A Technical Program Manager for Materials Science & Engineering is responsible for shepherding materials throughout development by coordinating the work of the Materials Engineering team. You will work closely with materials engineers, product designers, industrial designers, CMF designers and raw materials vendors to get high-quality materials researched, developed and validated.
Color qualification is a validation process, in which materials (in finalized colors) are tested within vendor & company labs, to understand material/color risks, prior to implementation in large-scale builds.
In this role, you will manage all color-related qualification communication to team members, leaders and other stakeholders. Expert-level communication and information synthesis is required.
Job Responsibilities
- Drive schedule and reporting for all color qualification activities, inclusive of data tracking and schedule.
- Provide synthesized weekly summary and report, suitable for executive audience.
- Update material milestones/deadlines, and associated dependencies, when build dates are modified.
- Act as program contact point for material workflow and dependent parts / materials / leadtimes. Examples: Paint applied to glass, Anodization applied to aluminum, Pigment applied to resin composition
- Work directly with vendors to optimize build and testing schedules
- Continuously improve established processes and templates, for color qualification
- Partner with cross-functional teams, to establish overall process, milestones, and schedules, for business units where color-qualification is not yet operationalized.
Minimum qualifications
- 5 years practical engineering experience including vendor development/ management and technical program management experience developing high volume consumer electronics products through the entire life cycle.
- Expert ability to synthesize and succinctly communicate technical tradeoffs, budgets, and schedule for highly technical and non-technical audiences.
- Demonstrated examples of Gantt chart scheduling, on both part-level and system/subassembly-level.
- Demonstrated examples of budget forecasting for larger organizations
- BS/MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science or equivalent practical experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Knowledge of engineering properties of plastics, textiles, coatings, metals, adhesives and other materials
- Experience documenting material-specific design, test, and manufacturing requirements
- Familiarity with Manufacturing processes used for the aforementioned areas of materials
- Knowledge of vendor relations and working with vendors (raw material as well as converters) in Asia.
- Experience working with multiple disciplines such as Material Science Engineers, Industrial Design, Color, Materials & Finish (CMF), Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations.