Senior Project Manager, Product Development
About The Position
The Senior Project Manager leads cross-functional new product development projects from initiation through production launch and project closure. The position works closely with Product Management, Engineering, Industrial Design, Quality, Regulatory, Sourcing, and Manufacturing teams to execute product development objectives. It requires understanding engineering and product development processes, coordinating technical activities, anticipating challenges, managing risks, and driving problem-solving across geographically distributed teams. The role goes beyond project tracking by proactively identifying obstacles, facilitating decisions, and maintaining accountability. Activities are guided by the priorities of product safety, product quality, and operational efficiency, in that order. The role manages concurrent projects, schedules, milestones, deliverables, budgets, and dependencies; coordinates domestic and international teams; and maintains project documentation, forecasts, and status reports. It also coordinates technical development activities such as design reviews, prototyping, testing, tooling, validation, and manufacturing readiness. The Senior Project Manager identifies and mitigates risks, ensures required reviews and approvals are included in project plans, facilitates collaboration with teams in China, and supports improvements to development processes and project execution.
Requirements
- Minimum 5–7 years of experience in product development, engineering, or technical project management.
- Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional product development projects involving engineering, tooling, testing, and manufacturing.
- Strong technical aptitude and ability to understand complex engineering and manufacturing challenges.
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive results without direct reporting authority.
- Strong analytical thinking, risk assessment, and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent communication, organization, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to manage competing priorities and make sound decisions in a fast-paced development environment.
- Working knowledge of product development processes, manufacturing methods, quality systems, and regulatory considerations.
- Proficiency with project management software and Microsoft Office applications.
- Ability to coordinate effectively with international teams across multiple time zones.
Nice To Haves
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline is strongly preferred.
- Hands-on engineering or technical product development experience is strongly preferred.
- Experience working with international development and manufacturing teams is preferred.
- Experience in juvenile products, consumer products, or other regulated product industries is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Lead multiple concurrent product development projects from kickoff through production launch and closure, managing schedules, milestones, deliverables, budgets, and cross-functional dependencies.
- Coordinate project activities across domestic and international teams, ensuring clear ownership, communication, and accountability.
- Identify project challenges, develop recovery plans, and escalate issues requiring management decisions.
- Maintain accurate project documentation, financial forecasts, and concise project status reports.
- Apply engineering knowledge and product development experience to understand technical challenges, assess their impact, and facilitate solutions.
- Coordinate design reviews, prototyping, testing, tooling, validation, and manufacturing-readiness activities.
- Work with Engineering and other technical functions to identify development risks, challenge assumptions, and resolve technical issues in a timely manner.
- Manage interdependencies among product design, manufacturing capabilities, regulatory requirements, quality, cost, and schedule.
- Support transitions between product development, manufacturing, and sustaining engineering.
- Identify and evaluate development risks, particularly those related to product safety, regulatory compliance, and product quality.
- Ensure critical technical, quality, and safety concerns receive visibility, ownership, and appropriate escalation.
- Coordinate risk mitigation across functional teams and monitor resolution.
- Ensure required reviews, testing, validation, and approvals are planned and completed before applicable milestones.
- Support sound, risk-based decision-making while preserving functional responsibility for technical and regulatory decisions.
- Facilitate collaboration between US-based teams and engineering, sourcing, and manufacturing resources in China.
- Work with Product Managers to translate product and business objectives into executable development plans.
- Navigate competing priorities, resource constraints, and geographic or organizational boundaries to maintain project progress.
- Drive timely issue resolution and decision-making while fostering collaboration and accountability.
- Ensure projects follow established product development processes, including required milestone reviews, documentation, and approvals.
- Identify process gaps, recurring development issues, and opportunities to improve execution.
- Support improvements that enhance product safety and quality while reducing unnecessary activities, delays, and resource demands.
- Capture and communicate lessons learned to improve future product development efforts.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
