Global Product Manager - Color

Global Product Manager – Color

The Global Product Manager (GPM) for Color serves as Axalta’s global leader for color strategy, dispersion development, and color portfolio execution across the Mobility business, while playing a pivotal influence role in other Axalta businesses such as Refinish and Industrial. The role restores global governance and strategic leadership for the Color function, provides structured oversight of the Axalta R&D Color Team, and ensures resources and investments match business priorities.

• Define and own Axalta’s global color strategy across Mobility, while providing strategic input to Refinish, Industrial, and other business units.
• Establish formal management processes for the Axalta R&D Color Team, including governance, project intake, resource planning, prioritization, and performance metrics.
• Ensure alignment between OEM color development and dispersion chemistry.
• Translate customer, design, and trend insights into actionable technical and commercial requirements.
• Guide the dispersion development strategy, ensuring dispersion technologies support color accuracy, durability, sustainability, and manufacturability across all segments.
• Create business cases and investment proposals for new dispersion platforms and upgrades.
• Partner closely with R&D to set clear performance, cost, and capability targets for dispersion roadmap programs.
• Own the full portfolio of global color and dispersion projects, ensuring resources are allocated to the highest-value initiatives.
• Lead cross‑functional alignment (R&D, Operations, Marketing, Product Management, Quality) to move projects through to completion on schedule.
• Monitor lifecycle performance of color technologies and guide strategic transitions across platforms.
• Lead the development and global rollout of Color of the Year, Color Trend Reports, and the Color Trend Show.
• Engage directly with OEM design studios, color designers, and value‑chain partners to represent Axalta’s vision and understand emerging color demands.
• Provide strategic color guidance to marketing, sales, and regional product teams for customer engagement and OEM RFQs.
• Act as the global integrator for color across Mobility, ensuring consistency, scalability, and alignment of color platforms and technologies.
• Partner with regions to understand local color trends, manufacturing constraints, and customer requirements.

Moderate global travel required for OEM engagement, VOC, color events, and regional alignment.

• Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, materials science, engineering, design, or a related technical field; advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years of experience in color science, dispersion chemistry, automotive color development, or pigment technologies.
• Demonstrated experience working with OEM color development, design studios, or coatings color platforms.
• Proven ability to define strategy, influence cross‑functional teams, and manage complex global project portfolios.
• Strong business acumen to build investment cases and link technical decisions to commercial value.
• Familiarity with Stage‑Gate or equivalent innovation governance methods.