European Product Lead

At Honda we embrace inclusion in our various policies, so whilst our contracts state that the hours are as required to fulfil the role with a minimum of 35 hours per week, we offer flexibility for when you work.  The regular office hours are 08:00 – 16:00 Monday to Thursday with a half hour lunch break & 08:00 – 13:00 on a Friday.  However, we offer flexibility of when you work with our daily flex-time start of between 07:00 and 11:00 providing that there is no business requirement.

Whilst there is no contractual right to work from home, the flexibility we offer is that you can request to work from home for a maximum of 50% of the working days in any one month, again providing there is no business requirement to attend the office.

Role:
This role is responsible for the product management of European models to ensure the right product offering to compete in the European marketplace.

This role will focus on Hondas electrified line up management and planning covering all powertrain with specific focus on fully electrified models. Working with the key stakeholders across the Honda business in both Europe and Japan, this role’s objectives are to manage model lifecycle supporting product competitiveness and profitability goals.

This key role will also require involvement with all areas of the European business to successfully bring product to market, therefore you must be able to travel within Europe.

Main Responsibilities:

• Manage the product life cycle of a group of models from planning to market launch to realise Honda Motor Europe (HME) volume and price targets.
• Specify customer’s requirements for each model development.
• As Project leader, prepare and present evaluation report to HME top management at each key step of the model development flow including financial position for each model.
• Work closely with all key stakeholders involved in model development to champion customer voice.
• Conduct and manage market research and focus groups to understand customers’ acceptance of our products.
• Proactively maintain up to date comprehensive understanding of competitor product strategies and new trends across Europe.
• Manage information flow to European Branches and share the planning and status of model development in the European line-up.
• Understand European Automotive Certification and Regulation requirements and the impact on Honda’s product line up.
• Plan Pan-European events to share complete model information with key stakeholders in HME and Branches.

Qualifications, skills and experience:
Required

• Natural communicator and strong negotiator, able to build and maintain good relationships across all cultures and disciplines.
• Sales, product planning or other related experience in the automotive industry
• Extensive knowledge of the car market including full electric vehicles
• Comprehensive understanding & experience of Market research techniques and delivery.
• High level of numerical competence and strong attention to detail.
• Self-starter who can follow through proposals to implementation and then review the impact of such proposals. 
• Highly proficient PC skills (especially Excel and PowerPoint).  
• Outstanding planning skills and the ability to manage several diverse tasks at once, to be able to demonstrate delivery of tight deadlines. 
• Confident presentation skills on an individual and large group basis and negotiation skills on a 1-2-1 basis. 
• Demonstrate natural analytical inquisitiveness to further their understanding of a problem. Flexibility to work on multiple projects, prioritise responsibilities, and balance a varied workload. 

Desirable

• A keen interest in cars. 
• Experience of working in an international environment.
   

Honda is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in the workplace for all employees, temporary workers, contractors, applicants and visitors. Honda also encourages respect for the individual differences and talents of others while making full use of one's own abilities, based on Honda's philosophy of respect for the individual.

At Honda, we value and celebrate diversity and are committed to being a fair, non-discriminatory company that promotes and welcomes the uniqueness and differences of people around the world. We recognise that a diverse workforce allows for different ideas and perspectives, and we encourage everyone to share them. We strive to foster a culture of belonging that is consistent with Honda's core values and lived out in the way we work and respect each other. For us at Honda, diversifying our workforce means increasing its overall strength by providing people with equal opportunities - regardless of personal characteristics or previous careers.

This commitment flows directly from the Honda philosophy and the belief that we are all working towards a common goal. Honda recruits, hires, trains and promotes the most qualified/experienced individuals at all levels without regard to race, origin, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability or any other protected characteristic.