Project Management Officer

Position Overview:

• Position title/ Department: Lead – R&D PMO
• Reports to: Head of R&D
• Direct reports: Project Coordinator & Documentation Controller
• Location / base: Mumbai (on-site)
• Total experience: 8 to 10 years
• Education: BE/ B.Tech in Electronics, Telecom, Mechatronics, Mechanical
• Employment type: Full-time, permanent
• Certification: PMP is a must

Role Purpose:

Own end-to-end project management and programme monitoring for organization's R&D portfolio of optical emission spectrometry instruments, converting a multidisciplinary engineering pipeline into predictable, gate-controlled and cost-managed product launches. Accountable for portfolio health visibility for schedule, cost, risk & compliance, enabling management for evidence-based go/no-go decisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• NPD & Stage-Gate Governance and Design Reviews:
• Own, maintain and continuously improve R&D's stage-gate NPD framework.
• Facilitate gate reviews and ensure gate deliverables are complete, accurate and evidence-based.
• Planning, scheduling and resource mapping:
• Build and maintain an integrated master schedule and resource-capacity plan.
• Track and report baseline-versus-actual variances.
• Run the operating cadence: Stand-ups, weekly or fortnightly reviews, blocker escalation.
• Cost and budget management:
• Own the R&D budget cycle and project cost plans; govern target product cost.
• Maintain BOM maturity and release:
• Drive BOM maturity, release and change control through NPI rollout in coordination with Operations.
• Risk and issue management:
• Maintain live risk, issue, dependency and decision registers with structured escalation and mitigation plans.
• Project Reporting, Dashboards and MIS:
• Build and present MIS and dashboards covering gate status, schedule variance, cost variance and top risks

• PMO Capability and Processes:
• Standardise the PMO toolkit and project-management practices.
• Define and implement new processes and drive continuous process improvement.
• Leadership and Stakeholder Management:
• Lead, mentor and develop the PMO team
• Present R&D project status to the leadership team and manage expectations on date, scope and cost with evidence
• Cross Functional Management
• Interact with Operations, Service and NPI as needed to drive product evaluation closure and subsequent release
• Ensure seamless co-ordination with cross functional teams to deliver project outcomes on time

Tools and Systems:

• Must have: Advance MS Project & Excel experience, and executive-grade presentation skills.
• Good to have: Asana, Jira and/or other project management tools.

Soft Skills:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with clarity of thought and articulation
• Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams
• Proactive and can-do approach with strong sense of ownership and accountability
• Ability to manage timelines under tight schedules

Required Experience:

8–10 years of total experience, with the following composition:

• Minimum 5 years of technical project management in a hardware product design and development organisation
• Must have experience in programme management with several interdependent projects
• Experience working in a multidisciplinary hardware environment spanning electronics/embedded, mechanical and software/firmware
• Experience managing a formal stage-gate process and solid understanding of change management systems and BOM implications
• Team leadership experience, including performance management of direct reports