Head of Project Management Office

Position Summary

Lead the project execution governance system across the Clarios Customer & Technology organization, covering CTO, Core Business and Energy Systems. Provide leadership with a reliable, evidence-based view of project health, risk and recovery; establish consistent standards; verify execution information; identify cross-project constraints; and drive timely escalation and management action. The role does not own day-to-day project execution, technical decisions or project-management tool support.

Key Responsibilities

· Own and continuously improve the Customer & Technology project execution governance framework, including lifecycle, roles, decision rights, review cadence, minimum artifacts and objective Green / Yellow / Red criteria.

· Define the execution information, update frequency, evidence and authorized sources required from Project Managers across CTO, Core Business and Energy Systems.

· Verify the timeliness, completeness, consistency and traceability of plans, milestones, risks, issues, forecasts, recovery actions and engineering hours.

· Provide an independent assessment of project health across schedule, cost/hours, resources, technical maturity, validation, quality, customer commitments and risk exposure.

· Lead the monthly Customer & Technology project execution review and weekly exception reporting for critical projects, clearly identifying exposure, changes, recovery confidence and decisions required.

· Establish escalation thresholds and ensure critical risks, overdue decisions, resource conflicts, and customer or launch exposure reach the appropriate leadership forum.

· Require and challenge recovery plans for Yellow/Red projects; facilitate health checks, deep dives and gate-readiness reviews for high-exposure projects.

· Identify systemic risks and shared constraints across the three organizations, including scarce competencies, validation capacity, laboratory availability, supplier dependencies and architecture dependencies.

· Build Project Management excellence through practical standards, playbooks, templates, coaching, startup reviews and lessons learned.

· Align governance with applicable automotive and engineering practices, including APQP, IATF 16949, ASPICE, ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434 and customer-specific requirements.

Recurring Outputs

· Customer & Technology project execution dashboard and executive decision brief.

· Project information quality and update-compliance report.

· Top risks, issues, dependencies and shared-constraint view across CTO, Core Business and Energy Systems.

· Yellow/Red project and recovery-plan tracker.

· Engineering hours versus plan/forecast exception view.

· Executive action, decision and escalation log.

Authority and Accountability

· Set minimum project-governance, information, evidence and reporting standards across Customer & Technology.

· Request correction of incomplete, outdated or inconsistent information and additional supporting evidence.

· Convene project health checks, recovery reviews and deep dives.

· Issue an independent PMO assessment when evidence does not support the status reported by the Project Manager.

· Escalate critical exposure and overdue decisions according to agreed thresholds.

Accountability boundary: Project Managers remain accountable for planning and execution; functions own technical deliverables and resources; Customer & Technology leadership owns priorities, investments, trade-offs and interventions.

Candidate Profile

Experience and Education

· Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Operations or a related discipline; master’s degree preferred.

· 10–15 years of experience in product development, engineering, program management or project management, including at least 5 years leading a PMO, complex programs or project controls.

· Demonstrated experience within an automotive supplier, vehicle manufacturer, or engineering organization involving hardware, software, systems and validation.

· Proven success establishing governance, executive reviews, risk controls, project recovery and execution metrics in a global, cross-functional organization.

Knowledge and Leadership Capabilities

· Strong command of integrated planning, critical path, risk management, resource/capacity management, forecasting, project controls and executive reporting.

· Working knowledge of APQP, IATF 16949 and automotive product development; knowledge of ASPICE, ISO 26262 and ISO/SAE 21434 strongly preferred.

· PMP, PgMP, PMI-RMP or equivalent certification preferred; demonstrated practical experience is more important than certification alone.

· Systems thinking, independent judgment, executive synthesis, constructive challenge and influence without direct authority.

· Evidence-based mindset, operational discipline, rigorous follow-through and strong coaching capability.

· Advanced professional English; Spanish is an advantage depending on location.

About Clarios:

Clarios is the global leader in advanced, low-voltage battery technologies for mobility. Our batteries and smart solutions power nearly every type of vehicle and are found in 1 of 3 cars on the road today. With around 18,000 employees in over 100 countries, we bring deep expertise to our Aftermarket and OEM partners, and reliability, safety and comfort to everyday lives. We answer to the planet with a rigorous sustainability focus – advancing best-in-class sustainability practices and advocating for them across our industry. We work to ensure 100% of our products sold are recyclable, and we recycle 8,000 batteries an hour in our network. You can find more information here (PDF). 

To All Recruitment Agencies: Clarios does not accept unsolicited agency resumes/CVs. Please do not forward resumes/CVs to our careers email addresses, Clarios employees or any other company location. Clarios is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes/CVs.

Equal Employment Opportunity:
Clarios, LLC is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, status as a qualified individual with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. For more information, please view EEO is the Law, EEO is the Law (supplement), and Pay Transparency Non-discrimination. If you are an individual with a disability and you require an accommodation during the application process, please email [email protected].

A Note to Job Applicants: please be aware of scams being perpetrated through the Internet and social media platforms. Clarios will never require a job applicant to pay money as part of the application or hiring process.