Product Manager – Switchboards
Position Overview
The Product Manager – Switchboards is a highly visible and critical role responsible for owning the strategy, development, and lifecycle management of low- and medium-voltage switchboard products. Switchboards form the backbone of electrical distribution, integrating protective devices, bus structures, metering, and control systems to safely and reliably distribute power in commercial, industrial, data center, and mission-critical facilities.
This role collaborates closely with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to drive growth and profitability by defining product strategy, maintaining product roadmaps, and launching new switchboard offerings into the market.
The Product Manager serves as a technical and commercial subject-matter expert on switchboards, electrical distribution systems, and their integration with supporting systems, including UPS.
Strong collaboration is required with Product Marketing, Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Project Management, and Service to successfully execute new product development initiatives and optimize existing switchboard platforms.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the Product Development Process (PDP) for switchboards, translating market and customer requirements into clear product features, system architectures, and performance specifications.
- Own the end-to-end product strategy and roadmap for a portfolio including low- and medium-voltage switchboards, panelboards, bus structures, protective devices, metering, and control systems.
- Conduct market research to identify opportunities in commercial, industrial, and data center power distribution markets, including required switchboard capabilities, technology trends, competitive positioning, market size, and pricing.
- Develop and maintain Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) that communicate functional, technical, regulatory, and performance requirements for switchboards to engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams.
- Partner with engineering and manufacturing teams to balance safety, reliability, maintainability, cost, manufacturability, and scalability of switchboard solutions.
- Ensure switchboards are compatible with UPS systems and other critical power infrastructure where required, including considerations for redundancy, bypass arrangements, and coordination.
- Plan and execute product launches, including messaging, positioning, and value propositions, in collaboration with product marketing.
- Analyze product costs, margins, and pricing structures to identify opportunities for cost reduction, margin improvement, and profitable growth.
- Monitor product performance, field reliability, warranty trends, and quality metrics to identify opportunities for product improvements and platform optimization.
- Build and maintain relationships with customers, consulting engineers, contractors, OEM partners, and industry organizations involved in electrical distribution.
- Establish strong cross-functional partnerships with engineering, project management, operations, supply chain, quality, and marketing teams to ensure alignment throughout the product lifecycle.
- Support the sales organization with technical training, sales tools, product demonstrations, and customer engagements related to switchboards.
- Stay current on applicable codes, standards, and certifications (e.g., UL 891, UL 1558, UL 1066, IEC 61439, NEC, IEEE) relevant to switchboards and electrical distribution systems.
- Perform other related duties as required and assigned.
Minimum Requirements
Education
- Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Engineering Technology, or a related field required
- Advanced degree or MBA preferred
Experience
- 5+ years of experience in product engineering, electrical engineering, or product management of manufactured electrical distribution equipment
- Demonstrated experience with switchboards, switchgear, or panelboards
- Working knowledge of UPS systems and mission-critical power distribution desirable
- Proven experience leading cross-functional teams across engineering, manufacturing, and commercial functions
Technical & Professional Skills
- Strong technical understanding of switchboards and electrical distribution systems, including protective devices, bus structures, metering, and controls
- Familiarity with selective coordination, short-circuit ratings, arc-flash mitigation, grounding, and power quality
- Ability to read, interpret, and communicate technical documentation, schematics, one-line diagrams, and specifications
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills with attention to detail
