Sr. Project Leader – New Product Development (NPD)

Job Description:

Senior Project Leader – New Product Development Engineering

The Senior Project Leader is accountable for the successful delivery of high-complexity, high-priority new product development (NPD) programs for outdoor power equipment (OPE). This role sets project direction, aligns senior cross-functional stakeholders, and drives execution through ambiguity while maintaining ownership of product performance, cost, quality, schedule, and risk. The Senior Project Leader anticipates organizational and technical barriers, creates decision-ready paths forward, and coaches others in disciplined project leadership.

Key Job Functions & Responsibilities

Portfolio-Level Project Strategy

• Leads high-complexity programs with broad technical scope, significant investment, aggressive timing, or elevated business risk.
• Owns project scope convergence and ensures product strategy, user needs, CTQs, business case, and execution plan remain aligned.
• Influences senior stakeholders to resolve complex trade-offs and secure timely decisions, resources, and priorities.
• Anticipates how project decisions affect adjacent products, platforms, suppliers, operations, and future business needs.

Execution, Risk & Decision Leadership

• Establishes an operating rhythm that aligns resources, functions, and global teams around critical outcomes.
• Anticipates risks before they affect the critical path and drives robust mitigation, contingency, and recovery plans.
• Leads teams through uncertainty and changing priorities while sustaining momentum and accountability.
• Escalates candidly with clear facts, business impact, options, recommendation, and required decision.
• Independently drives milestone and metric success across multiple projects or a major strategic program.

Business, Quality & Launch Accountability

• Owns closure of gaps to product cost, tooling, capital, margin, performance, quality, compliance, supplier readiness, and launch targets.
• Guides investment and risk decisions using technical evidence, user impact, financial analysis, and schedule implications.
• Ensures manufacturing and supplier strategies are capable, scalable, and aligned to quality and volume requirements.
• Sponsors complex root-cause, recovery, and corrective-action efforts when major issues threaten the program.

Organizational Leadership & Coaching

• Builds senior-level alignment across business units, functions, and global organizations.
• Simplifies complex technical and business topics for executive audiences without hiding risk or overstating confidence.
• Coaches Project Engineers and Project Leaders in scope convergence, planning, risk, escalation, and executive communication.
• Strengthens project leadership processes, standards, tools, and organizational learning.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in an engineering discipline or a closely related technical field.
• Minimum 8 years, preferred 10 years of relevant engineering, product development, manufacturing, or technical project leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success leading high-complexity or high-priority products through global development and launch.
• Advanced ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence senior leaders, resolve complex trade-offs, and maintain accountability.
• Strong business acumen, including product cost, investment, margin, risk, and portfolio implications.
• Strong technical judgment across design, validation, manufacturing, quality, compliance, and supplier development.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with outdoor power equipment, power tools, consumer products, battery systems, or complex electromechanical platforms.
• Experience leading multi-product platforms, major supplier transitions, or programs with significant tooling and capital investment.
• Formal project management, systems engineering, Six Sigma, or related training.
• Demonstrated experience developing project leadership capability in others.

Travel

• Up to 15% travel (international and domestic).