Manager of New Product Development (51155)

Gradian Thermal Solutions•Maple Grove, MN

2d•$135,000 - $165,000•Onsite

About The Position

Gradian Thermal Solutions creates custom-engineered thermal management solutions for markets that thrive on flexibility, creativity, and bold ideas. From humble beginnings to becoming an emergent multi‑brand manufacturing leader, we’ve grown by bringing in great people and empowering them to do great work. At Gradian, we believe innovation happens when everyone contributes, diversity of thought is celebrated, and people feel supported in their growth. We take pride in working hard together—tackling challenges, solving problems, and having fun along the way. As we expand into both emerging and mission-critical industries, we stay committed to delivering efficient, competitive, and sustainable heating and cooling technologies. And throughout your career here, you’ll have the chance to directly shape the foundation for what's next in our industry. Position Summary As a people leader within a newly established department, this role is responsible for helping to establish and continuously improve customer-facing project management processes within Gradian Solutions, working closely with and reporting to the Senior Director, Program Management. The company is currently enjoying substantial revenue growth which is mainly driven by increasingly large orders from critical infrastructure projects, including data centers. These more complex customer jobs require a new level of sophistication in how the organization manages customer commitments and project milestones ranging from engineering development to delivery and commissioning at the customer’s site. In addition to supporting the operating norms of the new department, selecting, onboarding and coaching highly capable project managers will be critical to the team’s immediate contributions and long-term success within the broader organization.

Requirements

4+ years of project management experience in customer-facing roles, preferably in businesses producing large capital equipment
Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills.
2-3 years minimum of managerial or team lead experience required
Proven track record of leading cross-functional projects in an engineered products business
Proficiency in project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent) and ERP/MRP systems

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Project Management, Engineering, Business, or related field
MBA or advanced degree
PMP certification strongly preferred
Experience serving data center customers strongly preferred
Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes and supply chain logistics
Prior private equity company experience

Responsibilities

Support and continuously improve the Stage Gate and Deliverable Process. Gates and deliverables are already in place; your guidance will be valued to improve and mature the process over time, both for full NPD and tailored projects where fewer deliverables are required.
Lead team of project management professionals dedicated to on-time NPD deliveries within budget for key customer programs. Scale will reach +$10M in revenue and typically span 6-12 months.
Help deploy and reinforce project management processes, templates and tools appropriate to the development and delivery of semi-custom large capital equipment. Example process elements include stage gate reviews, project risk identification / mitigation, and design review checklists.
Build cross-functional trust and cooperation with colleagues in sales, engineering, procurement and operations through transparent status reporting and accountability to commitments.
The team will be responsible for Product Roadmaps, also called MGPP Multi Generation Product Plans while this NPD PMO role will be also to develop and execute MGTP Multi Generation Technical Plans and readiness metrics to pull forward Risk in our NPD stage gate process.
Help develop and maintain dashboards available to the entire organization for key performance indicators on customer projects.
Support the project prioritization framework so that all departments operate in alignment with clear priorities. Currently using a One List Process of Project Value in terms of Revenue and Cost to develop with Resources and Project Expenses.
Hire, mentor and develop project managers to maximize organization performance for their customers and prepare them for larger or more complex projects.
Participate in collaboration with other companies under Private Equity ownership to share best practices in project management, particularly in cases of having common customers.
Develop a continuous improvement mindset in project management by steadily evaluating processes and tools for potential enhancements to efficiency and effectiveness.
Escalate to the Senior Director any projects that are off track, over budget or otherwise needing attention for issue resolution.