JOB DESCRIPTION
Summary:
Opportunity for an experienced program manager with complete launch experience to join Adient.
Leadership:
The Senior Program Manager will lead the Simultaneous Development Team (SDT) and represent it in a professional way to the Customer and Adient management. Motivate the team to meet commitments to the established timing. Build team technically and personally through mentoring and coaching. Resolve conflicts between team members, departments and the customer. Negotiate with internal and external groups, vendors and the customer. Ability to identify the root cause of a problem, develop corrective action plans and lead the team to an effective resolution.
Simultaneous Development Team (SDT) Management:
Act as the central communication point for the SDT to ensure that each member is always aware of their deliverables and timing commitments. Establishes the SDT meeting cadence and monitors attendance to confirm the correct team members are present at each meeting. Creates agenda, schedules meetings, keeps the meeting on task and issues minutes. Provides team information needed to perform tasks and actively includes key suppliers as a member of the team.
Scope Management:
Communicate the impact of scope changes to the customer and SDT in a timely manner in terms of cost, timing, PD-3s, product, quality of execution and impact on the program. Publish and maintain the customer SOW and SSOWs and ensure all scope changes are captured in the documents. Manage the risk of engineering changes and keep management informed of significant changes and their effect on the program. Ensure that financial performance is protected and enhanced by customer driven engineering changes. Manages the overall change management process.
Financial Roadmap & Financial Reporting:
Schedules Finance SDT meetings once a month to ensure focus on financial performance. Meet the financial targets of the program and manages Financial Roadmap dates, actions and costs. Solid financial base to understand how to utilize the SDT to impact financial measures and the relationship between financial measures. Works closely with the Commercial team members to drive improved profitability.
Timing:
Effectively manages overall program timing for key program activities. Creates and manages open issues list that is clear and concise with due dates and deliverables. Leads the SDT in effective risk management techniques to ensure timing commitments are met (on time Gate exits).
Product:
Facilitates weekly change management meetings. Meets applicable product requirements including specifications, functional expectations and FMVSS requirements for any engineering changes. Supports manufacturing plant in resolving any product related issues. Works closely with engineering to bring VA/VE ideas to the customer.
Customer Satisfaction:
Fosters an effective personal working relationship with appropriate customer contacts. Maintains Adient and personal credibility with the customer. Recognized by the customer as a key contact for program oversight. Meets dates and commitments via customer open issues list which directs the team for prompt responses. Communicates with data for engineering changes with cost, quality and timing impacts. Gains internal consensus on engineering changes prior to communicating to the customer. Archives and retains key customer correspondence and documents. Maintains regular contact with the customer to communicate problems early. Does not avoid difficult issues or decisions. Understands the customer’s organization and procedures in detail.
Experience Required:
- Demonstrated leadership experience
- Five (5) years working experience in one or more of these areas:
Engineering
Manufacturing/Quality
Finance
- Five (5) years project management experience in one or more of the following areas:
Program Management
Engineering Management
Manufacturing Management/Quality Management
- 10 years of working experience in the Automotive Industry including at least one vehicle launch. Demonstrated knowledge of automotive design/launch process. Working knowledge of Program Management process and tools. Seating product and launch experience is a plus.
PRIMARY LOCATION
Central Tech Unit Plymouth MISkills Required
- Demonstrated leadership experience
- Five years of work experience in engineering, manufacturing/quality, or finance
- Five years of project management experience in program management, engineering management, manufacturing management, or quality management
- Ten years of work experience in the automotive industry
- At least one vehicle launch
- Knowledge of automotive design and launch processes
- Working knowledge of program management processes and tools
- Seating product and launch experience
Adient Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Adient and has not been reviewed or approved by Adient.
-
Retirement Support — A 401(k) with company matching contributions is highlighted, with corporate filings indicating ongoing employer match funding. This provides meaningful long-term savings support for U.S. employees.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid holidays and PTO/vacation are included, with indications that PTO levels compare favorably to some peers. Parental/family leave is also available in certain contexts.
-
Healthcare Strength — Core medical, dental, and vision coverage are offered alongside HSAs/FSAs and protection benefits such as life/AD&D. These elements establish a comprehensive baseline that strengthens the overall package.
Adient Insights
What We Do
Adient is a global leader in automotive seating. With approximately 77,000 employees in 32 countries, Adient operates 202 manufacturing/assembly plants worldwide. We produce and deliver automotive seating for all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat-making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design to engineering and manufacturing — and into more than 19 million vehicles every year.
