Engineering Project Leader III

JOB DESCRIPTION

Position Summary:

Seeking an experienced project management professional with a mechanical engineering background to focus on NPD/VAVE/PLS (product line simplification) projects.  Who leads by example, and demonstrates the highest standards of Integrity, Commitment and Performance while building a team culture with an amplified level of accountability and sense of urgency. Assertive communicator and doesn’t hesitate to raise/escalate concerns in the interest of projects running on schedule.

Major Responsibilities:

• Lead 2 to 5 global NPD/VAVE/PLS projects of various scale and complexity, concurrently through structured stage gate process.
• Lead projects through entire development lifecycle (Ideation, market/customer study, investigation/feasibility, development, validation, launch and measure) using a structured Stage Gate process.
• Learn, practice and coach the application of the CFI (Customer Focused Innovation) process to prepare detailed project plans, facilitate Gate Exits and communicate project status.
• Identify, align, and manage the cross functional team to meet Stage Gate Exit commitment dates while ensuring adherence to Gate Exit Process, deliverable completion, and Gate Exit approval thresholds.  
• Leverage highly developed planning and organizational skills to assign individual responsibilities, develop and monitor scope, budget, resources, schedules, and risk mitigation plans to deliver committed milestones.
• Responsible for projects success and budgets while being the single point of contact within the business for the project.
• Actively communicate and mitigate issues before they impact the project.  Protect the critical path, escalate with urgency to remove obstacles, evaluate move forward options using opportunity cost and business metrics, and lead the corrective actions.
• An expert of indirect people management that provides a vision of success that motivates the team while collaborating across all departments to influence the supporting functions to achieve common goals.
• Lead problem solving (5 Whys, 8D, fishbone) and countermeasure development.
• Controls project work to align with the approved project scope.  Ensures scope change policies are enforced.
• Designs and deploys Visual Management to track project status and key metrics.  Utilizes multiple levels of planning and management tools to reinforce accountability and clarify individual ownership.

Required Education / Experience / Skills:

• Bachelor’s Degree in engineering (Mechanical or similar discipline)
• PMP Certification with Project Management Institute (PMI), preferred.
• 8+ years’ experience in leading NPD/VAVE/PLS projects for industrial products like couplings, bearings, gearboxes,  pumps, turbines, clutches, brakes etc.  
• Experience in leading projects independently, working closely with various stakeholders such as marketing/product management, operations, supply chain, engineering for various activities such as market analysis, voice of customer, ideation, feasibility analysis, business case, product design & development, validation and launch.
• Experience in a global/multinational company is preferred.
• Ability to apply financial and business acumen to daily decisions.
• An effective communicator within all the levels of the organization (written and verbal) that enjoys challenges in a fast paced and dynamic environment.  
• Experience with schedule tool MS Project (and others), proficient with the MS Office package.
• Experience with APQP, Design for Lean Six Sigma, waterfall and/or agile project management.
• Experience with DFMEA, DFM&A and Concept Selection tools is a plus.

Travel:

• Regional or global, less than 10%.

Language:

• Primarily English. Other Indian, European or Asian languages could be beneficial to work with people from those regions on any of the projects.