Manager/Senior Manager, New Product Development, Discovery (Gateway Services)

About Us

Headquartered in Singapore, SATS Ltd. is one of the world's largest providers of air cargo handling services and Asia's leading airline caterer. SATS Gateway Services provides airfreight and ground handling services including passenger services, ramp and baggage handling, aviation security services, aircraft cleaning and aviation laundry. SATS Food Solutions serves airlines and institutions, and operates central kitchens with large-scale food production and distribution capabilities for a wide range of cuisines.

SATS is present in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, powering an interconnected world of trade, travel and taste. Following the acquisition of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in 2023, the combined SATS and WFS network operates over 215 stations in 27 countries. These cover trade routes responsible for more than 50% of global air cargo volume. SATS has been listed on the Singapore Exchange since May 2000. For more information, please visit www.sats.com.sg

Why Join Us

At SATS, people are our greatest asset and we build our success on the knowledge, expertise and performance of every contributor, by embracing diversity and uniqueness. As part of our holistic approach and commitment to embracing FAM (Fulfilling, Appreciated, Meaningful) in the workplace, we offer the runway to develop Fulfilling careers that foster your career growth, recognising and Appreciating the strength of talent and capabilities that we continue to build internally and inspiring and encouraging each other to make Meaningful contributions in the work we do at SATS.

About SATS New Product Development for Gateway Services

SATS is strengthening its new global New Product Development (NPD) capability focused on identifying, validating and commercialising new growth opportunities across our network. Operating at the intersection of product innovation, enterprise transformation and commercial strategy, the NPD team partners across Commercial, Operations, Technology and Finance to develop new service offerings that strengthen SATS's long-term competitive position.

The team is intentionally lean, senior and execution-focused. AI-enabled ways of working are embedded into daily operations to improve the speed, quality and efficiency of research, analysis and decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

This role is positioned at the forefront of the SATS New Product Development team. As a Senior Manager, you will identify customer pain points, uncover emerging market opportunities, and translate insights into validated product concepts through rapid experimentation and commercial evaluation.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with customers, commercial teams and operational stakeholders across Cargo Handling, Ground Handling and the broader logistics ecosystem to build and test new service concepts. Your focus will be advancing opportunities from early-stage exploration through pilot validation, before transitioning successful initiatives to the scaling and commercialisation team.

This position is best suited for a commercially driven product leader with deep knowledge of logistics operations, the ability to thrive in ambiguous environments and a passion for developing new capabilities within a large enterprise setting.

Customer & Market Discovery

• Build and maintain a structured view of customer needs, operational pain points and emerging opportunities across Cargo & Logistics and related service areas
• Engage directly with customers, partners and internal stakeholders to identify unmet needs and commercial whitespace
• Maintain a live pipeline of ideas and opportunities, ensuring concepts are properly assessed and prioritised
• Use AI-enabled tools to accelerate market research, trend analysis and competitive benchmarking
• Explore grants, subsidies, strategic partnerships and co-funding opportunities that can reduce upfront investment requirements for piloting and experimentation

Product Validation & Piloting

• Translate customer and market insights into testable product hypotheses
• Design and execute pilots and proof-of-concept initiatives with clear commercial and operational success criteria
• Rapidly iterate concepts based on customer feedback, operational learnings and commercial viability
• Apply a disciplined fail-fast approach where concepts that do not demonstrate sufficient strategic or commercial potential are stopped early and resources redirected
• Assess opportunities across strategic fit, market attractiveness, differentiation and scalability
• Document learnings and prepare validated concepts for transition into scaling and launch

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Commercial, Operations, Technology and Finance teams throughout the validation process
• Surface operational constraints and implementation risks early in the development cycle
• Collaborate closely with the Scaling & Commercialisation lead and Senior Programme Manager to ensure smooth transition of validated concepts and continuity of commercial, operational and customer context
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the SATS NPD operating model and innovation capability
• Support development of thought leadership internally and externally through participation in industry events, customer workshops and strategic discussions

Key Requirements

• With more than 10 years of relevant experience across product development, solution design, customer engagement, logistics operations, cargo, freight forwarding, e-commerce logistics or commercial roles.
• Proven track record in designing and executing pilots, proof-of-concepts or new service initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of Cargo Handling, Ground Handling and Logistics operational environments, including customer workflows.
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous professional development through industry engagement, conferences, certifications and training.
• Relevant experience working within complex, cross-functional organisations is preferred.

Key skills and competencies for a strong potential candidate include:

• Strong customer discovery and problem-solving capabilities.
• Commercially grounded, with the ability to evaluate viability, scalability, and potential for value creation.
• Ability to rapidly progress from insight to hypothesis to execution.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments and adept at creating structures where necessary.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills across operational and commercial teams
• Practical fluency with AI tools and willingness to adopt AI-enabled ways of working as a core part of the role
• Demonstrates resilience and a growth mindset in navigating complex environments.