Project Manager

Project Manager Product Development

1. Objectives of the Role

Own the Design and Manufacturing Project planning, coordination and control of daily project activities.

Track scope, schedule, cost, quality, risks, actions and dependencies so projects progress according to approved plans and budgets.

Provide timely, accurate visibility through dashboards, MIS reports, variance analysis- Schedule and Cost.

Act as a reliable communication link across customers, internal functions, suppliers and other external stakeholders.

Apply Eckstein project governance, manufacturing workflow, ISO documentation and core project management methodologies.

Drive process discipline, data quality, automation and continuous improvement within PMO and manufacturing projects.

2. Project Planning and Governance

Own and coordinate project initiation activities, including project/proposal number generation, priority listing and project-file setup.

Prepare project charters or Documents of Understanding, scope definitions, assumptions, constraints and customer-input alignment.

Develop and maintain Work Breakdown Structures, milestone plans, responsibility matrices, action registers and project schedules.

Coordinate project kick-off meetings and ensure decisions, owners and target dates are documented.

Ensure formal gate-review readiness and follow-up across offer authorization, purchase-order acceptance, procurement release, first-sample approval and production-quality approval.

3. Project Monitoring, Controls and Reporting

Prepare monthly and quarterly MIS dashboards, variance analyses and management presentations comparing actual performance against project plans and forecasts.

Maintain project trackers covering schedule, deliverables, budgets, risks, issues, decisions, changes and dependencies.

Monitor planned versus actual progress, highlight deviations and lead preparation and follow-up of recovery actions.

Prepare clear project-status reports including achievements, upcoming milestones, overdue actions, risks and decisions required.

Maintain accurate and auditable project records, ensuring current documents are linked and stored in the appropriate project folders.

Maintain daily timesheets for own project and non-project activities, accurately allocating hours to the relevant client, project and task to support client billing and billing substantiation.

4. Cross-Functional and Stakeholder Coordination

Lead daily cross-functional coordination across PMO, design, operation process planning, supply chain, purchase, quality, stores, finance, sales and management.

Own project communication and alignment between project engineers, internal functions, customers, suppliers and external partners.

Drive closure of action items, clarify dependencies and escalate delays, resource constraints or unresolved decisions to senior management or the applicable approval authority.

Lead weekly project-status engagements for every active client, covering progress, milestones, open queries, risks, decisions and agreed actions; prepare and circulate status updates and meeting minutes, and drive commitments to closure.

Lead client interactions for technical and commercial query resolution, coordinate internal responses, document decisions and ensure open queries are closed within agreed timelines.

Lead conflict resolution and alignment where priorities, responsibilities or timelines differ across functions.

5. Risk, Change, Quality and Delivery Support

Identify, log and monitor project risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies; assign and track mitigation owners and target dates.

Own the evaluation and documentation of scope, specification, engineering, schedule or commercial changes, coordinating required functional inputs and approvals.

Coordinate impact assessments with design, OPP, SCM, quality and finance before changes are approved.

Track quality actions, first-sample readiness, production-quality approval, non-conformities and rework impact on delivery.

Coordinate packing, dispatch, handover, project closure, customer feedback and lessons-learned activities.

6. Costing and Commercial Support

Compile project-costing inputs from relevant functions, review and track project costing, and own project budget summaries and project profitability reporting for management review; technical costing remains with the responsible technical function.

Lead quote comparison and supplier-cost analysis, including comparison with zero-based costing inputs where available.

Track budget commitments, actual costs and forecast deviations, and highlight potential overruns.

Review customer purchase-order terms, special requirements, proof-of-delivery needs and packing requirements, and coordinate closure of identified gaps.

Ensure commercial or scope changes are routed through the defined approval process before implementation.

Analyze recurring delays, rework, engineering-change churn, project losses and process gaps, and drive structured corrective and preventive actions.

7. Supplier and Supply-Chain Enablement

Coordinate with SCM and technical teams for supplier identification, capability assessment, development, comparison and project allocation.

Coordinate logistics and Incoterms analysis for domestic and international shipments, including route, port, lead-time and cost considerations.

Coordinate supplier quotations and technical-commercial comparisons in collaboration with SCM and responsible technical functions.

Track supplier-development actions, material readiness, committed delivery dates and risks affecting project milestones.

Coordinate packing requirements, dispatch documentation, shipment readiness and delivery follow-up with SCM, stores, quality and logistics partners.

8. Skills, Experience and Competencies

Technical and Functional Skills

Project planning, scheduling, WBS preparation and action tracking.

MIS reporting, dashboard preparation, variance analysis and management presentation development.

Strong Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint skills; familiarity with Power Query, Power BI, ERP or project-planning tools is advantageous.

Working understanding of project costing, profitability, procurement, suppliers, quality and manufacturing workflows.

Ability to organize documentation and work within ISO-aligned processes.

9. Soft Skills Competencies

Lead Customer Meeting and Project Discussions

Excellent written and verbal communication, with strong interpersonal skills.

Ability to work independently, manage multiple tasks and drive actions to completion.

Structured problem-solving, attention to detail and sound business acumen.

Team-oriented approach with the confidence to coordinate and follow up across functions.

High integrity, modesty, courtesy, perseverance and willingness to learn.

Adaptability to new cultures, systems and organizational change.

Good command of written and spoken English; German language capability is preferred.