Project Manager - Automotive Software PD

US Product Development Project Manager / Lead – Software-Defined Vehicle

This role leads cross-functional product development projects in a software-defined vehicle environment, driving delivery from early concept through industrialization and product introduction. You will combine project leadership with technical coordination to ensure successful hardware–software integration, alignment with product and platform strategies, and achievement of scope, timing, cost, quality, and feature targets in a complex automotive context.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of cross-functional development programs, with a strong focus on integrated hardware and software solutions for software-defined vehicles.
• Drive project execution across scope, timing, cost, quality, and feature dimensions, ensuring adherence to QDCCFS objectives.
• Ensure that all project activities align with overall product and platform strategies as well as broader business objectives.
• Develop and maintain detailed L1–L3 project plans, including milestones, dependencies, and critical paths.
• Break down overall program scope into manageable streams, epics, and deliverables, and structure these within tools such as Jira.
• Continuously monitor critical path activities, identify deviations, and proactively address delivery risks.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration across engineering domains including electrical and electronic systems, software, integration, testing, and purchasing.
• Act as the central interface between key stakeholders, product owners, system architects, and external suppliers to ensure consistent understanding and execution.
• Facilitate alignment and coordination across global teams and organizations, ensuring effective communication and collaboration across regions.
• Define, balance, and secure requirements from multiple stakeholders, ensuring that technical and business needs are clearly captured and understood.
• Manage scope changes, concept decisions, and technical trade-offs to protect project objectives while enabling innovation.
• Consolidate cost estimations, build budget forecasts, and track budget performance throughout the project lifecycle.
• Secure the necessary resource allocation across teams and monitor resource utilization to ensure efficient delivery.
• Maintain a comprehensive risk register, regularly assess project risks, and drive implementation of mitigation actions.
• Ensure compliance with quality standards, functional safety requirements, cybersecurity expectations, and legal or regulatory obligations.
• Prepare and present structured project status updates at gate reviews and governance forums, enabling informed decision-making.
• Create and maintain clear, structured project documentation using tools such as Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint.
• Deliver key project artifacts including project plans and milestone roadmaps, scope documentation and technical descriptions, budget and resource forecasts, risk registers and mitigation plans, and executive-level gate review materials.

Essential Skills

• Proven experience in project management within an automotive product development environment, ideally involving software-defined vehicles.
• Strong understanding of the automotive development lifecycle, including the specific context and challenges of software-defined vehicle architectures.
• Hands-on experience with integration, verification, and validation (V&V) activities, including system-level testing.
• Knowledge of system architecture concepts and the ability to work closely with system architects on complex vehicle systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage hardware–software integration projects from concept to launch.
• Strong planning, structuring, and execution capabilities, including the development and management of multi-level (L1–L3) project plans.
• Experience with stakeholder management across global organizations, including engineering, purchasing, suppliers, and leadership.
• Ability to structure complex problems, simplify ambiguity, and drive clear, timely decision-making.
• Proficiency with project and collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint for planning, tracking, and reporting.
• Strong…