Program Manager

New Product Development Program Manager

The New Product Development (NPD) Program 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 Program 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 the 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 prototype 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.

Skills & Knowledge

Education: Bachelor's Degree in Business, Engineering, Operations or related discipline. MBA or advanced degree is preferred. PMP certification preferred.

Experience: Minimum 5 years of experience leading cross-functional project management initiatives. Experience managing projects through a structured stage-gate product development process. Experience developing project business cases, schedules, budgets, and executive-level communications. Manufacturing, marine, powersports, automotive, RV, or durable goods industry experience preferred.

Leadership & Communication: Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence without direct authority. Excellent verbal, written, presentation, and facilitation skills. Ability to effectively communicate project status and recommendations to executive leadership. Strong conflict resolution and stakeholder management capabilities.

Program & Project Management: Expertise in project planning, scheduling, resource management, risk mitigation, and critical path analysis. Demonstrated success leading multiple concurrent projects in a matrix organization. Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail and follow-through. Ability to balance strategic objectives with day-to-day execution requirements.

Business & Financial Acumen: Understanding of product business cases, financial analysis, ROI calculations, capital expenditures, and profitability drivers. Working knowledge of make-versus-buy analyses, sourcing considerations, tooling investments, and manufacturing economics. Ability to make data-driven recommendations despite incomplete information.

Technical Competence: Comfortable participating in technical product development discussions and engineering reviews. Understanding of product development methodologies, validation processes, manufacturing readiness, and commercialization activities. Experience with Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and collaboration platforms. Familiarity with Lean, Six Sigma, structured problem-solving methodologies, and continuous improvement practices.