Product Projects & Series Mgmt. – Domestic Truck Asia/DICV

Tasks

Product Projects Lead – Domestic/Exports (Trucks & Buses)

Drive end-to-end strategy and execution of product projects for Domestic/Export Truck & Bus platforms, ensuring delivery on Quality, Cost, and Timing targets, while enabling competitive and market-relevant products through strong cross-functional and global alignment, thereby contributing to organizational success.

Main tasks:

Ownership:

- Taking ownership for the complete project targets (Quality, Cost, Delivery/Timing) across all assigned projects - Responsible for end-to-end delivery and achievement of project milestones - Responsible for managing the project funding within given targets and ensuring optimal utilization

Strategy:

- Responsible for evaluation and steering of variant requests in alignment with Market & Sales requirements - Monitor, evaluate, and report product characteristics and project metrics to ensure strategic oversight - Support development of long-term product strategy and platform roadmap decisions

Planning & Execution:

- Platform Lead – Responsible for planning, assessing, reporting, and steering of all projects and deliverables - Responsible for structured project planning and execution across QG stages (QG09 to QG01) - Ensure alignment of project timelines, deliverables, and cross-functional dependencies - Drive readiness for industrialization and smooth ramp-up of project volumes

Steering & Financial Management:

- Responsible for overall project steering, including progress tracking and performance monitoring - Ensure adherence to cost targets and financial governance of projects - Provide regular status updates, escalation of issues, and decision-making inputs - Drive alignment between project performance and business objectives

Continuous Improvement & Risk Management:

- Conduct risk identification, assessment, and mitigation across all projects - Monitor and report project performance metrics to drive continuous improvement - Establish feedback loops and lessons learned mechanisms across projects - Identify training needs for project team members and drive capability enhancement

Global Alignment:

- Lead cross-functional team alignment to understand market requirements and finalize product concepts - Collaborate with Daimler global teams for platform harmonization and best practice sharing - Present recommendations and updates to IPSC and iPC forums - Ensure alignment between local and global product strategies

Leadership:

- Lead Product Projects team at DICV, ensuring alignment towards organizational goals - Responsible for development, motivation, and performance management of team members - Drive cross-functional team meetings (CTMs) to review progress and resolve challenges - Lead people management initiatives, mentoring, and capability building

Communication relations:

Stakeholder:

- Head of Product Management & Strategy / Leadership: Alignment on strategic direction, project priorities, and key decisions (Often) - Cross-functional Teams (Engineering, M&S, Quality, Costing, Procurement, IT, Logistics, Project Leads): Ensure alignment on project deliverables, timelines, and issue resolution to achieve QCD targets (Often) - DICV Management / OpCom: Provide regular updates on project progress, risks, cost performance, and strategic alignment (Often) - Daimler Global Teams / Central Functions: Drive platform alignment, knowledge exchange, and best practice sharing across global projects (Often)

Qualifications

Education:

- B.E (Mechanical / Automotive), Masters (will be an added advantage)

Experience:

- 12–20 years of experience in the automotive industry, preferably in commercial vehicles - Proven experience in product project management / program management across full lifecycle - Prior experience in leading cross-functional teams and complex projects - Exposure to global collaboration / multi-region project environments - Experience in change management and driving organizational alignment

Skill Sets:

Leadership & Behavioral Traits:

- Strong leadership and team management, with focus on mentoring and people development - High ownership, accountability, and execution focus - Strategic thinking with ability to translate into execution - Ability to influence and align cross-functional and global stakeholders - Strong communication, interpersonal, and negotiation skills - Proven ability to build high-performing teams and develop future talent - Adaptability, resilience, and decision-making under ambiguity

Functional Traits:

- Strong expertise in project and program management (QG/milestone-based execution) - Good understanding of product lifecycle management and vehicle development processes - Knowledge of costing, financial management, and budget control - Experience in risk identification, assessment, and mitigation - Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities - Good understanding of Truck & Bus platforms / automotive systems - Strong ability to interpret customer and market needs across India and export markets (South East Asia, Indonesia, Australia) to drive product decisions