AME Strategic Program Leader

Trane Italia•Davidson, NC

5d•$123,722 - $199,300•Hybrid

About The Position

The Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Strategic Program Leader is a critical, high-impact leadership role within the Advanced Manufacturing Engineering team. This position carries a unique, dual-focus mandate: actively driving strategic manufacturing network design, while orchestrating the end-to-end execution of complex footprint transformations and regional capital programs. The ideal candidate is a blend of a strategic operations thinker and a disciplined program integrator. You will partner closely with Business Units (BUs), Plant Leadership, and senior cross-functional executives to design optimized manufacturing networks and lead the implementation of multi-phase programs comprising multiple highly interdependent sub-projects. In this role, you will translate long-term operations strategy into structured, phased execution plans that ensure operational excellence, capital efficiency, and long-term business resilience across our manufacturing sites. Must be able to travel up to 30%.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Business, or a related technical discipline.
10+ years of progressive experience in manufacturing operations, industrial engineering, or supply chain.
Proven experience successfully coordinating multi-phase capital programs or transition initiatives, overseeing complex timelines and coordination across multiple manufacturing sites.
Ability to think holistically about long-term network architectures and challenge traditional assumptions around capacity, site selection, and operating models.
Mastery of program management methodologies for highly interdependent workstreams (critical path, resource smoothing, risk register management).
A collaborative leader who can seamlessly translate and align the distinct priorities of Finance, Procurement, HR, IT, Engineering, and Plant Operations around a single program goal.
Exceptional interpersonal and political savvy. Experience utilizing structured decision governance models to drive alignment across competing business units or functions.
Strong understanding of advanced manufacturing technologies (MES, PLM, automation levels) and how digital infrastructure integrates across a multi-plant network.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or MBA.
5+ years of direct leadership in manufacturing, operations strategy, or running complex capital/transformation programs within a highly matrixed industrial environment.

Responsibilities

Lead and contribute to the analytical framing, design, and continuous optimization of the Residential SBU manufacturing footprint. Rather than reacting to localized capacity gaps, this role proactively evaluates the 5-to-10-year network architecture (focused vs. flexible plants, centralized hubs vs. regional final assembly) to support business growth and margin objectives.
Serve as the single owner of the integration through-line for complex capital programs, facility start-ups, brownfield expansions, site consolidations, and strategic work transfers. You will ensure that these intricate transitions are executed seamlessly, mitigating risk and maintaining continuity for customer commitments.
Drive cross-functional teams through structured footprint and network evaluation processes, aligning corporate strategy with regional operational realities.
Partner with Commercial teams to align capacity plans with market demand forecasts, utilizing scenario modeling to ensure network assets are designed to withstand market volatility rather than single-point forecasts.
Help establish structural make-vs-buy, vertical integration, and factory specialization strategies. Balance the operational and financial trade-offs of centralized component manufacturing against regional localized final assembly.
Collaborate with Finance partners to co-author robust business cases, evaluating capital investment options against status-quo operational baselines while clearly quantifying strategic benefits (such as service-lead compression and supply-chain resilience).
Evaluate candidate regions and sites against critical external and internal criteria, including industrial policies, trade/tariff exposure, local labor depth, supplier ecosystem density, energy infrastructure, and local permitting timelines.
Provide master integration, schedule coordination, and financial oversight for complex footprint programs containing multiple highly interdependent, concurrent sub-projects (e.g., equipment relocation, regulatory approvals, site buildouts).
Implement disciplined phase-gate methodologies to sequence program milestones, managing capital expenditure risk and establishing clear demand/utilization triggers before releasing subsequent phases of capital.
Define and align clear program governance and program team operating structures among Business Unit leaders, corporate functions, and plant management to facilitate rapid, structured decision-making.
Translate complex, technical, and financial analyses into highly polished executive proposals. Pre-wire key stakeholders and present strategic options, financials, and phased roadmaps to Executive-level audiences.
Support cross-functional change management efforts during operational transitions, modernization programs, and technology integrations. Apply high organizational empathy to ensure clear communication, minimize team anxiety, support talent retention and development, and preserve valuable institutional knowledge.
Collaborate with advanced engineering teams to leverage standard engineering concepts—such as Design for Manufacturability/Assembly (DFM/DFA), FMEA, and Production Preparation Process (3P)—to optimize process layouts during network realignments.