Automotive Program Manager – Exterior (Luxury / Sports Cars)

InOpTra Digital; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 15,269,000 - 22,904,000; Full time

Job summary

InOpTra Digital is seeking an experienced Automotive Program Manager for exterior systems on a premium sports-car program. The role is onsite in the United Kingdom and requires coordinating cross-functional teams to deliver exterior components from design maturity through validation and production readiness.

The ideal candidate has 15+ years in automotive exterior engineering with 2–3 years in program management, strong stakeholder management, and hands-on experience with CATIA V5.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years in automotive exterior systems with 2–3 years in Program Management.
• Experience in exterior systems for premium, luxury, or sports-car programs.
• Experience with European premium OEMs/T1 suppliers is advantageous.
• Familiarity with Class-A, tooling, and supplier industrialization activities.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end program delivery for exterior systems, ensuring milestones, deliverables, timelines, quality, and cost targets.
• Coordinate exterior workstreams (bumpers, fenders, hood, doors, closures, tailgate, trim, glazing, lighting, sealing).
• Demonstrate proficiency in CATIA V5, with exposure to NX and PLM tools.
• Manage program plans, gateways, deliverables, risks, dependencies, engineering changes, and issue resolution.
• Coordinate with styling, Class-A, design engineering, packaging, CAE, aerodynamics, lighting, validation, manufacturing, purchasing, quality, and suppliers.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder management

Customer-facing communication

Leadership

Project coordination

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Mechanical or Automotive Engineering

Tools

CATIA V5

NX

PLM tools

Job description

Automotive Program Manager – Exterior (Luxury / Sports Cars)

15 Years

Full-Time

Automotive Program Manager – Exterior (Luxury / Sports Cars)

Experience: 15+ years

Location: Onsite – United Kingdom

Employment Type: Full-time

No. of position: 1

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Automotive Program Manager to lead exterior workstreams for a premium sports-car program based onsite in the UK.

The ideal candidate will have experience coordinating exterior product development, managing cross-functional interfaces, and driving program delivery from design maturity through validation and production readiness.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end program delivery for automotive exterior systems, ensuring milestones, deliverables, timelines, quality, and cost targets are met.
• Coordinate exterior workstreams covering areas such as bumpers, fenders, hood, doors, closures, tailgate or decklid, exterior trim, glazing interfaces, lighting interfaces, and sealing systems, as applicable.
• Demonstrate expert proficiency in CATIA V5, with exposure to NX and other PLM tools.
• Manage program plans, gateways, deliverables, risks, dependencies, engineering changes, and issue-resolution activities.
• Coordinate with styling, Class-A, design engineering, packaging, CAE, aerodynamics, lighting, validation, manufacturing, purchasing, quality, and supplier teams.
• Track surface and design maturity, fit-and-finish, gap-and-flush, interface resolution, validation status, and engineering release readiness.
• Lead customer and stakeholder reviews, communicate program status and escalations, and drive closure of open actions.
• Manage supplier deliverables and support the resolution of technical, timing, quality, tooling, and manufacturing issues.
• Ensure exterior development activities align with program requirements, applicable safety and regulatory requirements, and OEM processes.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 15+ years of extensive experience in automotive exterior systems, along with 2–3 years of proven experience in Program Management.
• Proven automotive program management experience in exterior systems for premium, luxury, or sports-car programs.
• Experience working on Ferrari Amalfi, Aston Martin DB12, or McLaren vehicle programs will be considered an added advantage.
• Strong understanding of exterior development, styling-to-engineering handover, fit-and-finish, gap-and-flush, validation, and production-readiness processes.
• Experience managing schedules, risks, issues, engineering changes, milestones, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Excellent customer-facing communication, stakeholder management, reporting, and escalation skills.
• Must be willing to travel and work onsite in the UK as per project/customer needs and continue supporting the program from India upon return.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with European premium OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers.
• Familiarity with automotive PLM systems, BOM/change management, and program tracking tools.
• Experience coordinating Class-A, tooling, and supplier industrialization activities.

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to contribute to a premium European automotive program.
• Work onsite with international customer and engineering teams.
• Collaborate across vehicle development functions on a high-profile sports-car program.