Position: Engineering Program Manager Reports to: Vice President of Engineering Plant Location: 402 High Street, Huntington WV, 25705 Department: Engineering Shift: Full time, on site. Standard office hours; schedule may vary to support project, customer, and cross-functional needs.
REASONABLE ACCOMODATION STATEMENT
To accomplish this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation, each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to help enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. We encourage both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with us. Please speak to the Risk Management Department to put in an accommodation request.
JOB SUMMARY
The Engineering Program Manager plans, directs, and drives execution of J.H. Fletcher & Co.'s engineering project portfolio, including new product development, machine modernizations, customer-specific designs, and engineering systems implementations. Working as an extension of the Vice President of Engineering, this position sets project priorities and schedules, coordinates engineering work with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Field Service, Sales, and Information Technology, and resolves the cross-departmental issues that delay engineering delivery. The position owns the engineering schedule and works in partnership with the Master Scheduler, the Inside Sales Manager, and the Global Supply Chain Manager, each of whom owns their own part of the order-to-delivery process. The role serves as the Engineering Program Management Office for the company: it establishes how engineering projects are planned, tracked, and reported, and it is accountable for getting engineering work finished on time. This position does not make final technical design decisions, which remain with Engineering leadership and discipline engineers. It is responsible for the plan, the priorities, the schedule, and the cross-functional execution that turns those decisions into delivered results.
JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Portfolio Planning and Prioritization
- Build and own the engineering project portfolio, including scope, objectives, milestones, resource needs, and dependencies for each project.
- Recommend project priorities, sequencing, and resource allocation to the Vice President of Engineering based on business value, customer commitments, capacity, and risk.
- Evaluate new project requests and recommend whether to accept, defer, or decline them, and on what terms.
- Maintain a single, current view of engineering work that leadership can use to make decisions.
Project Execution and Schedule Management
- Develop project plans and schedules and establish milestones and deliverables with project teams.
- Monitor progress against plan, analyze schedule variance, and determine corrective actions.
- Identify risks and bottlenecks early and develop mitigation plans.
- Escalate significant schedule, scope, cost, or resource issues to the Vice President of Engineering with a recommended course of action.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Lead cross-functional project teams from concept through design, procurement, manufacturing, test, release, and field deployment.
- Negotiate engineering commitments and handoffs with other departments, including Field Service and Information Technology.
- Resolve conflicts over engineering priorities or resources, and escalate those that cannot be resolved at the project level.
- Hold project team members accountable for commitments and action items.
Coordination with the Master Scheduler
- Commit engineering release dates for drawings, bills of material, and long-lead item lists, and communicate them to the Master Scheduler, who builds the production schedule around them.
- Maintain a single shared list of engineering release dates so all partners work from the same information.
- Notify the Master Scheduler as soon as an engineering release is at risk, so production impact can be assessed before dates are missed.
- Meet with the Master Scheduler at least weekly to review upcoming releases, slips, and long-lead items.
Coordination with the Inside Sales Manager
- Provide engineering lead times, design scope, and engineering status for quotes and customer orders that require custom or modified engineering.
- Review incoming orders with engineering content with the Inside Sales Manager to confirm requirements are complete before engineering work begins.
- Notify the Inside Sales Manager as soon as an engineering delay could affect a customer commitment, so customer communication can be managed proactively.
- Track customer-requested engineering changes and communicate their schedule impact.
Coordination with the Global Supply Chain Manager
- Provide long-lead item lists and engineering release dates early enough for sourcing and purchasing to support the production schedule.
- Build supplier lead times and sourcing constraints into engineering project schedules.
- Coordinate engineering input on component substitutions, supplier qualification, and obsolescence issues.
- Notify the Global Supply Chain Manager of design changes that affect parts already on order or in inventory.
Process Improvement and Governance
- Design, implement, and continuously improve standard project management practices for Engineering, including intake, planning, status reporting, stage reviews, and project close-out.
- Lead implementation of engineering systems, software, and process improvement initiatives, such as electrical design software deployment and product development process improvements.
- Analyze recurring causes of delay and recommend changes to workflows, handoffs, or organizational practices.
- Select and administer the project management tools used by Engineering (e.g., Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, Planner).
Reporting and Executive Support
- Prepare portfolio dashboards, status reports, and executive summaries for Engineering leadership and company executives.
- Facilitate project kickoffs, stage-gate reviews, planning sessions, and retrospectives.
- Support company strategic planning activities as assigned by the Vice President of Engineering or President, including preparing materials and facilitating sessions.
General
- Comply with all safety guidelines and regulations.
- Complete additional training as directed by the supervisor or Risk Management.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.
DIVISION RESPONSIBILITIES WITH KEY PARTNERS
The Engineering Program Manager owns the engineering schedule and does not take over the responsibilities of partner roles. Each partner owns its part of the order-to-delivery process; this position supplies the engineering dates and information they depend on.
- Engineering Program Manager owns: The engineering schedule: design work, drawings, bills of material, engineering releases, and engineering projects. Answers: when will Engineering release it, and is it complete?
- Master Scheduler owns: The production schedule: build sequence, shop capacity and loading, and ship dates. Answers: when can we build and ship it?
- Inside Sales Manager owns: Quotes, order entry, customer commitments, and customer communication. This position supplies engineering lead times, status, and early warning of delays.
- Global Supply Chain Manager owns: Sourcing, supplier selection, purchasing, and supplier lead times. This position supplies long-lead lists, release dates, and design change notices, and builds supplier lead times into engineering schedules.
- Shared: Engineering release dates and status, maintained on one shared list visible to all partners, with early warning when a date is at risk.
- Escalation: Conflicts that cannot be resolved between partners go jointly to the Vice President of Engineering and the leader of the partner function.
DECISION AUTHORITY
Decides independently
- Project plans, schedules, meeting cadence, and project management methods
- Assignment and follow-up of project action items
- Format and content of project reporting
- When to escalate a risk or issue
Recommends; Vice President of Engineering approves
- Project priorities and sequencing across the portfolio
- Engineering release date commitments to partner functions
- Acceptance, deferral, or cancellation of project requests
- Changes to project scope, major milestones, or resource allocation
- Changes to engineering processes and standards
Does not decide
- Technical design decisions (Engineering leadership and discipline engineers)
- Production sequence, shop loading, shop capacity, and ship dates (Master Scheduler and Production leadership)
- Customer commitments, quotes, and pricing (Inside Sales Manager and Sales leadership)
- Supplier selection, purchasing, and sourcing decisions (Global Supply Chain Manager)
- Hiring, discipline, or pay for project team members (their managers)
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
- Establish a complete engineering project inventory and performance baseline within the first 90 days
- Percentage of projects and milestones delivered on schedule
- Percentage of engineering releases (drawings, BOMs, long-lead lists) delivered to production and supply chain on the committed date
- Engineering project cycle time
- Number of overdue action items and stalled projects
- Accuracy and timeliness of portfolio reporting
- Stakeholder feedback from Engineering, Production, Sales, Supply Chain, and Field Service
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Information Systems, or a related field.
Experience:
- Minimum of 5 years of experience managing complex projects or programs with cross-functional teams.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Demonstrated ability to plan, prioritize, and deliver multiple concurrent projects
- Ability to lead and influence without direct authority
- Sound judgment in weighing trade-offs among schedule, scope, cost, and risk
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including with executives and shop floor personnel
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and project management tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, Planner)
- Working knowledge of Agile/Scrum and traditional stage-gate project methods
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Experience:
- Experience in manufacturing, heavy equipment, mining equipment, or industrial products
- Experience with new product development, ERP, PLM, or engineering software implementations
- Experience leading process improvement or organizational change initiatives
Education:
- Master's degree (MBA or related field).
WORKING CONDITIONS
Environment:
- Office environment with regular time on the manufacturing floor and occasional visits to customer sites, which may include industrial sites and underground mine sites.
Exposures:
- Potential exposure to environments that require safety precautions and PPE. Environments could be loud, dusty, hot, or cold.
Physical Effort and Lifting Requirements:
- Minimal physical effort required; occasional lifting up to 25 pounds.
Travel Requirements:
- Occasional travel, up to 10% of the time, to customer sites, suppliers, and test locations.
Overtime/Weekends/On-call:
- Flexibility to work additional hours as needed to meet project deadlines.
MENTAL REQUIREMENTS
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and shift focus quickly
- Strong organizational and time-management skills
- Capacity for strategic thinking and planning
- Problem-solving skills and decision-making ability
- Ability to understand and communicate technical information
- Capacity to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
- Ability to work at a computer for extended periods
- Ability to walk the shop floor and participate in meetings and presentations
CERTIFICATIONS NEEDED
- No specific certifications required. PMP, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Certified ScrumMaster, or similar certifications are beneficial.
AAP/EEO Statement:
As a federal contractor, J.H. Fletcher & Co. is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations regarding Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Action (AAP), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). J.H. Fletcher & Co. is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other category protected by law. Our company has developed an Affirmative opportunity, and foster an inclusive workplace environment.