Global Program Manager

IPG Photonics is revolutionizing the laser industry as the pioneering developer and leading producer of fiber lasers and amplifiers. Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, IPG has over 4,800 employees in more than 30 locations around the world. We aspire to work together with our employees and customers to apply light in ways that improve life.

Our mission is to develop innovative laser solutions to make the world a better place. To accomplish this mission, we are committed to attracting and retaining the best talent and an engaged and thriving workforce that drives a sustainable future for our company and society.

About the Role

IPG Photonics is advancing a portfolio of global enterprise programs to strengthen execution, standardize how critical initiatives are run, and deliver measurable, sustainable improvement across Global Operations.

The Program Manager, Global Enterprise Programs serves as the central PMO and execution-coordination lead for these enterprise priorities. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Global Operations and engaging directly with leaders across operations, engineering, supply chain, strategic sourcing, IT, finance, and HR, this leader provides the governance, cadence, transparency, and cross-functional alignment required to turn executive priorities into coordinated action and visible results.

This is a hands-on leadership role with clear ownership boundaries.

Responsibilities

• Own the global enterprise program roadmap end to end, including scope, milestones, dependencies, and outcomes, and keep it aligned to the priorities set by the executive leadership team.
• Establish and run a clear operating cadence (steering reviews, working sessions, and status reporting) that creates rhythm, transparency, and momentum across the program.
• Maintain a single, trusted source of truth for program status, risks, decisions, and actions, and ensure it is current and credible at all times.
• Translate strategic intent into structured work streams with named owners, defined deliverables, and realistic timelines.
• Act as the central PMO interface across functional owners, ensuring progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, and resource needs are visible and actively managed.
• Lead cross-functional teams to deliver process, system, and capability improvements across manufacturing and the broader operations organization.
• Drive standardization of how work is planned, executed, and measured, applying lean and continuous-improvement principles to eliminate waste and variability.
• Support major operational initiatives (e.g., site transitions, system implementations, and capacity changes) with rigorous planning, sequencing, and readiness management.
• Coordinate manufacturing footprint optimization initiatives across sites and functions, supporting local leaders with governance, milestone tracking, dependency management, and escalation discipline.
• Support the identification, evaluation, and approval of new value-creation opportunities, including savings pipeline development, business-case support, and integration of approved initiatives into the global enterprise program portfolio.
• Define the metrics that matter, build the reporting that makes them visible, and use them to manage performance and surface issues early.
• Partner with Strategic Sourcing and operational leaders to support make-or-buy analyses, supplier consolidation initiatives, cost-optimization opportunities, and related business cases.
• Provide program management support for sourcing-led external manufacturing initiatives, including onboarding, industrialization readiness, production transfer planning, and cross-functional governance.
• Coordinate across internal manufacturing sites, external manufacturing partners, sourcing, engineering, quality, finance, and operations leadership to ensure transfer plans, risks, and decisions are actively managed.
• Partner with the CHRO and people leaders to plan and execute the organizational change required for global enterprise programs to stick, including communication, stakeholder engagement, training, and reinforcement.
• Build buy-in at every level, from the executive team to frontline teams, and convert skeptics into…