Your Impactย
O'Brien is seeking a unique leader to join our team and manage sales and product development. This role is primarily focused on the future of our product line: identifying market needs, generating product ideas, coordinating on-the-water testing, and driving development for our next generation of wakeboards, surfers, skis, tubes, and vests.
What You'll Doย
Product Development, Innovation & Testing
- Market Research & Ideas:ย Keep a pulse on the watersports industry to identify market trends, rider needs, and gaps in our current product lineup. Bring fresh concepts and ideas to the table for future lines.
- Product Testing:ย Coordinate and actively participate in on-the-water testing for prototypes. Gather feedback from team riders, reps, and customers to evaluate performance, durability, and ride characteristics.
- Development Collaboration:ย Work closely with the brand leadership, engineering, and manufacturing teams to transition products from the initial concept and shape phase through to final production, including a coordinated launch achieving gross margin targets.
- Brand Aesthetic:ย Collaborate with the O'Brien leadership to ensure product and marketing graphics and visuals support the vibe and legacy of the O'Brien brand.
Sales
- Account Maintenance:ย Manage the day-to-day operations of the direct O'Brien wholesale account, including with Amazon (Vendor Central), focusing on catalog uploads and vendor compliance.
- Listing Optimization:ย Create and maintain high-quality product listings, ensuring accurate titles, bullet points, descriptions, and A+ content to protect the brand's premium image online.
- Marketing Support:ย Plan and execute basic Amazon Advertising campaigns (PPC) to maintain healthy sales velocity for core products and support new product launches.
- Marketplace Surveillance: Utilize tracking software to monitor for Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) violations across all online sellers.
- Policy Enforcement: Universally and diplomatically enforce MAP guidelines with Amazon and authorized dealers to safeguard product margins and protect brand value.
- Rogue Seller Elimination: Identify and aggressively work to remove unauthorized third-party sellers who hijack listings and disrupt the marketplace.
- Sales Team Alignment:ย Act as a bridge to the US sales force, helping representatives protect their local brick-and-mortar dealers from unfair online competition.
What You've Accomplishedย
- Watersports Background:ย Deep passion for and knowledge of the watersports industry (wakeboarding, waterskiing, wakesurfing). The ability to evaluate product performance on the water is a must.
- Product Savvy:ย Experience or strong aptitude in hands-on product development and evaluation.ย
- E-commerce Literacy:ย Hands-on experience navigating Amazon and other digital marketplace platforms (Vendor Central/Seller Central) and utilizing Brand Registry tools.
- Firm & Diplomatic Communicator:ย Ability to collaborate creatively on product design while being comfortable playing "sheriff" when enforcing MAP policies with dealers.