Engineering Program Manager

J H Fletcher & Co•Huntington, WV

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Engineering Program Manager plans, directs, and drives execution of J.H. Fletcher & Co.'s engineering project portfolio, including new product development, machine modernizations, customer-specific designs, and engineering systems implementations. Working as an extension of the Vice President of Engineering, this position sets project priorities and schedules, coordinates engineering work with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Field Service, Sales, and Information Technology, and resolves cross-departmental issues that delay engineering delivery. The position owns the engineering schedule and partners with the Master Scheduler, Inside Sales Manager, and Global Supply Chain Manager, each of whom owns their own part of the order-to-delivery process. It serves as the Engineering Program Management Office for the company by establishing how engineering projects are planned, tracked, and reported, and is accountable for completing engineering work on time. The position does not make final technical design decisions; those remain with Engineering leadership and discipline engineers. It is responsible for the plan, priorities, schedule, and cross-functional execution that turn design decisions into delivered results. The role works in an office, with regular time on the manufacturing floor and occasional visits to customer sites, potentially including industrial and underground mine sites. Occasional travel of up to 10% is required. Additional hours may be needed to meet project deadlines.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Information Systems, or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience managing complex projects or programs with cross-functional teams.
Demonstrated ability to plan, prioritize, and deliver multiple concurrent projects.
Ability to lead and influence without direct authority.
Sound judgment in weighing trade-offs among schedule, scope, cost, and risk.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including communication with executives and shop floor personnel.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and project management tools such as Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, or Planner.
Working knowledge of Agile/Scrum and traditional stage-gate project methods.
Ability to manage multiple priorities and shift focus quickly.
Strong organizational and time-management skills.
Capacity for strategic thinking and planning.
Problem-solving skills and decision-making ability.
Ability to understand and communicate technical information.
Capacity to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
Ability to work at a computer for extended periods and walk the shop floor and participate in meetings and presentations.
Ability to perform the essential functions satisfactorily, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Nice To Haves

Experience in manufacturing, heavy equipment, mining equipment, or industrial products.
Experience with new product development, ERP, PLM, or engineering software implementations.
Experience leading process improvement or organizational change initiatives.
Master's degree, MBA, or related field.
PMP, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Certified ScrumMaster, or similar certification.

Responsibilities

Build and own the engineering project portfolio, including project scope, objectives, milestones, resource needs, and dependencies.
Recommend project priorities, sequencing, and resource allocation to the Vice President of Engineering based on business value, customer commitments, capacity, and risk.
Evaluate new project requests and recommend whether to accept, defer, or decline them and on what terms.
Maintain a current, unified view of engineering work for leadership decision-making.
Develop project plans and schedules, and establish milestones and deliverables with project teams.
Monitor progress against plans, analyze schedule variance, and determine corrective actions.
Identify risks and bottlenecks early and develop mitigation plans.
Escalate significant schedule, scope, cost, or resource issues to the Vice President of Engineering with a recommended course of action.
Lead cross-functional project teams from concept through design, procurement, manufacturing, testing, release, and field deployment.
Negotiate engineering commitments and handoffs with other departments, including Field Service and Information Technology.
Resolve conflicts over engineering priorities or resources and escalate issues that cannot be resolved at the project level.
Hold project team members accountable for commitments and action items.
Commit engineering release dates for drawings, bills of material, and long-lead item lists, and communicate them to the Master Scheduler.
Maintain a shared list of engineering release dates and notify the Master Scheduler promptly when a release is at risk.
Meet with the Master Scheduler at least weekly to review upcoming releases, schedule slips, and long-lead items.
Provide engineering lead times, design scope, and engineering status for quotes and customer orders requiring custom or modified engineering.
Review incoming orders with engineering content with the Inside Sales Manager to confirm requirements are complete before work begins.
Notify the Inside Sales Manager promptly when an engineering delay could affect a customer commitment, and track customer-requested engineering changes and their schedule impact.
Provide long-lead item lists and engineering release dates early enough to support sourcing and purchasing.
Incorporate supplier lead times and sourcing constraints into engineering project schedules.
Coordinate engineering input on component substitutions, supplier qualification, and obsolescence issues; notify the Global Supply Chain Manager of design changes affecting parts on order or in inventory.
Design, implement, and continuously improve Engineering project management practices, including intake, planning, status reporting, stage reviews, and project close-out.
Lead engineering systems, software, and process improvement initiatives, such as electrical design software deployment and product development process improvements.
Analyze recurring causes of delay and recommend changes to workflows, handoffs, or organizational practices.
Select and administer Engineering project management tools, such as Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, and Planner.
Prepare portfolio dashboards, status reports, and executive summaries for Engineering leadership and company executives.
Facilitate project kickoffs, stage-gate reviews, planning sessions, and retrospectives.
Support company strategic planning activities as assigned by the Vice President of Engineering or President, including preparing materials and facilitating sessions.
Comply with safety guidelines and regulations, complete additional training as directed, and perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.