Senior Manager, Competitive Intelligence & Product Teardowns, Printing & Imaging Solutions

HP's Print & Imaging business is looking for a Senior Manager to build and lead a world-class Competitive Intelligence (CI) function centered on physical product teardowns, technical benchmarking, market/positioning analysis, and sustainability benchmarking. This role sits within HP's Singapore Center of Excellence (COE) for Sustainability, reflecting the growing importance of environmental performance as a competitive differentiator in the printing and imaging category.

This person will own the strategy, operations, and output quality of a distributed CI lab network spanning Singapore, Bangalore, Vancouver, and Korea - turning raw competitive data (hardware teardowns, solutions analysis, cost analysis, feature/technology comparisons, carbon footprint and materials analysis) into decision-grade insights for product management, R&D, marketing, sustainability, and executive leadership.

This is a hybrid leadership role: part people manager, part technical program lead, part strategic and sustainability analyst. The ideal candidate has deep CI/teardown experience in a hardware or consumer electronics environment, a solid grasp of product sustainability and lifecycle assessment concepts, and is equally comfortable directing a physical teardown bench, evaluating a competitor's carbon and materials profile, and briefing senior executives on where HP stands versus Epson, Canon, Brother, and emerging players - on both technology and sustainability.

Key Responsibilities

Lab & Team Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 4+ direct and dotted line CI analysts, engineers, and lab technicians distributed across Singapore, Bangalore, Vancouver, and Korea

• Establish the CI lab as the recognized center of excellence and single source of truth for competitive product intelligence across the Print & Imaging business

• Set team priorities, workflows, and quality standards manage capacity across sites and time zones

• Recruit and develop talent with the technical, analytical, and AI-tooling skills the function needs going forward

Competitive Teardowns & Technical Analysis

• Direct physical and digital teardowns of competitor printers, cartridges/supplies, scanners, and multifunction devices (Epson, Canon, Brother, and adjacent entrants)

• Oversee cost modeling (BOM/should-cost analysis), mechanical and electrical architecture comparisons, and print-technology benchmarking (inkjet, laser, supplies/consumables economics)

• Translate teardown findings into structured comparisons of features, technology choices, manufacturing approach, and design trade-offs

Market & Product Positioning

• Analyze competitor product positioning, pricing, go-to-market strategy, and roadmap signals across consumer and SMB segments

• Partner with product management, marketing, and R&D to inform product strategy, pricing decisions, and differentiation claims

• Track industry trends, patent filings, and public disclosures to anticipate competitor moves

Sustainability Intelligence & Benchmarking

• Build out the CI lab's capability to assess the environmental footprint of competitor products alongside traditional technical teardown work, including estimating product carbon footprint (PCF), materials composition, recycled/recyclable content, and packaging impact

• Benchmark competitor sustainability attributes and claims - e.g., energy consumption/ratings, use of recycled plastics, cartridge take-back and refill programs, repairability and design-for-disassembly, and eco-label/certification positioning (ENERGY STAR, EPEAT, Blue Angel, etc.)

• Partner with Print Sustainability teams, Product Stewardship, and Environmental Compliance teams to align competitive benchmarking methodology with HP's own lifecycle assessment (LCA) and carbon accounting practices

• Track evolving sustainability regulations, disclosure requirements, and industry standards (e.g., EU Ecodesign, right-to-repair rules, extended producer responsibility) that affect competitive positioning in consumer and SMB markets

• Translate sustainability findings into insights that inform product design choices, marketing claims, and HP's sustainability roadmap

• Act as the connective tissue between the Singapore Sustainability COE and global CI/product teams, ensuring sustainability data is considered alongside cost, feature, and technology benchmarking in every major teardown

AI-Enabled CI Operations

• Modernize CI processes using AI/ML tools - e.g., automated document and patent scanning, AI-assisted image/spec extraction from teardowns, LLM-based synthesis of competitive reports, and predictive signal-tracking

• Evaluate and implement new tools/platforms that improve speed, consistency, and scale of CI output

• Build repeatable, semi-automated pipelines so insights reach stakeholders faster than traditional manual CI cycles allow

Program & Stakeholder Management

• Orchestrate CI activities and priorities consistently across four global sites, ensuring standardized methodology and comparable outputs regardless of location

• Manage relationships with external teardown/benchmarking vendors and labs as needed

• Deliver regular executive-level readouts, competitive briefings, and ad hoc deep dives

• Manage lab budget, equipment procurement, and vendor contracts

• Provide dedicated support to sales team for RFP's and RFQ's

What We're Looking For

Experience & Background

• 10+ years of experience in Competitive Intelligence, product teardown/benchmarking, or related technical market analysis roles, ideally within printing, imaging, consumer electronics, or hardware industries

• 5+ years of people management experience, including leading distributed/global teams

• Demonstrated experience running or overseeing a physical teardown lab or benchmarking function

• Strong understanding of printing technologies (inkjet, laser, supplies/consumables business models) is highly preferred broader consumer hardware experience also considered

• Working knowledge of product sustainability concepts - carbon footprint/LCA methodology, circular economy principles, materials science basics, and relevant eco-certifications - gained through direct sustainability work or close partnership with sustainability teams

Skills

• Strong technical fluency: mechanical/electrical systems, cost modeling (BOM/should-cost), reverse engineering methodology

• Working knowledge of how to apply AI/ML and automation tools to CI workflows (document analysis, image recognition, LLM-based synthesis, etc.)

• Excellent analytical and synthesis skills - able to turn dense technical findings into clear, actionable business insight

• Proven ability to manage cross-regional teams and align work across time zones and cultures (APAC and North America)

• Comfortable partnering with sustainability, compliance, and regulatory affairs teams able to speak credibly to both engineering and ESG audiences

• Strong executive communication and presentation skills

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, Industrial Design, Environmental Science, Business, or related field MBA or advanced technical/sustainability degree a plus