Product Development Manager Jobs in Cottage Grove, WI

At i3, we build real products for real clients, and getting it right takes more than someone who can run a schedule. It takes someone who can hold the product vision, manage the client relationship, and lead a team of engineers all at once, even when the path forwardisn'tfully mapped out yet.

If you'repicturing Gantt charts, status meetings, and a planthat'salready been scoped for you,that'snot quite whatthis is.We'relooking for a project leaderwhois willing to roll their sleeves up and digintocomplex, technical challenges.This role is best suited to someone who enjoys working through ambiguity and staying close tothe technicalwork.

What a Product Development Manager Actually Does

• Understand the client's business, their customers and what they're really trying to build - not just what they wrote in the request for proposal
• Help shape the product vision alongside the client, not just take notes on it
• Turn ambiguity into a workable plan
• Push back on assumptions and figure out what the team or client needs next
• Lead and energize a team spanning software, mechanical, electrical, firmware, and design
• Manage scope, budget, cross-functional coordination, risk, and client expectations
• Stay close enough to the work that you catch gaps early
• Know what needs to be built and who's best suited to build it. Sometimes that's you, more often it's someone on your team

You don't need to be the technical expert in every discipline on the team. You do need to be curious about the technology, have good product judgment, and be someone who creates clarity instead of waiting around for it.

Your background might be in Project Management, Business Analysis, Product Management, or Technical Program Management. At i3, the title matters less than the pattern of experience below.

What Makes This Role Different

To be honest, you may not walk into a project with a fully defined scope or finalized requirements. Part of the job is helping the client and the team figure that out together. You'll be balancing competing priorities, questioning assumptions, and taking ownership when the next step isn't obvious.

This is a good fit if you want to help build products, not just manage schedules. It's probably not a good fit if you're looking for a structured, coordination-only project management role. Someone looking for a primarily coordination-focused role will likely find this position broader and more hands on than expected.

Who We're Looking For

We're not tied to one specific background. We're looking for evidence that you:

• Have led development work where the answer wasn't handed to you
• Think about the product, the customer, and the business, not just the task list
• Can hold your own with technical teams without needing to be the smartest person in the room
• Create clarity on your own instead of waiting for someone to hand it to you
• Can manage scope, schedule, budget, and risk without losing sight of why the product matters
• Enjoy both building and coordinating
• Can shift how you lead depending on whether you're working with
• Can manage more than one project at a time shifting focus often
• Take responsibility when things don't go according to plan
• Enjoy and thrive in variety and learning new things - projects and clients start and finish often and each day is not the same
  

Education & Experience

A bachelor's degree in engineering, technology, design, business, or a related discipline is preferred. We are more interested in the relevance of your experience than in the exact title of your degree. Successful candidates will have experience working with technical teams and leading products, programs, or client engagements through ambiguous and evolving development work.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of product development experience preferred
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering projects
• Experience coaching and mentoring team members
• Comfortable presenting, whether it's a client meeting or an internal design review
• A solid understanding of electro-mechanical systems and connected products is a big plus
• PMP certification is a plus though this role also requires strong product judgement, client leadership, and comfort with ambiguity.

If reading this made you think, "that sounds demanding, but it's exactly the kind of ownership I want," let's talk!

A real person on our team wrote this posting. We'd love to hear from a real person too.

Benefits and Perks

• Health insurance with a zero-dollar deductible and employee premiums as low as nine dollars per pay period
• Dental and vision coverage
• 401(k) with dollar-for-dollar match up to six percent
• Employee Stock Purchase Program
• Company-paid short- and long-term disability insurance
• Company-paid life insurance at two times annual salary
• Flexible Spending Account
• Health Savings Account
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays
• Emergency Assistance Fund
• Charitable Match Program