Program Manager- Engineering Excellence

Make your mark at the world's largest HVAC company!

Daikin Applied is hiring a Program Manager- Engineering Excellence to join the team. Reporting to the Director, Engineering Excellence, this position is responsible for improving Daikin Applied America's overall product development lifecycle by embedding a continuous improvement and lean product development culture. This position will work directly with our product development teams to improve our processes, tools, and systems to fully unleash their productivity.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Demonstrate expert level competence in understanding the full end-to-end aspects of the product development lifecycle. Focus on driving standardization, simplification, and digitalization for & across the product development lifecycle. Demonstrate and deploy Lean principles to ensure continuous improvement, deployment and execution of Agile practices.

• Support Engineering Excellence initiatives focused on standardizing and simplifying product development processes.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to coordinate and track improvement projects, report progress, and assist in ensuring successful completion.
• Leads in facilitating Lean and Agile practices within product development teams to promote continuous improvement.
• Support and participate in Kaizen and Continuous Improvement events across engineering functions.
• Provide guidance on basic Lean tools and practices, such as process mapping, SIPOCs, and RACI charts, with mentorship from senior leaders.
• Develop and maintain standard work documents, templates, and process documentation to support process improvement efforts.
• Work with cross-functional stakeholders to support productivity goals and staff engagement.
• Communicate effectively with peers and management on project status, challenges, and opportunities.
• Assist in conducting periodic process audits to support standardization efforts.

Relationship Management and Deliverables:

• Foster a culture of continuous improvement in product development practices.
• Support efforts to enhance consistency and quality across Engineering processes.
• Collaborate with teams to ensure alignment on best practices and improvement initiatives.
• Assist in tracking key metrics related to engineering productivity and process efficiency.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Scientific or IT/Technical degree
• 4+ years of progressive experience including 2+ years of direct people leadership experience in Engineering, Manufacturing, Project Management, or related disciplines, with a proven track record of influencing and leading across the end-to-end product development lifecycle, including engineering, operations, manufacturing, supply chain, and sales. OR a minimum of 8+ years of the experience above in lieu of a Bachelor's degree
• Strong experience leading New Product Introduction (NPI) programs using Stage Gate processes, ensuring cross-functional alignment, milestone adherence, and risk mitigation across product development cycles.
• Experience with and ability to drive and institutionalize robust requirements management processes, ensuring clear traceability, validation, and alignment from concept through launch.
• Strong experience with Lean Six Sigma and Continuous Improvement methodologies, with demonstrated success in deploying enterprise-wide systems, process improvements, and strategic initiatives.
• Demonstrated application of Lean Product Development practices, Agile, and SCRUM methodologies to accelerate product development and enhance cross-functional collaboration.
• Experienced in leading organizational change and driving cultural adoption of process excellence.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Engineering, Scientific or IT/Technical degree
• 8+ years of progressive experience including 4+ years of direct people leadership experience in Engineering, Manufacturing, Project Management, or related disciplines, with a proven track record of influencing and leading across the end-to-end product development lifecycle, including engineering, operations, manufacturing, supply chain, and sales. OR a minimum of 12+ years of experience noted above AND 4+ years of direct people leadership experience in lieu of a Bachelor's degree
• Demonstrated leadership of complex programs and/or enterprise process improvement projects, with a track record of successful delivery and cross-functional stakeholder management.
• Strong knowledge of quality and design engineering principles, manufacturing processes, testing, and inspections, with an ability to bridge gaps between design, manufacturing, and field performance.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all organizational levels, articulate complex ideas clearly, and lead high-performing technical and cross-functional teams.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel), SharePoint, Storm Board, Mural, Miro, Agile systems, POL Embedded Features/ Capabilities, Azure DevOps, RPM Resource Reporting, MS Project, Visio, and other project management and collaboration tools.
• Willingness to travel up to 10% annually, based on business needs.

Benefits:

• Daikin Applied offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements:
• Multiple medical insurance plan options + dental and vision insurance
• 401K retirement plan with employer match
• Paid time off and company paid holidays
• Paid sick time in accordance with the federal, state and local law
• Tuition Reimbursement after 6 months of continuous service
  
  

The typical annual base salary for this position ranges from $100,800 - $155,000+ 15% variable bonus in Minnesota. The range displayed represents the pay range for all positions in the job grade which this position falls. Individual base pay will depend on a wide range of factors including your skills, qualifications, experience, and location.