Overview
Product Manager Jobs in City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa at BYD South Africa
Title: Product Manager
Company: BYD South Africa
Location: City of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
About the Role
This Product Manager role is a core product position within the passenger vehicle R&D and product system of a leading Chinese OEM. The incumbent will be responsible for end-to-end passenger vehicle product planning, full lifecycle project management, market insight analysis, and product iteration optimization. You will closely cooperate with cross-functional teams including R&D, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and sales to define competitive vehicle product positioning, lead new car development and facelift upgrade projects, and drive continuous improvement of product market competitiveness and user experience. This role requires solid automotive industry experience, strategic product thinking, and excellent cross-departmental project delivery capabilities.
Job Responsibilities
1. Product Strategy & Vehicle Planning: Develop medium and long-term product strategies and annual implementation plans for passenger vehicles. Conduct in-depth domestic market research, user demand insight, segment market analysis, and full-scale competitor benchmarking. Analyze industry policies, technological trends, consumer preferences, enterprise production capacity and R&D resources to deliver market analysis reports, product opportunity assessments and vehicle iteration roadmaps, supporting overall product layout and corporate strategic objectives.
2. Product Definition & Solution Development: Lead product definition for new vehicle projects and facelift models. Take charge of vehicle configuration planning, feature development, exterior and interior optimization, pricing strategy and product differentiation positioning. Compile core technical documents including product specification sheets, competitor analysis reports, configuration schemes and pricing proposals to clarify product market positioning and core selling points.
3. Full Lifecycle Vehicle Project Management: Oversee the complete product lifecycle of passenger vehicles, covering project initiation, R&D development, prototyping, trial production, mass launch and subsequent iteration optimization. Collaborate cross-functionally with R&D, engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing teams to monitor project progress, ensure full implementation of product definitions, and guarantee on-time mass production and market launch.
4. Market Performance Review & Product Optimization: Continuously track terminal sales data, user feedback and market reputation. Conduct regular post-launch product reviews to identify market pain points and optimization opportunities. Develop annual facelift plans, configuration upgrades and functional iteration strategies to sustain and enhance product market competitiveness and user satisfaction.
5. Go-to-Market Strategy & Marketing Support: Partner with marketing, sales and brand teams to define core product selling points and differentiated advantages. Support the formulation of new vehicle launch strategies and terminal marketing plans, and provide professional product training and material support for brand promotion and channel sales operations.
6. Document Management & Compliance Audit: Manage, review and standardize all product-related documents, including technical manuals, marketing materials and training documents. Ensure full accuracy of vehicle parameters, configurations and functional descriptions, and guarantee all contents comply with national automotive regulations and corporate compliance standards. Iterate and update product training materials together with the training team.
7. Policy & Industry Standard Tracking: Continuously monitor updates of domestic automotive industry policies, new energy and intelligent vehicle regulations, and latest industrial technical standards. Adjust product planning and vehicle development schemes timely in response to policy changes to ensure product market adaptability and regulatory compliance.
Qualifications
1. Bachelor’s degree or above in Vehicle Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Design, Marketing, Business Administration or related disciplines.
2. Minimum 3 years of working experience in product planning, product definition or vehicle project management at domestic automotive OEMs with solid knowledge of passenger vehicle development procedures.
3. Proven end-to-end project experience in passenger vehicle development, from concept definition and R&D follow-up to mass production launch and market iteration. Experience in both ICE and new energy vehicle projects is highly preferred.
4. Strategic thinking with sharp market sensitivity. Capable of accurately capturing segment market trends, consumer demands and competitor dynamics, and independently delivering feasible product planning and iteration strategies.
5. Solid business acumen and data analysis capability. Familiar with automotive configuration strategies, pricing logic, cost accounting and revenue assessment, with practical experience in project budget control and profit evaluation.
6. In-depth understanding of domestic automotive industry regulations, market access standards, and technical specifications for intelligent and new energy vehicles; proficient in OEM product development and project management systems.
7. Proficient in Office software, project management tools and competitor analysis tools, with excellent capabilities in technical documentation writing, data analysis and scheme implementation.
8. Outstanding logical thinking, problem-solving and cross-departmental communication skills. Able to work under pressure and drive project delivery efficiently.
9. Language: Proficient in English for daily business reading and writing; fluent in Mandarin is preferred.