Project Manager - Automotive Software PD

Job Title:

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.

• 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.

• 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…