuring every brand and category meets the quality, compliance, and performance standards tradespeople expect from OX.

Success is defined not simply by launching new products, but by building a globally scalable, high-margin portfolio – with the strategy, roadmap discipline, and cross-functional alignment required for OX Group to lead its categories long-term.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

GLOBAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & VISION

• Objective: Define and own a global product strategy that positions the full portfolio for sustained profitable growth across all brands, categories, and regions.

• Strategic Portfolio Planning: Develop and maintain a multi-year global product strategy aligned to company vision, brand positioning, and market opportunity across every business unit.

• Investment Prioritization: Determine where to invest, defend, or exit across the portfolio based on market attractiveness, competitive position, and margin potential.

• Success Indicators: A clearly documented, leadership-aligned global product strategy refreshed annually, with investment decisions consistently traceable to strategic priorities.

PRODUCT ROADMAP & INNOVATION LEADERSHIP

• Objective: Build and lead a global innovation pipeline that keeps the company ahead of competitors and responsive to tradesperson needs.

• Roadmap Governance: Lead regular cross-functional roadmap reviews across all brands and categories, balancing core-range renewal, platform extensions, and breakthrough innovation.

• Stage-Gate Discipline: Establish and enforce a consistent stage-gate new-product-development process from concept through launch, with clear go/no-go criteria at each stage.

• Success Indicators: A rolling multi-year roadmap in place for every major category, with new products consistently launched on time and meeting quality and margin targets.
  

PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION & SKU MANAGEMENT

• Objective: Keep the global portfolio focused on high-growth, high-margin opportunities.

• Quarterly Portfolio Reviews: Apply a Keep / Grow / Fix / Delete framework across the global range to focus investment and reduce unnecessary complexity.

• Lifecycle Management: Own end-to-end product lifecycle decisions, from launch through phase-out, in partnership with Supply Chain and Finance.

• Success Indicators: A measurable reduction in low-performing SKU complexity and sustained improvement in portfolio-level margin and inventory health.

MARKET, CUSTOMER & COMPETITIVE INSIGHT

• Objective: Ensure every product decision is grounded in a deep understanding of the customer, channel, and competitive landscape.

• Voice of the Customer: Establish structured mechanisms – contractor research, retailer feedback, and field insight – to inform product requirements.

• Competitive Intelligence: Maintain an ongoing view of competitor roadmaps, pricing, and positioning to inform product and pricing strategy.

• Success Indicators: Product briefs consistently backed by documented customer and market evidence, with competitive benchmarking shared regularly with leadership.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL ALIGNMENT – SALES, MARKETING & SUPPLY CHAIN

• Objective: Act as the connective tissue between Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Product so the portfolio operates as a single growth engine.

• Go-to-Market Partnership: Partner with Global Sales and Marketing on positioning, launch sequencing, pricing, and commercial readiness for every major launch.

• Supply Chain Alignment: Work with Supply Chain from the earliest stages of development on forecast accuracy, sourcing feasibility, and cost targets.

• Success Indicators: Product, Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain operating from a shared launch calendar, with minimal late-stage surprises on cost, supply, or go-to-market readiness.

GLOBAL & REGIONAL PRODUCT ADAPTATION

• Objective: Ensure the portfolio scales globally while remaining relevant to regional market needs.

• Regional Requirements: Partner with regional commercial leaders to adapt specifications, packaging, and compliance for key markets, including North America, the UK and Europe, and Australia and New Zealand.

• Global Platform Thinking: Favor shared platforms and components across regions where possible to maximize scale efficiency without compromising local relevance.

• Success Indicators: An appropriately localized offering in every major region and a growing share of the range built on shared global platforms.

LEADERSHIP & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Accountability Cadence: Lead monthly, quarterly, and annual business reviews of the product portfolio’s performance and roadmap progress.

• Culture: Build and lead a high-performing global product team grounded in ownership, customer-first thinking, and data-driven decision-making.

• Reporting: Report regularly to the CEO and leadership team on roadmap progress, portfolio health, competitive positioning, and cross-functional risks.

SUCCESS DEFINITION

• Year-End Success Criteria: A clearly defined and actively managed global product strategy and roadmap; a healthier, more focused portfolio with reduced low-performing SKU complexity; strong, trusted alignment across Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain; and a global product organization capable of scaling with the business.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Proven senior product leadership experience (Director of Product, Head of Product, VP Product, or General Management) within tools, hardware, building products, or related durable-goods category.
• Demonstrated success building and leading global product strategy and multi-year roadmaps across multiple brands or categories.
• Strong track record of cross-functional leadership across Sales, Marketing, and Supply Chain, with the ability to align diverse stakeholders around a shared plan.
• Experience with portfolio optimization and SKU rationalization frameworks, and a working understanding of margin, inventory, and cost drivers.
• Deep understanding of customer and contractor needs, channel dynamics (retail, wholesale, industrial), and competitive positioning.
• Experience adapting products for multiple regions and markets, with international commercial exposure.
• Strong data-driven decision-making, executive presence, and the ability to represent the product function at the leadership level.
• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.