Program Manager

Job Description:

The Program Manager for New Product Development (NPD) provides strategic leadership and hands-on orchestration of complex, cross-functional, system-level engineering programs that span hardware, controls, software and manufacturing domains from concept through commercialization. This leader builds and manages integrated program plans across all functions to deliver innovative solutions that meet the highest safety, quality, cost, customer value and overall business impact. The Program Manager fosters collaboration, innovation and learning across functions and drives execution through schedule integrity (capacity planning, critical path), proactively identifies and mitigates risks, ensures manufacturing and supplier readiness, and facilitates governance using New Product Development process and the appropriate Waterfall/Agile/Hybrid methods. Additionally, the Program Manager will help evolve and shape NPD process to scale appropriately for the various types of NPD projects and business needs while driving consistent adoption through the NPD stakeholder community. The Program Manager integrates systems thinking, data-driven decision-making, and an iterative approach to accelerate value delivery and build a culture of transparency and continuous improvement.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Partner with the business unit leadership team to execute prioritized complex, multi-disciplinary New Product Development programs to deliver target safety, quality, cost, customer value and overall business impact.
• Ensure alignment on requirements (VOC), product/feature scope and acceptance criteria.
• Apply systems engineering management principles to ensure integration across mechanical, controls, electrical, and software disciplines.
• Facilitate business and technical trade-offs to protect customer value; escalate issues with data, options and recommendations.
• Act as a connector between strategy and execution, aligning engineering, product, and business roadmaps.
• Provide thought leadership on program management best practices and emerging trends and supporting technologies in the field.
• Support business unit annual capacity planning to help determine next fiscal year roadmaps and strategic plans.
• Aligned with the business unit strategy and roadmap, build and maintain integrated program plans across Product Management, Engineering, Marketing, Quality, Distribution, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Applications, Service, IT, HR, Legal/IP and Finance.
• Own the integrated program plan with explicit dependencies, resource loading and a continuously maintained critical path.
• Establish and manage scope/schedule/cost baselines with formal change control.
• Maintain a living schedule risk analysis with scenario planning; create what-if plans and recovery paths.
• Operate within New Product Development process; scale the process as appropriate for the scope of each program; prepare and run program reviews (core team, stakeholder updates, stage gates with clear entry/exit criteria), documented decisions and follow-ups.
• Champion and continuously improve New Product Development stage gate process across all functions with ongoing training, standard tools/templates, and best practice sharing.
• Blend Waterfall/Agile/Hybrid appropriately across hardware and embedded/software components; ensure traceability from requirements to test/validation.
• Identify and eliminate systemic bottlenecks that limit innovation or cross-functional efficiency.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field from an accredited 4-year university.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
• 5–10 years’ experience leading complex new product development and system-level programs for industrial/electro-mechanical products or integrated controls-software offerings from concept through launch, with expertise in critical path, dependency mapping and integrated cross-functional planning.
• 3–5 years’ experience in a senior role within similar role with oversight of strategic direction or project management across an organization.
• Demonstrated success in managing cross-functional hardware, software and service programs with manufacturing and supply chain integration in a matrix-based organization.
• Experience operating within a stage-gate or milestone NPD process; familiarity with DFM, FMEA, V&V, pilot builds and commercialization.
• Proven track record delivering on schedule and business case with rigorous risk management and change control.
• Exceptional communication, facilitation and stakeholder alignment skills.
• Strong experience in managing relationships, facilitating discussions and resolving conflicts with senior leadership, business leaders and other key stakeholders, with the ability to influence decision-making and drive alignment across an organization.
• Experience in manufacturing and sales/industrial equipment industries.
• Experience with loading dock equipment, industrial doors, safety barriers, industrial fans and other material-handling/in-plant safety equipment.
• Experience with Jama, Jira and Confluence management tools.