Vice President, Category Management

Position Overview

The Vice President of Category Management is a key member of Mercury’s leadership team, responsible for setting and executing the global product strategy to drive organic and inorganic growth and extend the brand’s leading position. This role leads the Category Management team and owns the product planning operating rhythm—translating customer insights and market dynamics into strategy, a prioritized roadmap, and a high-impact innovation pipeline.

Essential Functions

• Lead development of the global Propulsion portfolio strategy, including segmentation, value proposition, and investment prioritization aligned to Mercury’s Product Leadership Pillar.
• Own category-level business outcomes in partnership with Commercial and Finance—driving share, net sales, mix, and margin through portfolio and lifecycle management.
• Translate global customer, channel, and competitive insights into product strategy and multi-year roadmap; identify white-space opportunities and disruptive innovation bets.
• Lead the global new product planning operating rhythm, governance, and decision forums; ensure resource focus and trade-offs are clear, timely, and aligned to enterprise priorities.
• Own portfolio decision rights for investment prioritization and major product/technology bets—recommending trade-offs and securing approvals through the appropriate leadership governance forums.
• Partner with Product Development & Engineering (PD&E) to shape platform and technology roadmaps, define requirements, and ensure alignment from concept through launch readiness.
• Lead end-to-end launch excellence—ensuring new products deliver on-time, on-budget, and with maximum marketplace impact through coordinated readiness across Sales, Marketing, Service, and Operations.
• Operate effectively across Mercury functions without direct authority—aligning stakeholders, resolving trade-offs, and driving decisions that improve speed, quality, and accountability.
• Partner with strategy and business development to identify, evaluate, and integrate inorganic growth opportunities (M&A, partnerships) that accelerate the long-range plan.
• Serve as an executive customer-facing leader—engaging key OEMs, dealers, and end users to validate strategy, inform requirements, and strengthen commercial partnerships.
• Lead portfolio response to market shifts, regulatory changes, and cost/margin opportunities; drive simplification and value engineering initiatives that strengthen competitiveness.
• Lead portfolio input to the long-range plan and annual operating plan (AOP), including investment governance, capacity/constraint alignment, and scenario planning.
• Create and manage category performance KPIs and dashboards; lead quarterly business reviews and continuous improvement actions to deliver commitments.
• Own the enterprise narrative for the Propulsion portfolio—preparing executive-ready updates, recommendations, and materials for leadership reviews and strategic planning cycles.
• Identify and manage portfolio risks (quality, regulatory, supply, and reputational) in partnership with Operations, Quality, Legal, and Compliance; ensure timely escalation and mitigation plans.
• Build and develop an enterprise-ready bench—attracting, developing, and retaining top talent; strengthen succession for future general manager and functional leadership roles.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in category management, product management, strategy, or general management, including leadership of multi-disciplinary teams in a matrixed environment.
• Proven track record building and executing portfolio strategies that deliver category outcomes (share, sales, margin), including lifecycle management and investment prioritization.
• Strong financial acumen with experience using P&L, ROI, and business cases to drive trade-offs and resource allocation decisions.
• Expertise translating customer, channel, and competitive insights into product strategy and a multi-year roadmap; ability to synthesize complex data into clear, fact-based narratives for executives.
• Demonstrated ability to influence outcomes without direct authority across Product Development & Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Service.
• Experience leading innovation and launch programs, including defining requirements, setting go-to-market readiness criteria, and driving cross-functional execution.
• Executive-level communication skills with comfort presenting to senior leadership, including Board of Directors, and facilitating decision forums that resolve trade-offs.
• Demonstrated thought leadership on enterprise-level business strategy; exposure to inorganic growth (M&A and partnerships) including diligence support and/or integration leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or other advanced degree.
• Marine, recreational boating, or adjacent durable-goods industry experience.