JOB SUMMARY:
The New Product Development (NPD) Project Manager is responsible for leading the execution of the Product Development Process (PDP) across Bennington Marine's portfolio of new product initiatives. This role serves as the central coordinator for cross-functional product development activities from opportunity identification and concept development through production launch and post-launch review.
The NPD Project Manager ensures projects progress successfully through all PDP gates, maintaining alignment among Product Management, Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Purchasing, Quality, Finance, Sales, and Marketing teams. The position drives project execution, governance, risk mitigation, schedule adherence, resource coordination, and launch readiness to deliver innovative products that meet customer needs, support growth objectives, and achieve financial targets.
The ideal candidate is a highly organized leader who excels at driving accountability in a matrixed organization, managing complex development programs, and balancing strategic priorities with execution excellence.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES :
Product Development Process Leadership
Own and facilitate the execution of the PDP for all assigned product development programs.
Ensure successful completion of PDP deliverables, gate reviews, approvals, and launch milestones.
Lead development and maintenance of integrated project timelines, critical paths, resource plans
Monitor project progress against approved business objectives, budgets, schedules, and resources
Drive timely decision-making and resolution of issues that impact project scope, timing, cost, or quality.
Cross-Functional Program Management
Coordinate the efforts of Product Management, Engineering, Industrial Design, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Marketing, Finance, and Quality throughout the product development lifecycle.
Establish clear accountability for deliverables, milestones, and action items across functional teams.
Facilitate regular project core team meetings and drive follow-up actions to closure.
Communicate project status, risks, opportunities, and resource constraints to leadership.
Product Council & Governance
Lead the scheduling, preparation, and administration of Product Council meetings and PDP gate reviews.
Develop executive-ready presentations and supporting documentation for project approvals and major business decisions.
Ensure product scope, business cases, technical requirements, and readiness criteria are appropriately defined for each PDP phase.
Track and document project decisions, risks, assumptions, and mitigation plans.
Business Case & Strategic Evaluation
Partner with Product Management and Finance to develop and maintain product business cases.
Evaluate product opportunities based on strategic fit, customer demand, competitive position, margin potential, investment requirements, and organizational capacity.
Support prioritization decisions within the product development portfolio.
Monitor project financial performance, including development costs, tooling investments, capital expenditures, and launch assumptions.
Product Feasibility & Launch Readiness
Collaborate with Engineering and Operations teams to assess design feasibility, technical readiness, manufacturability, supplier readiness, and launch risks.
Coordinate launch readiness reviews to ensure all product, commercial, operational, and marketing deliverables are completed prior to production release.
Support validation activities including proto@type evaluation, design validation, production validation, certification requirements, and production ramp-up activities.
Ensure successful transfer of products from development into production and commercialization.
Innovation & Competitive Intelligence
Maintain awareness of emerging market trends, customer needs, competitive products, and technology developments within the marine industry and adjacent industries.
Facilitate incorporation of competitive intelligence and innovation opportunities into development roadmaps
Partner with Product Management to identify opportunities for differentiation and value creation.
Continuous Improvement
Lead project post-mortem and lessons-learned reviews following product launches.
Recommend improvements to PDP processes, project management practices, governance, reporting tools, and resource planning methodologies.
Drive increased organization-wide project visibility and execution discipline.
Collaborate with a cross-functional project teams utilizing internal and external resources to implement projects and ensure goals are being met by prioritizing, monitoring and executing workflows
Proactively escalate and inform of all project lifecycle projects by tracking and reporting on tollgates, deliverables, derailers, deadlines, resource staffing, and other issues to facilitate joint problem solving
Prepare product scopes on multiple projects while simultaneously working closely with the brand managers and industrial design team to ensure new products meet and exceed the expectations of our customer
Assists the General Manager to ensure product margins meet/exceed Company objectives
Help facilitate financial and technical justification for product selection, collaborate on design direction and final product verifications
Prepare product development objectives and coordinate all phases of product development life cycle through introduction to market
Collaborates with a wide variety of functional areas such as Sales, Marketing, Finance, Brand Management, Product Development, Industrial Design, Engineering, and Operations to develop and provide product support responsive to customer needs and market opportunities
Bachelor's degree (B.A.) from four-year college/university or experience in project management, sales, or marketing
The individual must have the ability to adapt and work in an ever-changing work
Excellent communication and project management experience
Ability to understand and make decisions based on market research and financial/technical analysis of emerging markets, consumer wants and product need
Prior experience in the Marine Industry is a plus but not required
Ability to work with complex cross functional teams
Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Protected Veterans/Disabled
