Senior Program Specialist

Caterpillar Inc.•Lafayette, IN

12d•$128,470 - $192,710•Onsite

About The Position

As a Senior Program Specialist, you will play a key role in advancing strategic business initiatives that support global capacity growth and operational excellence. This highly visible position partners with leaders across manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and operations to drive complex programs and deliver impactful business results. You will lead cross-functional efforts, provide executive-level reporting and insights, and help ensure critical initiatives remain aligned with organizational objectives. Success in this role requires strong program leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to influence stakeholders across multiple levels of the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management, Business, Engineering, Operations Management, Logistics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
Tactical/Strategic Planning: Extensive experience and knowledge of effective planning techniques and ability to contribute to operational (short term), tactical (1-2 years) and strategic (3-5 years) planning in support of the overall business plan.
Develops, refines, and communicates tactical plans for own responsibilities.
Provides the right level of detail as input for strategic plan development.
Demonstrates the value and necessity of linking tactical plans to overall strategic plan.
Ensures attention to the detail and dependencies of existing departmental-level plans.
Plans for allocation of resources in line with unit goals, technical and business objectives.
Ensures the planning process is integrated with the overall business plan.
Analytical Thinking: Extensive experience and knowledge of techniques and tools that promote effective analysis; ability to determine the root cause of organizational problems and create alternative solutions that resolve these problems.
Seeks discrepancies and inconsistencies in available information; explains variances.
Organizes and prioritizes the sequence of steps to be taken to remedy the situation.
Identifies many possible causes for a problem based on prior experience and current research.
Quantifies the costs, benefits, risks and chances for success before recommending a course of action.
Approaches a complex problem by breaking it down into its component parts.
Chooses among a diverse set of analytical tools according to the nature of the situation.
Flexibility and Adaptability: Extensive experience and knowledge of successful approaches and techniques for dealing with change; ability to adapt to a changing environment and be comfortable with change.
Creates processes with provisions to accommodate change.
Helps others adapt to changing environments and accept new situations.
Recovers from disappointments and setbacks.
Works effectively with unstructured teams, situations, or environments.
Leverages prior experience as a help towards handling changing situations.
Makes progress in an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty.
Influencing: Working knowledge of effective influencing tactics and strategies; ability to impact decisions within and outside own organization.
Develops basic persuasive arguments.
Discusses organizational culture around providing input on decisions.
Uses active listening skills and probing techniques to surface opportunities to influence.
Identifies who the decision makers are and how they receive information.
Regularly presents ideas or suggestions to associates in persuasive terms.
Relationship Management: Extensive experience and knowledge of relationship management techniques; ability to establish and maintain healthy working relationships with clients, vendors, and peers.
Communicates to clients regarding expectations of all parties.
Participates in negotiating the terms of the business relationship.
Conducts periodic reviews of work effort, progress, issues, and successes.
Maintains productive, long-term relationships with clients or vendors.
Creates opportunities to educate support teams on client priorities.
Empowers others to establish collaborative, healthy relationships.
Prior experience leading large-scale projects, programs, or business initiatives in a manufacturing: supply chain, logistics, operations, or related environment.
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence stakeholders without direct authority.
Experience developing and presenting recommendations, project updates, and business insights to leadership audiences.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make data-driven decisions.
Experience managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel and PowerPoint.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting large-scale capacity expansion, operational growth, or facility start-up initiatives.
Background in high-volume manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, or distribution operations.
Experience managing capital investment (CAPEX) projects or supporting major capital programs.
Demonstrated success communicating with executive leadership and presenting business recommendations to senior stakeholders.
Strong data analytics and data storytelling capabilities, including the ability to translate complex data into actionable business insights.
Experience utilizing business intelligence and reporting tools to support strategic decision-making.
PMP, Lean, Six Sigma, or other project/program management certifications.

Responsibilities

Lead and coordinate complex programs and projects that support strategic business objectives and global capacity growth initiatives.
Drive alignment across multiple facilities and cross-functional teams to ensure successful execution of project deliverables.
Manage project plans, timelines, risks, dependencies, and stakeholder communications.
Monitor program performance and progress, identifying risks and implementing mitigation strategies to keep initiatives on track.
Analyze operational and business data to develop insights, recommendations, and executive-level reporting.
Prepare and deliver presentations for senior leaders and executive stakeholders, translating complex information into clear business narratives.
Facilitate cross-functional problem-solving efforts and drive resolution of issues impacting project success.
Support long-range planning activities while balancing tactical execution and day-to-day program management responsibilities.
Ensure adherence to project management processes, governance standards, and reporting requirements.
Build strong partnerships across operations, supply chain, logistics, engineering, and other business functions to achieve program objectives.