Product Director
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Rancho Dominguez, CA
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Not specified
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 8+ years
- Category
- Not specified
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Experience: 8+ years of progressive leadership in engineering, design, NPI, or product development.
- Client Focus: Proven history managing senior stakeholder relationships, handling executive escalations, and delivering excellent CX.
- Leadership: Success building, mentoring, and managing high-performing teams, shaping culture, and resolving personnel challenges.
- Systems Builder: Ability to formalize and scale operating systems, processes, and cross-functional governance frameworks.
- Commercial Acumen: Experience negotiating major follow-on contracts, managing scope creep, and optimizing portfolio profitability.
- Communication: Strong written and verbal skills capable of bridging technical teams, corporate management, and client executives.
- Travel: Ability to travel domestically up to 20% of the time.
Nice to have
- Experience in complex hardware sectors (automotive, aerospace, robotics, autonomous systems, energy).
- Strong familiarity with engineering workflows, product lifecycles, and NPI complexities.
- PMP Certification or an MBA (or equivalent exposure to business cases and startup economics).
- Forward-thinking approach to integrating Gen AI tools into workflows to drive team efficiency.
- US Citizenship or Permanent Residency (due to export-controlled industries).
Full description
About the Role
Motivo is seeking a Product Director to lead a portfolio of complex engineering and product development programs. You will manage a team of direct-report Project and Product Managers to deliver creative solutions, cultivate deep client partnerships, and drive sustained business growth. As a member of the leadership team, you will also champion continuous improvement across Motivo’s people, processes, and tools. If you are a builder who thrives in ambiguity and can translate a big-picture vision into concrete, client-ready solutions, we want you on our team.
What You’ll Do
1. Client Management & Business Development (40%)
Success at Motivo starts with deep client empathy. We manage our projects to build long-term relationships, not short-term wins. We have a reputation for being just as dedicated to our clients’ missions as their internal team - going the extra mile to ensure they are successful.
- Relationship Management: Act as the senior escalation point across all engagements to ensure a top-tier client experience (CX).
- Client Strategy: Establish the strategic direction for business unit accounts, integrating market trends and client insights into long-term portfolio planning.
- Business Capture: Collaborate with Business Development to onboard new clients, and lead negotiations to close major follow-on contracts.
2. Organizational Leadership (30%)
The Product Director is a force-multiplier, leading a diverse team of professionals.
- Team Guidance & Mentorship: Structure, support, and mentor a team of 3–6 project and product managers, making key resource and project assignments.
- Personnel Management: Define staffing needs, set clear performance expectations, identify skill gaps, support development plans, and proactively resolve performance shortfalls.
- Process Optimization: Identify, document, and scale core PM processes and cross-functional tools to ensure continuous operational improvement.
- Corporate Citizenship: Cultivate an internal culture of collaboration while expanding Motivo’s external footprint through community and non-profit connections.
3. Project & Product Management Oversight (30%)
At Motivo, Project & Product management have overlapping but distinct responsibilities. Product Managers have a specific focus on helping clients define product features and development roadmaps, typically in early-phase engagements. The Project teams handle much of the day-to-day management during project execution. As the team lead, the Product Director is responsible for oversight, approvals and continuous improvement of the team’s project and product management functions.
- Planning & Execution: Oversee project planning complexities, approve PM estimates, and develop recovery strategies for major deviations or overruns.