Program Manager

HARMAN’s engineers and designers are creative, purposeful and agile. As part of this team, you’ll combine your technical expertise with innovative ideas to help drive cutting-edge solutions in the car, enterprise and connected ecosystem. Every day, you will push the boundaries of creative design, and HARMAN is committed to providing you with the opportunities, innovative technologies and resources to build a successful career.

A Career at HARMAN

As a technology leader that is rapidly on the move, HARMAN is filled with people who are focused on making life better. Innovation, inclusivity and teamwork are a part of our DNA. When you add that to the challenges we take on and solve together, you’ll discover that at HARMAN you can grow, make a difference and be proud of the work you do everyday.

Introduction: A Career at HARMAN Automotive

We’re a global, multi-disciplinary team that’s putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. At HARMAN Automotive, we give you the keys to fast-track your career.

· Engineer audio systems and integrated technology platforms that augment the driving experience

· Combine ingenuity, in-depth research, and a spirit of collaboration with design and engineering excellence

· Advance in-vehicle infotainment, safety, efficiency, and enjoyment

About the Role

What You Will Do

• Manage customer interface and communication strategy with Japan OEMs in Japan.  Ensure assignments from Japan OEMs are well understood, distributed to core teams, and reasonable for Harman success.
• Build and manage customer relationships in Japan and other locations as needed.
• Work with internal teams to manage issues
• Support sales team by orchestrating the creation of business cases and technical concept presentations to justify and promote our proposals internally and externally
• Represent product engineering team in new business opportunities by interfacing with core team/customer/ sales.  Drive business case inputs and product engineering engagement on new technologies.
• Serve as an internal expert on Japan OEM development processes
• Analyze and negotiate program schedules with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure product costing targets are achieved for each product.  Maintain records of BOM costs compared to targets; escalate within Harman when targets are not achieved.  Ensure design actions are implemented to recover any cost variance in BOM cost target.
• Ensure adherence to engineering best practices / processes and facilitate creation of new best practices as appropriate
• Own and maintain the resource budget and cost of external resources for assigned set of programs. Ensure engineering resources are allocated and qualified to meet the customer requirements.  This includes resources in US, Mexico, EU, China, India, and Japan.
• Ensure engineering teams have equipment and facilities needed to meet customer requirements. 
• Back up colleagues in Japan Office and program management team as appropriate.
• Oversee decisions regarding product content, budget and timing to ensure the product is on-time, on-schedule, on-quality, and meets all customer acceptance criteria (Performance and Features).
• Manage product risk proactively, identify engineering risks and coordinate meetings with the cross-functional team to address risks before they become issues.
• Evaluate and track program metrics to measure program success.  Update processes where needed to address customer-specific requirements.  Ensure all supporting departments are meeting program targets and Harman processes.
• Ensure customer requirements are communicated throughout Harman engineering teams.  Ensure customer requirements are met with the product designed. Manage customer interface teams to clarify requirements when needed

What You Need to Be Successful

• Bachelors in Engineering
• 5+ years related technical experience
• 5+ years experience in technical program management or customer resident engineering
• Native Japanese language
• Able to communicate in English proficiently (spoken and written)
• Experience as Japanese carmakers or experience as a supplier to Japanese carmakers
• Must have general knowledge of automotive engineering.
• Must be able to articulate vision and influence decision making outcomes with internal stakeholders, external suppliers, and the customer.
• Must have a "whatever-it-takes" attitude using diplomatic leadership skills within a collaborative teamwork environment to accomplish the necessary results.
• Proven and effective communication, analytical, judgment, initiative and execution skills.
• Willingness to help your colleagues
• Team player, don’t be sticking with low priority details, ability to accept different approaches, always being focused to complete priority task items.

What Makes You Eligible

• Be willing to travel up to 25%, domestic and international travel.
• Be willing to work in an office, client-site, home office
• This position requires the use of a HARMAN or customer-owned vehicle.  As such, any offer of employment will be contingent upon having a clean driving record, which will be evaluated and determined in HARMAN’s sole discretion, no more than 4 active points for moving violations (issued by any motor vehicle agency), and no references to operating a vehicle under the influence of controlled substances within the last 10 years.

What We Offer

• We offer an authentic diverse, equal, and inclusive work environment that fosters and encourages professional and personal development in a truly global organization.
• You will work on products and services that touch people’s lives and will change the industrial standards, being a part of the transformations in our industry.
• Our work environments are fast paced, challenging, empowering, collaborative, flexible and exciting.
• We offer our own HARMAN University with regular updates on the new technologies and trends by utilizing various sessions organized by Self Learning and Development Trainings to help grow and advance talent.
• We offer competitive compensation/benefit programs and recognition programs

HARMAN is proud to be an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard torace, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.