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Product Manager – Vinyl Ester & Specialty Polymers
Location: Vadnais Heights, MN (On-site)
What is IP Corporation?
IP Corporation is a privately held, family-owned chemical manufacturing organization with more than 70 years of stability, innovation, and growth. Headquartered in Minnesota, IP Corporation supports a portfolio of operating companies that manufacture and distribute resins, gel coats, composite materials, and specialty polymer solutions used across a wide range of industrial applications.
Our operating companies—Interplastic Corporation, North American Composites, HK Research, and Molding Products—work together to deliver technical expertise, high-quality products, and long-term partnerships to customers around the world. We are known for our customer-first mindset, strong technical capabilities, and collaborative culture built on trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.
What is a Product Manager – Vinyl Ester & Specialty Polymers?
The Product Manager – Vinyl Ester & Specialty Polymers is responsible for driving the strategic direction, commercial success, and lifecycle management of IP Corporation's portfolio of formulated vinyl ester resins and other specialty polymer products. This role serves as the central connection between customers, sales, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and regulatory teams to ensure products meet evolving market needs while delivering profitable growth.
Reporting to the Sr. Business Manager – Specialty Polymers, the Product Manager will translate customer application requirements and market insights into product strategies, support new product development, optimize existing formulations, and help guide pricing, forecasting, and portfolio decisions. This position requires a strong combination of commercial acumen, technical expertise, and cross-functional leadership.
What You'll Do as a Product Manager – Vinyl Ester & Specialty Polymers:
Product & Portfolio Management
- Manage the full lifecycle of assigned vinyl ester and specialty polymer product lines, from concept and development through commercialization, optimization, and product retirement.
- Develop and execute product roadmaps aligned with business strategy, customer needs, manufacturing capabilities, and market trends.
- Define product positioning, value propositions, target applications, and performance objectives.
- Conduct regular portfolio reviews to identify opportunities for new products, line extensions, reformulations, cost optimization, and portfolio rationalization.
- Support new product introductions by partnering with cross-functional teams throughout development and commercialization.
Customer & Market Leadership
- Serve as the voice of the customer by translating application requirements into actionable product development priorities.
- Partner with Sales and Technical Service to support customer visits, technical discussions, product evaluations, and application trials.
- Act as the primary technical and commercial subject matter expert for vinyl ester and specialty polymer products.
- Monitor industry trends, competitive activity, feedstock markets, and emerging technologies to identify growth opportunities and mitigate business risks.
- Develop a deep understanding of customer applications, processing requirements, regulatory considerations, and performance expectations.
Commercial & Financial Management
- Support pricing strategies that balance customer value, market competitiveness, raw material costs, and profitability.
- Monitor product line performance including sales volume, margin, profitability, and market share.
- Provide forecasting input and actively participate in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) activities.
- Develop business cases supporting new product development, reformulation initiatives, and capital investments.
- Recommend actions to improve product profitability and long-term portfolio performance.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Collaborate closely with R&D, Manufacturing, Procurement, Quality, Supply Chain, Regulatory, and Commercial teams to execute product strategies.
- Translate market requirements into clearly defined technical development objectives and product specifications.
- Ensure formulations are scalable, manufacturable, cost-effective, and aligned with operational capabilities.
- Support product launches by developing technical documentation, product positioning materials, customer communications, and internal training resources.
Technical & Regulatory Support
- Maint
About IP Corporation