Engineering Program Manager

Job Title: Engineering Program Manager

Job Description:

The Engineering Program Manager is an expert-level individual contributor to Trystar's Research, Development, & Engineering (RDE) organization. The role leads the organization's most complex, highest-risk, and most strategically significant R&D programs and multi-program initiatives in accordance with Trystar's Innovation Project Management Standard. Working with full autonomy and a strategic understanding of corporate priorities, the Engineering Program Manager integrates the work of multiple project teams, makes program-level technical and business decisions within delegated authority, frames enterprise-level tradeoffs for leadership decision, and leads primarily through influence. The role reports to the Manager, RDE Project Engineering, and has no direct reports. It provides project and matrix leadership to the engineers and engineering project managers working on its programs, mentors engineering project managers, and serves as a trusted advisor to enterprise and executive leadership and to key customers on its programs. This role follows a hybrid working model based in Burnsville, MN, requiring at least one full day a week in the office. Hybrid work from another established Trystar site may be considered. Management retains the right to adjust this model as business needs change. The role may require up to 20% domestic and international travel.

In this role you will:

Program leadership and execution

• Lead complex, high-risk, and strategically significant R&D programs and multi-program initiatives in accordance with Trystar's Innovation Project Management Standard, accountable for program scope, integrated resource-backed schedules, critical milestones, spending, interdependencies, and delivery of intended business outcomes.
• Own program intake, program charters, and program-level requirements, translating corporate priorities into clear objectives, scope, success criteria, assumptions, constraints, and benefits.
• Lead and integrate the work of the engineering project managers leading component projects, primarily through influence and with formal authority where delegated, aligning mechanical, electrical, controls, software, manufacturing, sourcing, quality, compliance, and commercial workstreams through commercialization and handoff to business functions.
• Work autonomously while collaborating effectively; make program-level technical and business decisions within delegated authority and frame enterprise-level tradeoffs and recommendations for leadership decisions.
• Prepare stagegate reviews with complete, evidence-based decision packages.
• Assess program and enterprise-level risks, anticipate emerging issues across programs, escalate early, and lead mitigation and recovery planning for critical or at-risk initiatives.

Program oversight and reporting

• Report program progress, performance, critical-milestone attainment, spending, risks, issues, decisions, and business outcomes to enterprise and executive leadership at established cadences, and at least monthly.
• Establish program-level reporting that provides credible, consistent visibility into status, risks, decisions, milestones, and benefits across related projects.
• Represent Trystar to key customers on strategic programs, ensuring communications are accurate, appropriately vetted, and internally aligned.

Governance, tools, and processes

• Recommend Project Engineering strategy, goals, and long-term direction of RDE program and project governance to the Manager, RDE Project Engineering, consistent with best practices in the program and project management community.
• Co-own, with the Manager, RDE Project Engineering, the program management framework, including program governance, benefits management, interdependency management, stage-gate decisions, and escalation thresholds, and lead its adoption across RDE.
• Co-own Project Engineering tools, templates, and standards, ensuring they scale effectively to program and portfolio needs.

Portfolio and resource support

• Lead program and portfolio-level scenario analysis related to schedule, cost, capacity, and strategic constraints.
• Recommend portfolio sequencing, investment tradeoffs, and resource allocations to the Manager, RDE Project Engineering and RDE leadership; portfolio and resource decisions remain with leadership.
• Identify long-term capacity and capability gaps and recommend staffing, sourcing, or partnering strategies to address them.

Cross-functional leadership

• Lead with influence across functions and leadership levels to align strategy, remove systemic execution barriers, and improve enterprise execution effectiveness.
• Contribute technical and business ideation to solve business problems, balancing technical, cost, schedule, quality, resource, customer, and strategic considerations.
• Champion continuous improvement by institutionalizing lessons learned across programs and strengthening RDE's execution capability.

Mentoring and development

• Informally mentor engineering project managers in program and project leadership, executive communication, strategic thinking, risk assessment, and decision making.
• Partner with the Manager, RDE Project Engineering on the Project Engineering team's capability development, including competency expectations, training priorities, and knowledge-sharing practices.
• Provide program performance input to the Manager, RDE Project Engineering regarding the engineering project managers working on assigned programs, and act as an escalation point and advisor for engineering project managers facing complex technical, business, or stakeholder challenges.

Success measures

• On-time attainment of critical milestones across assigned programs, reported at least monthly as percentage on time, early, and late.
• Program spending control and forecast accuracy.
• Delivery of the intended business outcomes and customer value of each program.
• Early identification, mitigation, and recovery of program risks and issues, with timely escalation.
• Gate decisions supported by complete, evidence-based packages.
• Executive, customer, and stakeholder confidence in program commitments and reporting.
• Growth and readiness of the engineering project managers whose work the role integrates or mentors.
• Quality and adoption of program management practices across RDE.

Qualifications:

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's or higher degree in engineering or a similar technical field, or Bachelor's or higher degree in a business-related field.
• Program Management Professional (PgMP) certification, or actively working toward it with certification attained within one year of hire; a current Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is required until the PgMP is earned.
• 7+ years leading projects in an engineering, R&D, technology, or product development environment, or a combination of these.
• Proven record of leading programs or multi-project initiatives through commercialization.
• Proven record of managing or leading engineers and project leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and recommend strategy and goals and align execution to corporate priorities.
• Business acumen and demonstrated ability to make technical and business decisions to solve business problems.
• Proven record of business process improvement at an organizational level.
• Proven track record of leading with influence and advising executive leadership.

Preferred qualifications

• A technical or business degree at the master's level.
• Current PgMP certification at time of hire (strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated ability to motivate, develop, coach, and mentor senior project leaders.
• Broad experience operating in Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid program environments.
• Experience managing strategic vendors, suppliers, or development partners.
• Understanding key Trystar technologies, markets, and processes.

Skills:

• Effective communication, organization, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Strategic thinking, risk assessment, and sound judgment in technical and business decisions.
• Influence without authority across functions and leadership levels, including executive communication.
• Experience with the Microsoft 365 suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams, SharePoint).
• Experience with Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project.
• Experience with AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT.
• Experience with Mindomo or similar mind-mapping tools.