Position: Principal Project Systems & Execution Salary: $160,000-$200,000 On Site Reports to VP of Operations/Director of Engineering Basic Function The Senior Manager, Technical Programs leads Bullen's most important cross-functional projects and builds the simple, repeatable system the whole company uses to start, run, and finish important work. Working with the leadership team, this person turns strategic priorities ("rocks") into clearly chartered, well-resourced projects. They personally lead Bullen's most complex capital, technical, and cross-functional projects. They build on the team charter work already proven in engineering to create a project framework that fits Bullen's size and culture. They give leadership clear visibility into project health and resource capacity. The role leads mainly through influence. Functional managers keep responsibility for their people, technical decisions, and departmental deliverables. This person makes ownership clear, surfaces risks early, and develops managers and emerging leaders so smaller projects can run well inside their own departments. The goal is not the most sophisticated system possible. It is a practical, well-documented, low-burden system that people choose to use, introduced at a pace Bullen can sustain. This person leads the Bullen way, through teamwork, excellence, humility, and integrity, so that projects bring people together, everyone knows their role, and every voice is heard. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Lead Strategic and Cross-Functional Projects - Partner with the leadership team to translate Bullen's rocks into chartered projects with clear scope, sponsors, owners, timelines, resources, and measures of success.
- Personally lead Bullen's highest-priority capital, technical, and cross-functional projects from charter through closeout.
- Work with functional managers to build integrated schedules, milestones, dependencies, and resource plans.
- Run effective project meetings, communication routines, action tracking, and follow-up.
- Identify schedule, resource, technical, and execution risks early, and work with managers on practical solutions.
- Facilitate decisions while keeping technical decisions with the right subject-matter experts and functional leaders.
- Run a disciplined process for reviewing and approving scope changes.
- Use data to respectfully challenge unrealistic commitments, and bring leadership alternatives and recommendations.
- Choose Waterfall, Agile, or hybrid methods based on what each project needs.
- Build structured problem-solving and risk tools (DMAIC, FMEA, risk register, root cause analysis, DOE, SPC, value stream mapping) into planning and execution where they add value.
- Lead project closeout and lessons learned to improve future work.
Build Bullen's Project System and Capability Learn how projects are run at Bullen today, and work with the managers and employees who lead them now. - Design, document, and own Bullen's team and project charter process, from idea intake and approval through kickoff, execution, and closeout.
- Build on what already works, including engineering's team charters and the existing project charter template.
- Set up a tiered project classification, aligned with PMI/PMBOK practices, that matches planning and oversight to a project's size, cost, and risk (approval authority, charter requirements, reporting cadence).
- Define how team charters capture purpose, scope, roles, norms, decision rights, and working agreements, with inclusion and psychological safety built in from the first meeting.
- Create simple shared templates (charters, kickoff agendas, RACI, risk registers, status reports, lessons learned) usable from the production floor to the leadership table.
- Design and deliver training on the charter process and project fundamentals for managers, engineers, supervisors, and emerging leaders, partnering with HR & Culture on curriculum, reinforcement, and follow-up.
- Coach project leads one-on-one through their first chartered projects: model first, then guide, then step back.
- Build a bench of internal project leaders so project capacity does not depend on a few people.
- Mentor engineers and technical staff and support their individual development plans.
- Start a community of practice where project leads share lessons, celebrate wins, and solve problems together.
- Introduce new processes in small steps, keep paperwork to a minimum, and improve the system using PDCA and feedback from project teams.
Project Visibility, Resource Planning, and Tools Keep visibility of the company-wide project portfolio, and help leadership prioritize, sequence, and resource work. - Set up project-health reporting with clear green/yellow/red status and escalation criteria.
- Build resource-capacity views by person and skill to show current and future constraints.
- Show leadership the resource and schedule impact of adding, delaying, or reprioritizing major projects.
- As the system matures, add visibility into budgets and spending.
- Evaluate tools (project-management platforms, Microsoft 365, spreadsheets, dashboards) against Bullen's needs, and partner with IT on integration, access, cybersecurity, and support.
- Keep the system documented and supportable, with user instructions, training materials, admin documentation, and at least one trained backup administrator.
Culture, Communication, and Leadership - Model Bullen's values of teamwork, excellence, humility, and integrity in every project and interaction.
- Lead with a servant leadership mindset: create psychological safety, invite input, and give credit to the team.
- Facilitate project kickoffs and team-launch sessions that build clarity, trust, and shared ownership from day one.
- Adapt communication for audiences from the production floor to senior leadership, and give clear, honest, timely status updates.
- Help teams work through disagreement constructively using the Bullen Bridge and other shared tools.
- Partner closely with Process Engineering, Operations, Quality, Sales, Finance, and HR & Culture so projects support, rather than compete with, day-to-day work.
Delegation of Authorities This position owns Bullen's project process. Functional managers own their people and technical decisions. - Process authority. Approves project charters and sets project roles within established thresholds, and holds projects to the agreed framework.
- Project direction. Directs project work and assignments within approved charters, in partnership with functional managers. Negotiates resource assignments and priorities with managers, and may recommend changes based on portfolio needs.
- Escalation. Escalates significant resource, schedule, scope, or priority tradeoffs to the appropriate leadership level for final decision.
- Financial authority. Manages approved project budgets within established limits.
- What stays with functional managers. Supervision of their employees, technical decisions, departmental deliverables, and smaller projects run under the common framework.
- Customer communication. Customer-facing project communication generally stays with the commercial, technical, or functional owner.
- Direct reports. None at start; may be added as the program grows.
The individual must set direction for cross-functional work without relying on positional authority, earning trust through expertise, consistency, and care for people. They make sure ownership is clearly defined, understood, and tracked rather than becoming the owner of every deliverable. They carry out these responsibilities in accordance with Bullen's policies and applicable laws. Working Relationships Works closely with the leadership team. Partners daily with all departments and with project team members at every level. Collaborates and communicates effectively with people of varied education and work experience, and with customers, vendors, and contractors as projects require. Leadership Qualities We Are Looking For - A teacher at heart. Gets more satisfaction from helping others succeed than from being the expert in the room.
- A systems thinker. Sees how people, process, and technology connect, and designs simple solutions that last.
- Trust before process. Listens to existing expertise before recommending changes, and earns buy-in before relying on process or authority.
- Discipline without bureaucracy. Brings clarity and structure to complex, ambiguous work while keeping paperwork low.
- Patient and pragmatic about change. Builds project maturity in steps and values lasting improvement over speed for its own sake.
- An inclusive facilitator. Makes sure quieter voices are heard and everyone knows their role.
- Respectfully candid. Holds teams accountable, challenges managers and senior leaders with data when commitments exceed capacity, and delivers honest news early.
- Humble and curious. Open to feedback, quick to give credit, and comfortable saying "I don't know yet."
- Calm and steady under pressure.
- Technically credible with engineers, operators, and executives, without replacing subject-matter experts.
Working Conditions The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Work is performed in an office setting and on the production floor. While on the production floor, the employee is occasionally exposed to work near moving mechanical parts; fumes or airborne particles; toxic or caustic chemicals; risk of electrical shock; and vibration. The noise level in the environment is moderate. Qualifications To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. - Bachelor's degree in engineering, engineering technology, manufacturing, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
- At least 8 years of manufacturing, engineering, or technical experience, including at least 5 years leading complex cross-functional projects and teams.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing and engineering environments.
- Experience with project scheduling, risk management, resource and capacity planning, scope management, and project governance.
- Experience managing capital projects and several concurrent projects with competing priorities.
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams and influence outcomes without direct reporting authority.
- Demonstrated experience teaching, training, or mentoring others, with examples of people who grew under your leadership.
- Ability to make clear, persuasive presentations on complex topics to production personnel, senior leadership, and outside groups.
- Ability to respond effectively to sensitive inquiries or concerns.
- Ability to apply logical and scientific thinking to a wide range of practical problems.
- Proficiency with project-management software (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, monday.com), spreadsheets, and Microsoft 365.
Preferred - Master's degree (MBA, Engineering Management, or similar).
- Six Sigma Green Belt; Black Belt a plus.
- Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
- Experience building a process, system, or program from the ground up, or significantly improving organizational project-management processes, and getting it adopted across an organization.
- Experience in precision or advanced manufacturing, with working knowledge of GD&T, DFM, DFMEA/PFMEA, DOE, and SPC.
- Experience with dashboards and data tools such as Power BI, Minitab, or JMP, and familiarity with CAD. Software-development experience is not required.
Physical Demands The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear and taste or smell. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee is frequently required to lift up to 10 pounds and occasionally required to lift up to 50 pounds. Vision requirements include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. Performance Indicators Success in year one means major projects run well, Bullen has a working project framework, and managers choose to use it. First-year milestones By | Milestone | Month 3 | Current project practices reviewed with the managers who lead projects today; draft framework and project tiers shared for feedback | Month 6 | Charter process documented and pilots beginning on at least 3 projects; project-health reporting in place for major projects | Month 12 | Framework in use for all qualifying projects; first cohort of project leads trained; resource-capacity view available to leadership |
Ongoing measures - Percentage of qualifying projects launched with an approved charter.
- On-time, on-budget, and in-scope delivery of major projects, with issues surfaced early enough to respond.
- Number of employees trained, and project leads coached to independent leadership.
- Project team feedback on clarity, inclusion, and collaboration.
- Manager feedback that the system adds value rather than paperwork.
- Reduced project load on functional managers, so they can focus on leading their teams.
- Achievement of assigned PMD goals and objectives.
- Cohesive teamwork within the company and professionalism in the performance of duties and responsibilities.
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