Product Engineering NPI Team Lead

About the role

Lead the New Product Introduction (NPI) team to build stage‑gate processes, readiness criteria, and change discipline for hardware ranging from compute racks to medium‑voltage switchgear. Own portfolio‑level visibility, set transfer‑to‑manufacturing standards, and develop the NPI TPM team.

Responsibilities

• Build the NPI process from scratch: gate definitions, readiness criteria, ECO and change discipline that hold across products from racks to MV switchgear.
• Lead and develop the NPI TPM team, allocating 3 TPMs across 6 product families and making coverage tradeoffs explicit.
• Own portfolio‑level program visibility with rigorous status and risk reporting so leadership hears about problems from you first.
• Set transfer‑to‑manufacturing standards with manufacturing engineering, defining exit criteria a program must clear before production takes ownership.
• Hold the RACI between TPMs and engineering technical leads so ownership never blurs and no decision waits on a debate about whose call it is.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in New Product Introduction (NPI), Technical Program Management (TPM), Product Engineering, Product Operations, Manufacturing Program Management, or related disciplines within hardware organizations.
• 3+ years of direct leadership experience managing TPM, NPI, Product Operations, Program Management, or Product Engineering teams.
• Demonstrated experience building, implementing, and scaling stage‑gate NPI processes, readiness reviews, manufacturing transfer procedures, and product lifecycle governance frameworks.
• Experience leading multiple concurrent hardware development programs across diverse product families, balancing schedule, risk, resources, readiness, and business priorities.
• Experience driving products from concept and design release through validation, pilot production, manufacturing transfer, production ramp, and lifecycle management.
• Strong understanding of Engineering Change Orders (ECOs), Engineering Change Notices (ECNs), deviation management, configuration control, design release processes, and product lifecycle management.
• Experience defining manufacturing transfer readiness criteria and partnering with Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, and Product Development teams.
• Experience establishing program governance structures including stage‑gate reviews, program health reviews, risk management frameworks, executive reporting, and cross‑functional decision processes.
• Proven ability to build accountability frameworks, RACI models, ownership structures, and decision‑making processes across engineering organizations.
• Strong leadership experience mentoring, developing, coaching, and scaling technical program managers and NPI professionals.
• Excellent executive communication skills with experience presenting program health, risk, resource constraints, and readiness decisions to executive leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting AI infrastructure, data centers, compute systems, networking hardware, power systems, electrical infrastructure, industrial equipment, semiconductors, robotics, or advanced manufacturing.
• Experience working within hardware OEM, ODM, server, networking, power infrastructure, or mission‑critical infrastructure organizations.
• Familiarity with PLM systems such as Teamcenter, Windchill, Arena, Agile, 3DEXPERIENCE.
• Experience implementing portfolio management, program management, or NPI tooling.
• Experience supporting manufacturing transfer into new factories, production facilities, or contract manufacturing environments.
• Experience managing portfolios spanning mechanical, electrical, compute, networking, cooling, and power‑infrastructure products simultaneously.
• Experience building NPI organizations, TPM teams, or program‑management functions from the ground up.
• Familiarity with modular infrastructure, rack systems, compute hardware, switchgear, power equipment, liquid cooling systems, or integrated hardware products.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Commuter
• 401K with company matching

Pay

$208K – $263K base salary; equity offered.