Product Development Assistant Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

ABOUT THE POSITION:The Product Manager, Signal - Mobile Equipment owns the product strategy and roadmap for the Signal platform as it serves Astec's mobile equipment customers across both the Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions segments — paving, milling, and material transfer; crushing, screening, washing, and aggregate processing; and forestry and recycling equipment. This role is responsible for understanding how equipment operators, crews, fleet owners, and service teams work; identifying the digital capabilities that drive measurable equipment uptime, productivity, throughput, and cost outcomes; and translating those needs into a prioritized Signal roadmap. The Product Manager partners closely with the mobile equipment engineering and machine-controls product teams across the Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions product lines to ensure Signal integrates cleanly into the machine control stack and delivers a coherent, competitive digital experience for mobile equipment customers.

Deliverables & Responsibilities

· Own the Signal Mobile Equipment product roadmap and ensure it advances measurable customer outcomes (equipment uptime, productivity, mat quality, fuel and idle efficiency, parts and service responsiveness, subscription growth)

· Drive Signal adoption across the installed base of Astec mobile equipment — paving, milling, and material transfer; crushing, screening, and washing; and forestry and recycling — including migration of legacy machine telematics customers onto Signal

· Establish Signal as the default digital experience on every new equipment delivery, including default data transmission at machine commissioning

· Partner with the mobile equipment engineering and machine-controls product teams across the Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions segments as the primary integration partners, to ensure Signal integrates cleanly with machine controls and the broader Astec Digital portfolio

· Achieve budgeted Signal Mobile Equipment revenue, subscription, and renewal targets through new product development, platform enhancements, and commercial enablement

· Build and maintain a deep understanding of how equipment operators, crew foremen, fleet owners, and service teams use Signal day-to-day, and what drives their satisfaction, retention, and expansion

· Identify trends (technological, regulatory, customer expectations) shaping the digital experience for mobile equipment customers, including AI, operator assist and autonomy, production and throughput monitoring, intelligent compaction and thermal mapping, predictive maintenance, and data-sharing requirements

· Conduct regular job site visits and customer field research; build a portfolio of alpha and beta customers to validate features before scaling

· Gather, analyze, and interpret market data including competitor offerings, pricing, and installed base positioning

· Conduct installed base assessments to track Signal coverage, legacy-to-Signal migration progress, and the retrofit opportunity across the full mobile equipment fleet (paving, milling, material transfer, crushing, screening, washing, forestry, and recycling)

· Translate strategy into detailed product requirements and a prioritized Signal Mobile Equipment roadmap

· Lead Agile product development ceremonies (sprint planning, refinement, demo, retrospective) for the Mobile Equipment workstream and report Mobile Equipment-segment metrics and progress

· Engage stakeholder groups across product, engineering, design, commercial, and field teams to gather input, validate priorities, and drive cross-functional alignment on the Mobile Equipment roadmap

· Drive development initiatives that close Signal capability gaps relative to legacy and competitor offerings, particularly around fleet and asset visibility, machine utilization, paving analytics (e.g., PaverTracker), and integration of third-party machine systems

· Lead new product development (NPD) projects for Signal Mobile Equipment from inception to launch

· Develop business cases (payback period, ROI, NPV) for product investments; present to senior and executive management for approval

· Achieve budgeted growth targets for the Signal Mobile Equipment product line through innovation (Research & Development, New Product Development, Continuous Improvement, and Engineer-to-Order projects)

· Coordinate with Astec Digital design, engineering, and Advanced Technology teams on user experience, AI features, and platform architecture decisions affecting Mobile Equipment

· Partner with the Infrastructure Solutions machine-controls Product Managers (paving, milling) as primary integration partners so Signal and machine controls deliver a single, coherent digital experience to mobile equipment customers

· Partner with the Materials Solutions product teams (crushing, screening, washing) and the forestry and recycling equipment teams so Signal delivers the same coherent experience across the full mobile fleet

· Coordinate with the parts platform team to drive parts pull-through via Signal integration

· Serve as the Mobile Equipment product owner in cross-team forums covering subscription administration, asset management, data governance, and OEM dealer/channel enablement

· Work closely with machine-controls engineering, Advanced Technology, and field service to ensure default data transmission is configured on every new equipment delivery

· Facilitate Signal product launches and support execution of marketing plans for new and improved Mobile Equipment offerings

· Develop and deliver effective product training, sales tools, and field service materials for Astec sales teams, OEM dealer channels, and customer onboarding

· Partner with the Astec Digital commercial enablement team and the Subscriptions & Services Commercial Manager on subscription administration, renewal processes, and pricing execution

· Act as subject matter expert for complex sales quotes, RFPs, and customer technical discussions involving Signal Mobile Equipment

· Own the Signal Mobile Equipment product line price book for standard and custom offerings

· Generate and maintain product line presentations covering product overview, market share, profitability, features and benefits, and roadmap

· Support industry events and customer advisory groups as a Signal Mobile Equipment spokesperson and listener

To be successful in this role, your experience and competencies are:

· Four (4) year college or university degree in a technical, design, business, or related field, or equivalent experience required

· Product management, product ownership, or senior application/UX experience in industrial software, telematics, IoT platforms, or connected equipment / fleet systems

· Road construction (paving, milling), aggregate processing (crushing, screening, washing), or forestry/recycling equipment industry experience and familiarity with mobile equipment operations, machine controls, and telematics is strongly preferred

· Working knowledge of digital platforms, SaaS subscription models, and data-driven product development; comfort interpreting telemetry, usage analytics, and platform performance metrics

· Familiarity with embedded machine control systems, CAN bus/J1939, GPS/GNSS positioning, and telematics architectures sufficient to coordinate with machine-controls engineering teams

· Experience leading Agile sprint ceremonies (sprint planning, refinement, review, retrospective) and reporting product metrics

· Experience with AI-assisted product workflows for user-story writing, requirements drafting, and competitive intelligence is a plus

· Must be energetic, highly motivated, and able to function in a fast-paced environment while managing multiple priorities

· Must be able to travel domestically and internationally (up to 20%)

· Must be able to effectively collaborate across internal teams, OEM business units, partners, and customers

· Strong organizational and analytical skills required

· Ability to write product requirements, business cases, competitive analyses, and executive presentations

· Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from customers, partners, executives, and dealer sales teams

Supervisor and Leadership Expectations: None

Travel Requirements: Up to 20% travel, domestic and international. Expected destinations include Astec equipment manufacturing facilities, customer job sites, quarries and aggregate operations, and equipment yards across North America and internationally, industry events, and partner locations.