R&D Project Manager

Position Summary

The NPD Project Manager – Air Cooling Technologies is responsible for leading new product development (NPD) projects within the Advanced Development team, with a focus on innovative air cooling solutions. This role owns the full project lifecycle from concept initiation through design validation and product launch, ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery while maintaining alignment with MAS HVAC’s engineering standards and strategic objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional NPD projects for new air-cooling technology from concept through commercialization, using a structured stage-gate or agile development process

• Develop comprehensive project plans including scope definition, schedules, resource plans, risk registers, and budget forecasts

• Drive project execution by coordinating activities across Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Marketing

• Monitor project performance against plan; proactively identify risks, develop mitigation strategies, and escalate blockers as appropriate

• Conduct regular project status reviews with stakeholders and present updates to Advanced Development leadership

• Partner with the PMO to adopt and maintain consistent project management practices, templates, and reporting standards across NPD efforts

• Facilitate stage-gate reviews, ensuring deliverables meet defined criteria before progressing to the next phase

• Support continuous improvement of MAS HVAC’s NPD process based on lessons learned and industry best practices

• Serve as the primary point of contact and communication hub for assigned NPD projects

• Build strong working relationships with R&D engineers, product managers, manufacturing engineers, and external suppliers or partners

• Cook with Supply Chain and Operations to ensure design-for-manufacturability (DFM) considerations are addressed early in the development process

• Collaborate with Quality to ensure new products meet applicable performance, safety, and regulatory requirements

• Manage project budgets and track expenditures against approved plans; provide regular financial forecasts and variance explanations

• Coordinate resource allocation across project teams; surface resource conflicts and work with functional managers to resolve them

Required Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline or equal amount of relevant experience

• PMP certification (Project Management Professional) or equivalent formal project management education (e.g., a degree program with a concentration in project/program management) or equal amount of relevant experience

• Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in project management, with at least 3 years leading NPD or product development projects in a manufacturing or engineering environment

• Demonstrated proficiency with project scheduling tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent)

• Strong understanding of stage-gate product development processes

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills

Preferred Experience

• In HVAC, thermal management, or related mechanical systems industries

• Familiarity with air-side or fluid-side heat transfer principles (air cooling, AHUs, fan coils, heat exchangers)

• Experience working within or alongside a PMO structure

• Background in design-for-manufacturability (DFM) or design-for-quality (DFQ) methodologies

• Proficiency with PLM or ERP systems

• Six Sigma or Lean certification