Program Manager

North American Lighting · United States

Job Summary Who We Are North American Lighting Inc., member of the Koito Group of Companies, is the largest tier one automotive exterior lighting manufacturer in North America. As the market share leader in exterior automotive lighting, NAL provides advanced lighting technology, engineering design expertise, and state-of-the-art production capabilities to auto makers based in North America and around the world. Our Opportunity North American Lighting (NAL) is looking for a Program Manager to join our team. The ideal candidate will provide leadership and direction to the launch teams and the staff of all support groups in setting and achieving program objectives for timing, cost, manufacturability, quality, localization, and customer satisfaction for the development and launch of new automotive lighting products. Essential Duties & Responsibilities Your Priorities

• Performs in the lead role — the focal point — for product development and launch for both the customer and NAL on new automotive lighting programs.
• Leads Core Team activities, including: planning new program launch; creating project schedules with key milestones; defining each functional area’s deliverables; communicating plans, schedules, and changes; and generating consensus from the team.
• Understands all customer requirements for the project, communicates them to the team, and ensures that the team meets or exceeds them.
• Ensures adherence to project plan and schedule by conducting core team meetings, generating follow-up documents, managing open issues, facilitating team member’s jobs, and soliciting management support in overcoming problems.
• Budgets, tracks, and, controls all project costs in real time, ensuring that all chargeable costs are assigned to the customer, and obtaining management approval for all cost overruns.
• For projects developed by Koito, ensures smooth transition to NAL by tracking and controlling pre-SOP localization progress, and serving as the main contact for communication with Koito.