Program Manager

Would you like to be a key member of a company involved in the revolutionary development of a whole new lithium-ion battery?  My client is an emerging portable power company answering the call for safer, longer lasting Lithium-ion batteries. The company is led by a CEO and Founder who is one of the world's foremost authorities in battery system innovation and design, and backed by leading venture capital firms. Their innovative systems approach to portable power and application-specific batteries starts with safety, while achieving next-generation performance gains. Founded in 2005, the company is headquartered in Massachusetts with Six Sigma-level manufacturing operations in China.

This is a new position reporting directly to our CTO.  Some sort of related industry experience would be a big plus here – batteries, power management products, laptop computer components, etc.  Programs will be focused on engineering and bridging engineering and manufacturing (in China) and some travel to China may be involved.  Salary is probably $100k.

This is a role for a seasoned Program Manager who will develop and implement our program goals and lead cross-functional teams developing products from initial concept definition through End of Life.

The work scope will include management of capital and product development budgets with significant impact to corporate profitability and sales goals. The individual will have broad responsibilities in managing moderate sized project teams involving team members from all disciplines including engineering, manufacturing operations, sales operations, marketing, key suppliers and external customers. This is a high level role and an emerging position in the company and the individual will be required to develop many of the required procedures, processes, and tools.                                                                                                             

KEY OBJECTIVES/ACTIVITIES

Program manger tasks include the development of program plans to meet profit, revenue, cost and schedule constraints. The program manager will be expected to lead and participate in market research and use this information to develop program goals to satisfy customer needs as well as profitability goals.

With “people” management a critical skill for a person in this role, program managers are expected to possess excellent communication skills (both written and oral), demonstrate collaborative team building skills and be able to resolve conflicts in a productive manner. Decisive behavior is required combined with the ability to build consensus among team members.

Among the broad responsibilities of an individual in this role are:

Reporting program status to management

Develop, and refine, the Business plan throughout the phases of the project

Definition of product requirements, cost, schedule and profitability goals

Objective evaluation of product viability and assessment of risk.

Conduct negotiations and discussions involving internal associates and external suppliers.

Assist in the development of team members and evaluation of team member performance

Implement periodic project phase transfer reviews.

The leadership style for this position requires the ability to promote collaborative decision making and coaching. Individuals must be able to objectively evaluate risks to program objectives and be comfortable making difficult decisions.

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in an Engineering discipline with Master of Science in Engineering or Master’s degree in Business preferred.

7 to 10 years of combined engineering and program management experience required. A minimum of 3 years of the experience must be in a role as a successful, demonstrated program manager with involvement from initial concept through APAC contract manufacturing and market introduction. Program Management experience must include:

Management of multi-disciplinary teams and development of team members.

Management of globally positioned cross-cultural teams.

Definition of product requirements involving internal and external customers.

Negotiations involving program tradeoffs and external supplier relations.

Development of program plans with responsibility for meeting product performance, development budget and schedule goals.

Development and advancement of team members.

Experience with objective, quantitatively driven market research and the use of this research.

If you would like to find out more about this role please send your resume to david@korbelpartners.com