Job Description:
At Pentair, you will work alongside passionate problem-solvers who are committed to the future of our planet. We put our mission into practice, helping the world sustainably move, improve and enjoy water, life's most essential resource. From our residential water filtration to industrial water management to pool products and more, our 9,000 global employees serve customers in more than 150 countries, working to help create a better world for people and the planet through smart, sustainable water solutions.
We have an opportunity for a Manager, Product Delivery, to join our Apex NC team. You will build and lead a high-performing project-management organization accountable for predictable execution across product development and lifecycle initiatives. You will own Product Delivery talent, standards, capacity, assignments, performance, and capability maturity while ensuring priority work is staffed with named project leaders, core teams, and functional owners. You will be a partner through Product Management, Product Ownership and Experience, Solution Delivery, Hardware Engineering, IoT Engineering, Product Integrity, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Finance, Commercial teams, Service, and external partners. You will champion HW development lifecycle process and integrate with SW delivery practices within a common governance model while preserving fit-for-purpose methods and clear functional accountability. During organizational startup, you will operate as a player-coach and may temporarily lead a strategic project until staffing is complete. As the team matures, the role will transition toward primarily people leadership, portfolio execution oversight, governance ownership, and continuous improvement of the Product Delivery operating system.
You will:
- Build, lead, coach, and develop the Product Delivery team, including recruiting high-caliber talent, strengthening current Project Manager capability, establishing clear role expectations, and creating development and succession plans.
- Own Product Delivery capacity, assignments, standards, performance, and capability maturity across new product development, sustainment, value engineering, quality and reliability, supply continuity, and partner-enabled programs.
- Match Project Manager assignments to initiative complexity, risk, business impact, individual strengths, and development needs; ensure priority projects have named project leaders, core teams, and functional owners.
- Establish and continuously improve Product Delivery methods, templates, measures, decision rights, escalation thresholds, project-health criteria, and operating rhythms across the portfolio.
- Set expectations for integrated planning and transparent controls covering scope, requirements, schedule, investment, resources, dependencies, risks, issues, assumptions, decisions, change, verification evidence, operational readiness, and business outcomes.
- Drive commitment and milestone predictability by reviewing plans, challenging assumptions, monitoring dependencies, requiring recovery plans when commitments are at risk, and escalating decision needs with clear options and recommendations.
- Strengthening Define-gate and lifecycle gate readiness by ensuring required evidence, ownership, capacity, investment, risk, and execution assumptions support reliable commitments and informed decisions.
- Partner with peer Solution Delivery team and functional leaders to align product intent, product ownership, software and digital delivery, engineering execution, manufacturing readiness, commercialization, and lifecycle outcomes without transferring technical or functional ownership to Product Delivery.
- Lead integration of hardware and software practices into a cohesive Product Delivery governance model; establish measurable integration milestones and improve handoffs, synchronization, visibility, and accountability.
- Co-lead the design and maturation of Pentair's partner-enabled operating model, then own project-governance execution, performance visibility, corrective-action follow-through, and continuous improvement across partner-enabled programs.
- Provide portfolio execution visibility through concise, decision-ready reporting on commitments, milestones, risks, decisions, gate readiness, capacity, finances, dependencies, and value realization.
- Coach Project Managers on stakeholder engagement, integrated planning, financial management, operational readiness, risk and decision management, executive communication, project recovery, and continuous improvement.
- Collaborate with key stakeholders before material changes to Product Delivery standards or governance, incorporating strategy, operational realities, and change-management considerations while retaining accountability for final decisions within the role authority.
- Use approved AI, automation, analytics, and digital-thread practices to reduce administrative effort, improve data quality and traceability, consolidate status, strengthen schedule and risk insight, and enable management by exception while maintaining human accountability.
- Initially serve as player-coach and, when required, personally lead a strategic initiative until staffing and transition plans are complete; progressively shift capacity toward team, portfolio, and operating-system leadership.
- Assign and prioritize Product Delivery resources across approved initiatives.
- Establish Product Delivery standards, methods, templates, measures, operating rhythms, project-health criteria, and escalation thresholds.
- Require recovery plans and corrective actions for at-risk initiatives and recommend gate-readiness or continuation decisions to accountable governance bodies.
- Make hiring, performance, development, and assignment decisions for the Product Delivery team.
- Approve Product Delivery process improvements and recommend broader portfolio, governance, capacity, or organizational changes.
- The Manager is expected to make decisions independently within these boundaries after soliciting relevant stakeholders and strategy input, with appropriate attention to enterprise priorities and changing management impacts.
Key Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, or a related technical field. An additional five years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree. MBA, master’s degree, or advanced technical degree preferred.
- Willingness and ability to travel 10-20% domestically and internationally based on operational needs.
- Minimum 10 years of relevant project, program, engineering, manufacturing, operations, supply chain, or product-development experience, including at least 5 years leading complex cross-functional initiatives, PMO capabilities, or product-delivery organizations.
- Prior direct people-management experience, including demonstrated ability to coach, develop, assess, recruit, and retain project-management talent.
- Demonstrated experience leading software-enabled hardware or complex industrial/consumer products involving hardware, embedded firmware, software, electronics, controls, connected features, manufacturing, or companion applications.
- Proven experience integrating Product Management, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Finance, Commercial teams, and external partners across development, launch, and lifecycle execution.
- Demonstrated ability to establish or materially improve project governance, portfolio visibility, delivery standards, capacity management, or PMO operating practices with measurable results.
- Experience working across hardware, software, stage-gate, agile, or hybrid development lifecycles and improving how teams define, plan, execute, monitor, and assure commitments.
- Demonstrated ownership of portfolio or project forecasts, budgets, CAPEX/OPEX, business-case assumptions, financial variances, and corrective actions.
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders, lead globally distributed teams through ambiguity, and resolve complex cross-functional dependencies without relying solely on direct authority.
- Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, coaching, negotiation, and executive communication skills.
- Lean Six Sigma certification or demonstrated impact leading Kaizen, value-stream, root-cause, or operational-excellence improvements.
- Project Management Professional certification preferred.
- Experience leading within a matrixed PMO, portfolio-governance, SAFe, multi-team solution-delivery, or organizational-transformation environment.
- Experience establishing or improving JDM/ODM/OEM, contract-manufacturing, supplier-development, or external-partner governance.
- Experience with medium- or high-volume manufacturing, consumer durables, electromechanical products, pool equipment, appliances, industrial machinery, or software-enabled hardware solutions.
- Experience applying AI, workflow automation, analytics, or digital-thread capabilities within appropriate governance controls.
- Experience with Microsoft 365, Jira, Confluence, PLM, ERP, advanced scheduling, and portfolio-management.
- Enterprise and systems thinker who connects strategy, customer value, product intent, engineering execution, partner readiness, manufacturing, launch, and lifecycle performance.
- Builder mindset with the ability to lead current commitments while establishing scalable people, processes, tools, measures, and governance.
- Trusted leader who surfaces issues early, frames options, recommends a path, and drives resolution with clear accountability and transparency.
- Strong people developer who sets high standards, provides candid coaching, recognizes potential, and creates opportunities for capability progression.
- Balances decision authority with collaboration, stakeholder input, change-management discipline, and respect for functional ownership.
- Comfortable moving between portfolio strategy, organizational leadership, executive tradeoffs, project recovery, and detailed readiness evidence.
- Curious, adaptable, data-driven, and willing to challenge inefficient practices constructively while maintaining sound governance and business continuity.
Compensation:
For this full-time position working at this location, the anticipated annualized base pay range will be from $110700 - $205600 / year. At Pentair, it is not typical for an individual to be hired near the bottom or top of the pay range. Pentair considers various factors in determining actual compensation for this position at the expected location. Actual compensation will be commensurate with demonstrable level of experience and training, pertinent education including licensure and certifications, work location, and other relevant business or organizational needs. This position may be eligible for other forms of compensation such as, annual incentive bonus.
Benefits:
As a Pentair employee, you would enjoy a wide array of benefit options to help keep you and your family healthy and protected, health benefits, a generous 401(k), employee stock purchase program, disability benefits, life insurance, critical illness insurance, accident insurance, parental leave, caregiver leave, tuition reimbursement, plus paid time off and wellness programs to encourage a healthy work/life balance.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Pentair is an Equal Opportunity Employer. With our expanding global presence, cross-cultural insight and competence are essential for our ongoing success. We believe that a diverse workforce contributes different perspectives and creative ideas that enable us to continue to improve every day.