The Project Manager will lead cross-functional project teams through the planning, execution, and closing of New Product Development (NPD) projects, facilitate cross-functional planning and continuous improvement events, and ensure adherence to the NPD process.

Job Responsibilities Project Leadership:

Lead between 5-12 projects of various scale & scope.

Scope Management:

Understand the project justification. Clarify project requirements & translate them into scope of work. Communicate & adhere to the established scope, mitigating scope change to limit project impact.

Schedule Management:

Facilitate creation of a cross-functional project schedule, define dependencies & manage the critical path. Communicate variances to baseline. Identify schedule improvement opportunities & drive them to realization.

Cost Management:

Compile cross-functional projects costs by gathering labor, development, and capital expense estimates. Monitor performance to baseline.

Risk & Issue Management:

Proactively identify project risks. Develop & manage mitigation plans. Escalate high impact risks appropriately & lead resolution of critical project issues to limit project impact.

Practitioner Expertise:

Demonstrate project management best practices (meeting cadences, communication, etc.) that improve team engagement & productivity through application.

Process Expertise:

Understand the NPD process & ensure projects comply through proper documentation & storage of process deliverables.

Prioritization:

Within projects, ensure tasks are sequenced based on dependencies & deadlines. Highlight priority conflicts across projects & coordinate with contributors to resolve.

Continuous Improvement:

Identify, propose, plan, & implement process updates & improvements.

Team Leadership:

Build strong cross-functional teams including Product Management, Engineering, Operations, Quality, & more.

Team Motivation & Development:

Encourage collaboration & open dialogue. Coordinate recognition & team-building.

Influence:

Use data, logic, & empathy to gain buy-in. Build trust-based relationships. Navigate resistance & facilitate consensus.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Coordinate communication across functions, escalating concerns or misalignment appropriately.

Conflict Resolution:

Identify the underlying causes of conflict & facilitate open & respectful discussions, arriving at resolution through shared understanding.

Mentorship:

Offer advice & encouragement to others. Share helpful resources and lessons learned.

Communication Facilitation:

Lead project planning events while ensuring balanced participation. Guide cross-functional teams in process improvement & mapping exercises.

Presenting:

Share project status & gate approval presentations to an executive audience, tailoring the message & reading the room for appropriate detail. Use effective visuals to support key points.

Reporting:

Provide both planned and ad hoc project updates, organizing content logically & concisely, highlighting key metrics & milestones, & ensuring consistency across formats. Other May perform other duties as assigned in support of team, departmental, and organizational goals. Education & Experience Bachelor's degree in a product development related discipline (Engineering, Marketing, Design); MBA preferred. Minimum 3-5 years of Project Management or Project Engineer experience. PMP Certification is desired. Stage-Gate / NPD / Lean Product Development Process Knowledge. Project Management Software Knowledge (Smartsheet or similar). Bachelor's degree in a product development related discipline (Engineering, Marketing, Design); MBA preferred. Minimum 3-5 years of Project Management or Project Engineer experience. PMP Certification is desired. Stage-Gate / NPD / Lean Product Development Process Knowledge. Project Management Software Knowledge (Smartsheet or similar).