Associate Manager, Product Development

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

The Associate Manager, Product Development leads the Dongguan side of the Customer Test Vehicle (CTV) program and acts as the Product Design Engineering (PDE) project coordinator on assigned new product development projects. The role owns CTV planning, build coordination, inventory control and issue closure in Asia, working as the direct counterpart to the CTV Engineering Technical Coordinator in Lisle so that one standardized process runs across both sites. It also builds and maintains the dashboards that give engineering and leadership a single, current view of project issues, CTV build status and testing progress.

SCOPE:

This job supports the key design centres in Asia and coordinate with Lisle counterparts. The role works independently, with activity and results reviewed with the manager on an agreed cadence and is focused on the successful execution of critical CTV builds and tracking of key issues and test progress of product design projects. It operates across time zones with the Lisle CTV coordinator and with remote laboratories, contract manufacturers and vendor teams, and calls for creative problem solving, strong project management, organization and clear communication. This position in Dongguan owns Asia CTV build, inventory and contract manufacturer and vendor interface, and owns the dashboards and issue reporting that serve all sites.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

CTV Process Ownership and Coordination

• Own the CTV lifecycle in Asia from design kick-off through build, validation and delivery, and keep it aligned with the global standard workflow maintained with the Lisle coordinator.
• Control CTV inventory end to end -bare boards, connectors, cables, assembled vehicles and known-good units -with accurate records of quantity, revision, location, ownership and disposition.
• Track and document every CTV build, covering material sourcing, assembly status, test results and final disposition.
• Ensure contract manufacturers and SMT vendors follow validated processes and prevent the use of down-rev or unqualified components.
• Apply inspection checkpoints such as CT scan, X-ray and continuity probing to confirm assembly quality before test.
• Manage logistics of PCB, connector and cable handling between Dongguan, Lisle, contract manufacturing partners and the reliability and SI laboratories.
• Submit and track Jira requests for SMA attachment, CT scan, SI lab testing and related laboratory services, and drive them to closure.
• Drive root cause analysis and rework plans for failed CTVs, closing the loop with the Reliability Test Laboratory, PDE and the contract manufacturer.
• Maintain clear documentation of CTV configurations, test coverage and quality metrics, and support standardization of test fixtures, mate assurance features and debug workflows.

Dashboards and Project Analytics

• Design, build and maintain dashboards that track project issues, CTV build status and testing progress, and keep them current as the single source of truth for the team.
• Define the data sources, update cadence and key metrics behind each dashboard, drawing on Jira, SAP, test records and the product development schedule.
• Maintain an issue log that captures open project issues with owner, severity, root cause status and target closure date, and escalate ageing items.
• Publish regular status to PM, SI, PDE and leadership covering CTV status, testing progress, blockers and recovery plans.
• Use dashboard data to identify recurring failure modes and process gaps and propose improvements to the CTV and product development workflow.

Product Development Project Leadership

• Act as the PDE project coordinator on assigned new product development projects, managing cost, quality and timing against the project plan.
• Coordinate and collaborate with cross-functional teams through project planning and execution and monitor key product design qualification milestones.
• Proactively identify, document and execute risk reduction activities that limit cost, quality and timing risk.
• Communicate project status clearly to stakeholders and raise barriers early so management support can be secured.
• Advocate team adherence to the Product Development Process and related procedures and maintain planned and actual schedules for problem investigation and troubleshooting.
• Perform other related duties as assigned by Management.

EDUCATION:

REQUIRED:Bachelor’s degree

PREFERRED:Bachelor’s degree in Engineering; PMP (Project Management Professional) certification

WORK EXPERIENCE:

REQUIRED:Minimum 5 years in product development or engineering project coordination, including experience leading cross-functional teams and coordinating hardware builds, laboratory testing or test vehicle activity

PREFERRED:Experience in connector / cable manufacturing environment; including high-speed PCB manufacturing, SMT processes, SI test for high-speed test vehicles; CT scan & X-ray analysis.

SKILLS & ABILITIES:

REQUIRED:Fluent written and spoken English, with effective communication and presentation skills. Strong organizational skills, with the ability to anticipate, plan, prioritize and monitor a workload of competing priorities. Proficient with Jira, SharePoint and Microsoft Excel, with a demonstrated ability to build and maintain reporting dashboards. Strong leadership and interpersonal skills to influence peers, management and external partners toward positive outcomes. Proactive, with demonstrated initiative and a sense of urgency, and comfortable working through ambiguity. Able to work across remote and onsite teams, including laboratory technicians, PDEs and SI engineers. Willing to travel domestically and internationally as required.

PREFERRED:Power BI or an equivalent data visualization tool. Microsoft Project or an equivalent portfolio management system. Experience with structured problem solving and continuous improvement methods applied to test vehicles and new product development workflows.