Project Leader

ASSA ABLOY•Lake Forest, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Lead and coordinate New Product Introduction (NPI) projects in a global, finish goods sourcing, supplier‑led manufacturing environment. Drive cross‑functional alignment, execution discipline, and launch readiness by proactively managing schedules, risks, and interdependencies across Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Sourcing, Quality, Supply Chain, and external manufacturing partners to ensure new products meet cost, quality, and timing objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business or technical field (Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain).
3+ years of combined manufacturing, engineering, operations, sourcing, purchasing, with proven negotiating skills.
3+ years of experience supporting New Product Introduction projects.
Project management experience with medium-to-large projects.
Experience working with external manufacturing suppliers and understanding production metrics, capacity planning and issues resolution.
Strong cross‑functional leadership and influence in a matrixed, global environment.
Proactive problem identification and structured risk assessment.
Clear, concise communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to thrive in ambiguity and drive execution without direct authority.
Proficient with Microsoft applications, especially Project, Word, Excel and Outlook.

Nice To Haves

Certified Purchasing Manager (CPSM] Certificate or Project Management (PMP] Certificate also desirable.
Exposure to manufacturing processes such as die casting, injection molding, CNC machining, stamping, forging, automated assembly, and metal finishing is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead approximately 6–8 concurrent NPI projects at varying stages of development, balancing priorities, risks, and resource constraints.
Serve as the primary integration point across Manufacturing Suppliers, Engineering, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, Sales and Marketing throughout development and launch.
Drive adherence to the global new product roadmaps, milestone governance, and launch readiness requirements through standard NPI forums and product development reviews.
Partner with external manufacturing suppliers and internal stakeholders to assess and validate manufacturing readiness, including process capability, tooling status, capacity planning, and launch feasibility.
Proactively identify, assess, and escalate schedule, cost, quality, and supplier‑related risks; drive mitigation plans with accountable functional owners.
Maintain clear, consistent project communication with cross‑functional teams and supplier partners regarding status, risks, key decisions, and escalation needs.
Track and communicate overall project health across capital funding, cost, quality, timing, and risk metrics; support data‑driven decision making at senior leadership reviews.
Support execution discipline across NPI projects while operating within a matrixed organization where functional ownership resides with Engineering, Sourcing, Quality, and Operations.
Activity definition, sequencing, duration estimating; schedule development and control.
Develop and maintain an overall plan of all activities. Monitor progress against this plan and drive any necessary contingency plans to meet project objectives.
Resource planning; Cost estimating, budgeting and control.
Develop all needed manufacturing capital plans. Assure unit cost estimates are realistic and accurate. Track and control projects to allocated budgets.
Capital and Expense plan ownership.
Communications planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure.
Keep organization appraised of project status through concise reporting methods, especially at monthly Product Development Reviews (PDRs).
Procurement planning; Solicitation planning; Solicitation; Source selection; Contract administration and close out.
Assure parts logistics network is as simplified as possible and aligned with Plumbing Operational strategy. Coordinate with Sourcing team to assure an understanding of project scope and ownership of sourcing plans.
Project plan development, execution and overall change control.
Develop and execute detailed project plans including the various plant and distribution centers. Manage changes that arise during the project.
Project initiation: scope planning, definition, verification and change control.
Clarify the original expectations of each project with impacted plants. Obtain their buy-in. Assure that any changes to this scope are understood and accepted by all impacted groups.
Quality planning, assurance and control.
Coordinate with Quality team to assure an understanding of project scope and ownership of quality plans.
Risk identification, quantification, response development and response control.
Understand manufacturing capabilities and develop contingency plans against likely faults. Monitor project progress and implement contingency measures to control project timing, quality and cost to agreed levels.