Instron is a global organization that designs, manufactures, sells and services materials testing applications and its leadership in the marketplace is continually expanding. You will find that our established strength, commitment to our core values and team focus provides an engaging work environment and offers exceptional opportunities for personal and career development.

The Dynamic Systems business contains a mix of technologies and products that are used for the dynamic testing of material properties and component testing.  The company also offers the opportunity to join an exciting and growing international company.

Through the rigorous application of the ITW enterprise strategy the Innovation and Marketing team have a significant role to play in growing this business.  By the efficient application of engineering resources, we should improve and enhance our products to provide sustainable differentiation and improved customer satisfaction.  Working closely with sales and marketing teams we need to effectively promote, articulate, and evidence the value proposition of choosing an Instron testing, both internally and externally to customers.

THE ROLE

We are a leading materials testing company seeking a highly motivated and skilled Software Product Manager to join our team. In this role, you will be responsible for managing an extensive suite of software packages that drive our cutting-edge electrodynamic and servo-hydraulic test equipment. These software tools are used around the world for advanced materials testing in safety-critical industries by some of the world’s biggest technology companies and scientific research institutes. This software role offers the successful candidate the unique opportunity to work on software products which have exciting and varied real world applications as well as an integral connection to broader engineering disciplines both internally and externally.

Our customers choose us for the ease of use that our systems offer, and the confidence that their operators have in our machines and their results. We are always striving to build on that reputation and seeking a candidate who has exceptional expertise in UX design, usability and in designing software experiences with intuitive workflows that balance the differing needs of novice and expert users seamlessly.

The challenges in this role will be in managing the breadth of products built on different code bases, frameworks and languages and used in so many ways by their users. You will be surrounded by outstanding electronic, firmware and software engineers but given the opportunity and autonomy to own, drive and champion the product roadmap for flagship software and legacy products alike.

In addition to our primary focus on usability there is an increasing demand from customers to offer additional connectivity in their test systems and for their test results. This offers the additional opportunity to work with business leaders in the medium term to build internal capabilities in web technologies and further expand the Dynamic Systems software platform.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and manage the software product roadmap, including feature prioritization, design, development, testing, and deployment, to ensure delivery of high-quality products on time and within budget.
• Work with cross-functional teams, including hardware engineering, firmware development, customer support, and marketing, to gather and prioritize customer requirements and develop product specifications.
• Conduct market research with our customers to identify new product opportunities and stay current on industry trends.
• Lead the development of our UX/UI to ensure the software design provides users with an intuitive experience, natural workflows maximising confidence and minimising training time.
• Manage the software development process, including sprint planning, progress tracking, issue resolution, and resource management with the support of a dedicated Software Project Manager.
• Ensure software compliance with international testing standards and the flexibility to execute complex customer tests at a wide range of forces, frequencies and with a wide range of sensors and data.
• Conduct product demonstrations and training sessions for customers and internal teams.

KEY BEHAVIOURS

• Inherently customer focussed, eager to understand their needs and problems and present simple and graceful solutions in software.
• A natural ability to manage multi-faceted problems with conflicting pressures and priorities, in order to determine the path of least resistance and provide clarity and focus for the engineering teams and resources.
• Passionate about simplicity, user experience and delivering meaningful and measurable results for the business as well as impactful productivity benefits for customers.
• Realistic and pragmatic in providing steady and sustainable results consistently through the timely execution of a well-planned software roadmap.
• Superb communication in all forms to stakeholders, from a high-level vision for the platform down to the individual PBIs and sprint planning meetings.
• Confident presenting to groups and working with internal and external customers and stakeholders.
• A dedicated and ambitious team player who can inspire and motivate software engineers to deliver superb results whilst minimising complexity of both the engineering solutions and the resulting user experience.
• Analytical and data driven approach to prioritising feature requests, customer needs and market trends.
• Ability to manage by influence over wider teams who may not have a direct reporting line to this role.

BENEFICIAL EXPERIENCE

Whilst we want to encourage Software Product managers from all industries and backgrounds to apply there are some specific experiences which would be beneficial to the role:

• Direct experience in working on stand-alone software tools which drive advanced industrial capital equipment.
• Experience in working with software and firmware that is built on bespoke electronic architecture.
• Experience of materials testing, safety critical applications and industrial or automation products.
• Experience of working with international, multi-lingual teams, customers, and software products
• Experience in complete development, test, and release to market of complex software products.
• A flair for design, aesthetics, and the presentation of world class modern software tools.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Normal office & factory environment with limited physical discomfort due to temperature, noise & the like. 
• Travel expected approx. 25% (Europe & International Travel).
• Some lifting and handling will be required during customer product demonstrations and exhibitions.

This is an opportunity to join a successful team where you can make a significant impact.  Enjoy a competitive compensation and benefits package.

Instron is an equal opportunities employer.