Sr. Program Manager

Adient • Plymouth, MI

5d • Onsite

About The Position

Opportunity for an experienced program manager with complete launch experience to join Adient. The Senior Program Manager will lead the Simultaneous Development Team (SDT) and represent it in a professional way to the Customer and Adient management. Motivate the team to meet commitments to the established timing. Build team technically and personally through mentoring and coaching. Resolve conflicts between team members, departments and the customer. Negotiate with internal and external groups, vendors and the customer. Ability to identify the root cause of a problem, develop corrective action plans and lead the team to an effective resolution.

Requirements

• Demonstrated leadership experience
• Five (5) years working experience in one or more of these areas: Engineering, Manufacturing/Quality, Finance
• Five (5) years project management experience in one or more of the following areas: Program Management, Engineering Management, Manufacturing Management/Quality Management
• 10 years of working experience in the Automotive Industry including at least one vehicle launch.
• Demonstrated knowledge of automotive design/launch process.
• Working knowledge of Program Management process and tools.

Nice To Haves

• Seating product and launch experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Simultaneous Development Team (SDT) and represent it professionally to the Customer and Adient management.
• Motivate the team to meet commitments to established timing.
• Build team technically and personally through mentoring and coaching.
• Resolve conflicts between team members, departments, and the customer.
• Negotiate with internal and external groups, vendors, and the customer.
• Identify the root cause of a problem, develop corrective action plans, and lead the team to an effective resolution.
• Act as the central communication point for the SDT to ensure awareness of deliverables and timing commitments.
• Establish the SDT meeting cadence and monitor attendance.
• Create agendas, schedule meetings, keep meetings on task, and issue minutes.
• Provide team information needed to perform tasks and actively include key suppliers as team members.
• Communicate the impact of scope changes to the customer and SDT in terms of cost, timing, PD-3s, product, quality of execution, and impact on the program.
• Publish and maintain the customer SOW and SSOWs and ensure all scope changes are captured.
• Manage the risk of engineering changes and keep management informed of significant changes and their effect on the program.
• Ensure financial performance is protected and enhanced by customer-driven engineering changes.
• Manage the overall change management process.
• Schedule Finance SDT meetings to ensure focus on financial performance.
• Meet the financial targets of the program and manage Financial Roadmap dates, actions, and costs.
• Work closely with Commercial team members to drive improved profitability.
• Effectively manage overall program timing for key program activities.
• Create and manage an open issues list that is clear and concise with due dates and deliverables.
• Lead the SDT in effective risk management techniques to ensure timing commitments are met.
• Facilitate weekly change management meetings.
• Meet applicable product requirements including specifications, functional expectations, and FMVSS requirements for any engineering changes.
• Support the manufacturing plant in resolving any product-related issues.
• Work closely with engineering to bring VA/VE ideas to the customer.
• Foster an effective personal working relationship with appropriate customer contacts.
• Maintain Adient and personal credibility with the customer.
• Be recognized by the customer as a key contact for program oversight.
• Meet dates and commitments via customer open issues list which directs the team for prompt responses.
• Communicate engineering changes with cost, quality, and timing impacts.
• Gain internal consensus on engineering changes prior to communicating to the customer.
• Archive and retain key customer correspondence and documents.
• Maintain regular contact with the customer to communicate problems early.
• Do not avoid difficult issues or decisions.
• Understand the customer’s organization and procedures in detail.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed