VP Product Management / Industrial Automation

Railserve

As a part of the global industrial organization Marmon Holdings—which is backed by Berkshire Hathaway—you’ll be doing things that matter, leading at every level, and winning a better way. We’re committed to making a positive impact on the world, providing you with diverse learning and working opportunities, and fostering a culture where everyone’s empowered to be their best.

Vice President, Product Management / Railserve

Marmon Rail Group / Marmon Holdings / Berkshire Hathaway

Location - Houston area hybrid role with travel

Candidates already residing in the Houston market will receive priority consideration due to the executive leadership and cross-functional partnership requirements of the role.

Rail Technology | Industrial Automation | Houston, TX

Transform Industrial Technology in the Rail Industry

Railserve is seeking a strategic and commercially minded Vice President of Product Management to lead the productization, industrialization, deployment, customer support and lifecycle management of our next generation rail technology platforms, including YardGuard.

This is not a traditional software product leadership role. We are looking for a leader who has built and scaled technology products in demanding industrial environments where safety, reliability, asset utilization, field deployment, and operational performance are critical.

The ideal candidate comes from industries such as:

• Rail transportation
• Heavy Industrial Automation
• Oil & gas automation
• Mining technology
• Port and terminal operations
• Heavy manufacturing
• Material handling systems
• Industrial equipment and controls
• Connected industrial assets and IoT

Preference will be given to candidates with experience commercializing technology in field based industrial environments where reliability, safety, serviceability, and operational performance are critical.

What You'll Lead

You will build and scale the product organization responsible for transforming innovative technologies into reliable scalable products that can be manufactured, deployed, supported and successfully adopted by customers.

This includes:

• Product strategy, requirements, and portfolio management
• End-to-end project management of individual product initiatives
• Commercialization and go-to-market readiness
• Productization, industrialization and production readiness
• Deployment and field implementation
• Customer support, technical interface, and lifecycle services
• Product economics and business performance
• Cross-functional leadership across engineering, operations, commercial, and executive leadership teams

The successful candidate will bridge strategy and execution while building the discipline, organization, project management rigor, and operating model required to scale emerging technologies across Railserve and the broader rail market.

Who We Are Looking For

We seek a business builder who understands how to take industrial technologies from development through productization, deployment, customer support and scale.

Ideal Background

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in industrial technology, product management, automation, or related fields
• Proven success taking connected hardware, software, sensors, controls, automation, or industrial IoT solutions from development through productization and scaled deployment
• Strong product and project management capability, including requirements definition, stage-gate execution, risk management, and cross-functional delivery
• Experience building products for demanding field environments where reliability, serviceability and operational performance are critical
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional teams through product launch, deployment, customer support and lifecycle management
• Deep understanding of product economics, capital allocation, pricing strategy, and business case development

Preferred Industry Experience

Most preferred:

• Rail transportation
• Rail technology
• Rail operations
• Rail services

Relevant alternatives:

• Industrial automation
• Oil & gas operations technology
• Mining automation
• Process control systems
• Heavy equipment manufacturers
• Port and logistics automation
• Industrial safety technologies
• Connected asset monitoring platforms

Education

The strongest candidates will possess:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Systems, or related discipline)
• MBA strongly preferred
• Combination of technical credibility and executive business leadership

Location

Houston area strongly preferred.

Candidates already residing in the Houston market will receive priority consideration due to the executive leadership and cross-functional partnership requirements of the role.

Leadership Profile

You are:

• A commercially minded product leader rather than a pure technologist
• Comfortable working directly with customers and field operations
• Equally effective in the boardroom and in operating environments
• Experienced building organizations, processes, and capabilities from the ground up
• Skilled at balancing innovation, safety, quality, reliability, and financial performance
• Driven by solving real operational challenges through technology

If you've successfully taken industrial technologies from development through productization, deployment, customer support and scale in rail, industrial automation, or other field based industrial environments and are excited about building the next generation of rail technology solutions, we’d like to hear from you.

Following receipt of a conditional offer of employment, candidates will be required to complete additional job-related screening processes as permitted or required by applicable law.