Product Manager

About the Role

This is a custom packaging role focused on working directly with FMCG customers to transform packaging requirements into profitable, scalable products. You will own the QuikSpread, Ultrakan, and Edgeprep (paper dairy containers) product lines—custom, technically demanding solutions built around specific customers. The role involves helping FMCG brands transition from plastic to fiber packaging while owning the P&L for the resulting products.

Purpose

• Define product, customer, and pricing strategy for the Custom Packaging product lines.
• Own the product line P&L and deliver against corporate sales and profit targets annually.
• Lead new product launches and new business onboarding from concept through commercialization.

Responsibilities

• Translate customer specifications into manufacturable, profitable products while defending margins when cost drivers shift.
• Develop deep expertise in key FMCG customers’ go-to-market strategies, work processes, and competitive environments.
• Maintain expert knowledge of raw material markets, distribution scenarios, packaging formats, and cost drivers for fiber-based custom packaging.
• Track sustainability and regulatory pressures (including EPR) shaping customer packaging decisions and translate them into product opportunities.
• Formulate product, promotional, customer, and pricing strategies to optimize asset utilization and profitability.
• Hold direct accountability for product line P&L and contribute to financial metric development and tracking.
• Manage pricing directly with customers to meet profitability targets and ensure fair practices.
• Provide clear direction to cross-functional teams (Technology & Development, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, Commercialization) to deliver projects accurately, on time, and within budget.
• Partner with Sales and Sales & Operations Planning on demand forecasts, market intelligence, and capacity planning.
• Act as an advocate for the Sales team—responsive, technically credible, and present when customer issues arise.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, finance, engineering, packaging science, operations management, or equivalent.
• Experience in product management, packaging development, technical sales, operations, or project management in a manufacturing or B2B context.
• Demonstrated commercial ownership, including pricing, margin, or P&L responsibility for a product, line, or account.
• Ability to develop persuasive presentations for senior management, stakeholders, and customers.
• Willingness to travel up to 30%, including customer sites and manufacturing plants.
• Proficiency with MS Office 365 products, including MS Teams.

Preferred Skills

• Working knowledge of paperboard, fiber-based, or converted packaging—how it is made and process limitations.
• Experience working with FMCG/CPG customers on custom or bespoke packaging.
• Track record of launching new products or onboarding new business from concept to first commercial run.
• Familiarity with sustainability and regulatory trends reshaping packaging (EPR, recyclability, plastic-to-fiber conversion).
• Problem-solving mindset—someone others turn to when a launch is stuck.

Work Environment

Office-based role with controlled climate conditions; hybrid work schedule with regular travel to customer sites and manufacturing facilities. Commitment to Huhtamaki’s values—Care, Dare, Deliver—and ethical standards. Travel requirement: up to 30%.

Fit for the Role

You are likely a strong fit if:

• You are energized by technical packaging challenges and want to understand how products are made, not just positioned.
• You prefer owning a P&L over contributing to someone else’s.
• You can hold technical conversations with engineers in the morning and commercial discussions with customers in the afternoon.

This role is probably not for you if:

• Your product management experience is primarily in brand marketing (advertising, consumer promotion, agency management, merchandising).
• You prefer working from a predefined roadmap; custom work rarely arrives with a plan.