Director, Program Management Excellence

HARMAN International • Novi, MI

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

As Program Excellence Lead, you are responsible for strengthening the effectiveness of program execution across the Global Customer Group (GCG) by defining execution standards, ensuring consistent adoption, and intervening when delivery performance is at risk. You establish the standards that define what good program execution looks like, ensure those standards are applied across program portfolios, and engage directly in complex or high-risk delivery situations to restore stability and prevent escalation. Your impact is measured not only by the frameworks you define but by improved delivery outcomes across the program portfolio, including stronger program health, earlier risk identification, and reduction of RED programs. In partnership with Program Management, Quality, and Customer Group leadership, you act as the global authority for program execution standards, ensuring both preventative governance and hands-on intervention when required. You are part of the Customer Excellence organization and operate as the senior authority on program execution standards across the Global Customer Group. You lead through influence across Program Management, Quality / PMO, Customer Account Management (CAM), Engineering, Operations, and Finance, and act as a global escalation point for complex delivery execution challenges. Over time, the capability may expand to include regional program excellence resources embedded within customer groups to support local program teams and ensure consistent adoption of global execution standards.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Business, or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in automotive program management, product development, or delivery leadership roles
• Strong understanding of program lifecycle management, cross-functional program execution, and delivery risk management
• Proven ability to influence leaders across a global matrix organization and resolve complex delivery challenges
• Willingness to travel 30% of the time
• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and applicable screenings.
• Willing to work in an office in Novi, MI (Hybrid)

Nice To Haves

• Master’s Degree in Engineering or Business
• PMP certification
• Experience in complex automotive hardware and software product development programs
• Experience working across global customer portfolios and program organizations

Responsibilities

• Define and Institutionalize Program Execution Standards: Define the standards that describe how programs should be executed across HARMAN Automotive, including expectations for governance discipline, program health transparency, escalation timing, and leadership behaviors.
• Ensure standards are consistently adopted across customer groups and program portfolios.
• Ensure execution frameworks translate into measurable delivery improvements.
• Partner with Program Management leaders to embed standards into daily execution, identify systemic delivery gaps, and influence leadership decisions that improve program outcomes.
• Drive Adoption and Impact of Program Excellence Frameworks
• Monitor Program Health and Intervene in High-Risk Programs: Maintain visibility into program health across the portfolio and engage directly in programs facing elevated risk.
• Diagnose systemic execution issues, coordinate cross-functional recovery plans, and support leadership teams in restoring delivery stability before escalation occurs.
• Align Execution Governance with PLM and Quality Processes: Partner with Product Launch Quality (PLQ) and PMO teams to ensure alignment between PLM200 / PLM300 governance and execution practices. While Quality owns process compliance and audits, Program Excellence ensures execution effectiveness beyond process adherence.
• Drive Continuous Improvement Across Program Delivery: Capture lessons learned from delivery execution and translate them into improved standards, governance practices, and leadership expectations across the program portfolio.
• Ensure insights from program execution are systematically incorporated into pursuit, commercial, and program management practices.

Benefits

• Access to employee discounts on world-class Harman and Samsung products (JBL, HARMAN Kardon, AKG, etc.)
• Extensive training opportunities through our own HARMAN University
• Competitive wellness benefits
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Access to HARMAN Campus Fitness Center and Cafeteria
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees