Product Delivery Manager

Pentair•Apex, NC

About The Position

Pentair is seeking a Manager, Product Delivery, to join its Apex, North Carolina team. The role builds and leads a high-performing project-management organization responsible for predictable execution across product development and lifecycle initiatives. It owns Product Delivery talent, standards, capacity, assignments, performance, and capability maturity, ensuring priority initiatives have project leaders, core teams, and functional owners. The manager partners across Product Management, Product Ownership and Experience, Solution Delivery, Hardware and IoT Engineering, Product Integrity, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Finance, Commercial teams, Service, and external partners. The role champions the hardware development lifecycle and integrates software delivery practices within a common governance model while preserving fit-for-purpose methods and functional accountability. During startup, the manager serves as a player-coach and may temporarily lead a strategic project. As the team matures, the position shifts toward people leadership, portfolio execution oversight, governance, and continuous improvement. The manager establishes integrated planning and portfolio controls, improves gate readiness and milestone predictability, provides decision-ready portfolio reporting, and develops project managers. The role also leads the integration of hardware and software governance practices and the execution and improvement of governance across partner-enabled programs. It uses approved AI, automation, analytics, and digital-thread practices to improve efficiency, data quality, traceability, and insight while maintaining human accountability. The manager makes team, assignment, and Product Delivery process decisions within the role’s authority, after seeking relevant stakeholder and strategy input.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or a related technical field; an additional five years of relevant experience may be considered instead of a degree.
At least 10 years of relevant project, program, engineering, manufacturing, operations, supply chain, or product-development experience, including at least 5 years leading complex cross-functional initiatives, PMO capabilities, or product-delivery organizations.
Direct people-management experience, including coaching, developing, assessing, recruiting, and retaining project-management talent.
Experience leading software-enabled hardware or complex industrial or consumer products involving hardware, embedded firmware, software, electronics, controls, connected features, manufacturing, or companion applications.
Experience integrating Product Management, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Finance, Commercial teams, and external partners across development, launch, and lifecycle execution.
Experience establishing or materially improving project governance, portfolio visibility, delivery standards, capacity management, or PMO operating practices with measurable results.
Experience working across hardware, software, stage-gate, agile, or hybrid development lifecycles and improving how teams define, plan, execute, monitor, and assure commitments.
Ownership of portfolio or project forecasts, budgets, CAPEX/OPEX, business-case assumptions, financial variances, and corrective actions.
Ability to influence senior leaders, lead globally distributed teams through ambiguity, and resolve complex cross-functional dependencies without relying solely on direct authority.
Strong written, verbal, facilitation, coaching, negotiation, and executive communication skills.
Lean Six Sigma certification or demonstrated impact leading Kaizen, value-stream, root-cause, or operational-excellence improvements.
Willingness and ability to travel 10–20% domestically and internationally based on operational needs.
Enterprise and systems thinking that connects strategy, customer value, product intent, engineering execution, partner readiness, manufacturing, launch, and lifecycle performance.
Ability to lead current commitments while establishing scalable people, processes, tools, measures, and governance.
Ability to surface issues early, frame options, recommend a path, and drive resolution with accountability and transparency.
Ability to set high standards, provide candid coaching, recognize potential, and create opportunities for capability progression.
Ability to balance decision authority with collaboration, stakeholder input, change-management discipline, and respect for functional ownership.
Comfort moving between portfolio strategy, organizational leadership, executive tradeoffs, project recovery, and detailed readiness evidence.
Curious, adaptable, data-driven approach and willingness to challenge inefficient practices constructively while maintaining sound governance and business continuity.

Nice To Haves

MBA, master’s degree, or advanced technical degree.
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Experience leading within a matrixed PMO, portfolio-governance, SAFe, multi-team solution-delivery, or organizational-transformation environment.
Experience establishing or improving JDM/ODM/OEM, contract-manufacturing, supplier-development, or external-partner governance.
Experience with medium- or high-volume manufacturing, consumer durables, electromechanical products, pool equipment, appliances, industrial machinery, or software-enabled hardware solutions.
Experience applying AI, workflow automation, analytics, or digital-thread capabilities within appropriate governance controls.
Experience with Microsoft 365, Jira, Confluence, PLM, ERP, advanced scheduling, and portfolio-management tools.

Responsibilities

Build, lead, coach, and develop the Product Delivery team, including recruiting talent, strengthening project-manager capabilities, setting role expectations, and creating development and succession plans.
Own Product Delivery capacity, assignments, standards, performance, and capability maturity across product development, sustainment, value engineering, quality and reliability, supply continuity, and partner-enabled programs.
Assign project managers based on initiative complexity, risk, business impact, individual strengths, and development needs; ensure priority projects have named leaders, core teams, and functional owners.
Establish and improve Product Delivery methods, templates, measures, decision rights, escalation thresholds, project-health criteria, and portfolio operating rhythms.
Set expectations for integrated planning and transparent controls covering scope, requirements, schedule, investment, resources, dependencies, risks, issues, assumptions, decisions, change, verification evidence, operational readiness, and business outcomes.
Improve commitment and milestone predictability by reviewing plans, challenging assumptions, monitoring dependencies, requiring recovery plans for at-risk commitments, and escalating decisions with options and recommendations.
Strengthen Define-gate and lifecycle-gate readiness by ensuring evidence, ownership, capacity, investment, risk, and execution assumptions support reliable commitments and informed decisions.
Partner with Solution Delivery and functional leaders to align product intent, product ownership, software and digital delivery, engineering execution, manufacturing readiness, commercialization, and lifecycle outcomes while retaining functional ownership.
Integrate hardware and software practices into a cohesive Product Delivery governance model, establishing measurable integration milestones and improving handoffs, synchronization, visibility, and accountability.
Co-lead the design and maturation of the partner-enabled operating model, then own project-governance execution, performance visibility, corrective-action follow-through, and continuous improvement across partner-enabled programs.
Provide concise, decision-ready portfolio reporting on commitments, milestones, risks, decisions, gate readiness, capacity, finances, dependencies, and value realization.
Coach project managers in stakeholder engagement, integrated planning, financial management, operational readiness, risk and decision management, executive communication, project recovery, and continuous improvement.
Consult relevant stakeholders before material changes to standards or governance, incorporating strategy, operational realities, and change-management considerations while retaining accountability for decisions within the role's authority.
Use approved AI, automation, analytics, and digital-thread practices to reduce administrative work, improve data quality and traceability, consolidate status, strengthen schedule and risk insight, and enable management by exception while maintaining human accountability.
Initially serve as a player-coach and, when required, personally lead a strategic initiative until staffing and transition plans are complete; progressively shift effort toward team, portfolio, and operating-system leadership.
Assign and prioritize Product Delivery resources across approved initiatives.
Require recovery plans and corrective actions for at-risk initiatives and recommend gate-readiness or continuation decisions to accountable governance bodies.
Make hiring, performance, development, and assignment decisions for the Product Delivery team.
Approve Product Delivery process improvements and recommend broader portfolio, governance, capacity, or organizational changes.