New Product Launch Program Manager

Virginia Transformer Corp; Roanoke (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Virginia Transformer is seeking an experienced New Product Launch Program Manager to lead the introduction and industrialization of new products. Based onsite in Roanoke, VA, this role collaborates across Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Sales, Project Management, Finance, and Operations to ensure launches are on time, within budget, and meet quality targets.

The ideal candidate brings 8+ years in new product introduction, strong program leadership, and a proven ability to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering, Program Management, or a related technical field.
• Advanced degree or MBA preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in new product introduction, program management, engineering, manufacturing, operations, or related disciplines.
• Experience leading complex new product launches in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, BOMs, routings, tooling, capacity planning, quality systems, and production readiness.

Responsibilities

• Lead new product introduction programs from concept through full-scale production.
• Develop launch plans covering engineering, sourcing, tooling, manufacturing, quality, testing, training, capacity, cost, and customer requirements.
• Establish milestones, deliverables, owners, timelines, success criteria, and overall launch readiness.
• Lead cross-functional launch reviews, identify barriers early, and drive rapid resolution of critical issues.
• Maintain visibility of program status, risks, critical-path activities, and executive decisions.
• Partner with Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to ensure designs are manufacturable, scalable, cost-effective, and production-ready.
• Coordinate design reviews, manufacturing-readiness assessments, and DFMA activities.
• Ensure drawings, specifications, BOMs, routings, work instructions, and technical documentation are complete before launch.
• Drive closure of design issues from prototype, pilot, and initial production builds and manage engineering changes throughout launch.
• Lead readiness planning for new products including processes, equipment, tooling, fixtures, layouts, labor, capacity, and work instructions.
• Coordinate prototype, pilot, pre-production, and initial production builds.
• Identify manufacturing constraints and corrective actions before ramp-up.
• Ensure production teams are trained and transition from engineering development to stable, repeatable production.
• Partner with Supply Chain and Procurement to ensure materials and components support launch schedules.
• Identify long-lead, high-risk, and critical components early and track material readiness.
• Ensure supplier capability, capacity, quality, and delivery align with launch requirements.
• Support supplier qualification and sourcing strategies balancing cost, quality, availability, and continuity.
• Partner with Quality and Engineering to establish validation, inspection plans, testing requirements, quality standards, and acceptance criteria.
• Coordinate corrective actions from prototype and pilot production and drive root-cause analysis for launch-related quality issues.
• Monitor early-production quality, rapidly contain issues, and incorporate lessons learned into future launches.
• Develop and maintain schedules, milestone trackers, risk registers, and action plans across multiple programs.
• Track scope, schedule, cost, quality, and operational readiness while establishing clear ownership for deliverables.
• Escalate significant risks, delays, resource constraints, and unresolved issues to senior leadership.
• Lead structured reviews with functional and executive stakeholders and ensure decisions and actions are completed on schedule.
• Partner with Finance, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations to establish product cost targets.
• Monitor capital expenditures, tooling, material, labor, and other launch costs; identify risks and drive corrective action.
• Support value engineering and cost reduction without compromising product quality or performance.
• Compare actual manufacturing costs with business-case assumptions following launch.
• Identify technical, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, capacity, schedule, and commercial risks and establish mitigation plans.
• Serve as the central connection across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Project Management, and leadership.
• Drive alignment, accountability, urgency, transparency, and ownership across functions without relying on direct reporting relationships.
• Resolve conflicts and competing priorities that could affect customer commitments or program execution.
• Develop and standardize Virginia Transformer’s New Product Introduction and launch-management processes.
• Establish launch scorecards, stage-gate reviews, readiness criteria, and standardized reporting.
• Conduct post-launch reviews, capture lessons learned, and build repeatable processes supporting continued growth and increasing product complexity.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Engineering knowledge

Launch leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering

Program Management / related field

MBA or advanced degree (preferred)

Job description

On the Heels of Achieving 3X Growth, Virginia Transformer Is Hiring to Do It Again!

We’re strategically building our team for the next 3X growth cycle — a phase that is both intense and incredibly rewarding. We’re highly selective about who joins us because this journey isn’t for everyone.

If you have the drive, grit, technical expertise, and leadership capability to perform at a high level — and you want to grow your career 3X alongside the Company’s growth — we’d love to talk.

Who We Are

Virginia Transformer is the largest U.S.-owned producer of power transformers in North America. For more than 50 years, we have grown through an unwavering commitment to engineering excellence, product quality, operational execution, and delivering for our customers.

As a privately held, organically growing company, we thrive on speed, innovation, accountability, and tenacity. Our transformers support critical infrastructure across utility, industrial, renewable energy, and data center markets throughout North America.

Position Overview

Virginia Transformer is seeking an experienced New Product Launch Program Manager to lead the introduction and industrialization of new products across the organization. Based onsite in Roanoke, Virginia, this role will coordinate launches from concept and design through engineering validation, sourcing, manufacturing readiness, production launch, and stabilization.

This highly visible, execution-focused leader will work across Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, Sales, Project Management, Finance, and Operations to ensure products launch safely, on time, within budget, at the required quality level, and with the capability to achieve production targets.

Key Responsibilities

New Product Launch Leadership

• Lead new product introduction programs from concept through full-scale production.
• Develop launch plans covering engineering, sourcing, tooling, manufacturing, quality, testing, training, capacity, cost, and customer requirements.
• Establish milestones, deliverables, owners, timelines, success criteria, and overall launch readiness.
• Lead cross-functional launch reviews, identify barriers early, and drive rapid resolution of critical issues.
• Maintain visibility of program status, risks, critical-path activities, and executive decisions.
• Partner with Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to ensure designs are manufacturable, scalable, cost-effective, and production-ready.
• Coordinate design reviews, manufacturing-readiness assessments, and DFMA activities.
• Ensure drawings, specifications, BOMs, routings, work instructions, and technical documentation are complete before launch.
• Drive closure of design issues from prototype, pilot, and initial production builds and manage engineering changes throughout launch.

Manufacturing Readiness & Industrialization

• Lead readiness planning for new products and major changes, including processes, equipment, tooling, fixtures, layouts, labor, capacity, and work instructions.
• Coordinate prototype, pilot, pre-production, and initial production builds.
• Identify manufacturing constraints and corrective actions before ramp-up.
• Ensure production teams are trained and drive the transition from engineering development to stable, repeatable production.

Supply Chain & Supplier Readiness

• Partner with Supply Chain and Procurement to ensure materials and components support launch schedules.
• Identify long-lead, high-risk, and critical components early and track material readiness.
• Ensure supplier capability, capacity, quality, and delivery align with launch requirements.
• Support supplier qualification and sourcing strategies balancing cost, quality, availability, and continuity.

Quality & Product Validation

• Partner with Quality and Engineering to establish validation, inspection plans, testing requirements, quality standards, and acceptance criteria.
• Coordinate corrective actions from prototype and pilot production and drive root-cause analysis for launch-related quality issues.
• Monitor early-production quality, rapidly contain issues, and incorporate lessons learned into future launches.

Program Management & Execution

• Develop and maintain schedules, milestone trackers, risk registers, and action plans across multiple programs.
• Track scope, schedule, cost, quality, and operational readiness while establishing clear ownership for deliverables.
• Escalate significant risks, delays, resource constraints, and unresolved issues to senior leadership.
• Lead structured reviews with functional and executive stakeholders and ensure decisions and actions are completed on schedule.
• Partner with Finance, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations to establish product cost targets.
• Monitor capital expenditures, tooling, material, labor, and other launch costs; identify risks and drive corrective action.
• Support value engineering and cost reduction without compromising product quality or performance.
• Compare actual manufacturing costs with business-case assumptions following launch.

Risk Management & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Identify technical, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, capacity, schedule, and commercial risks and establish mitigation plans.
• Serve as the central connection across Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, Finance, Project Management, and leadership.
• Drive alignment, accountability, urgency, transparency, and ownership across functions without relying on direct reporting relationships.
• Resolve conflicts and competing priorities that could affect customer commitments or program execution.
• Develop and standardize Virginia Transformer’s New Product Introduction and launch-management processes.
• Establish launch scorecards, stage-gate reviews, readiness criteria, and standardized reporting.
• Conduct post-launch reviews, capture lessons learned, and build repeatable processes supporting continued growth and increasing product complexity.

Key Performance Indicators

On-time launches and milestone achievement; manufacturing readiness; first-pass quality and initial production performance; product cost versus target; supplier/material readiness; issue closure; time from design release to stable production; customer delivery; risk reduction; and post-launch operational stability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering, Program Management, or a related technical field required; advanced degree or MBA preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in new product introduction, program management, engineering, manufacturing, operations, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated success leading complex new product launches in a manufacturing environment.
• Strong understanding of the product lifecycle from concept and engineering through manufacturing and production ramp-up.
• Experience leading cross-functional programs involving Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Commercial teams.
• Strong knowledge of manufacturing processes, BOMs, routings, tooling, capacity planning, quality systems, and production readiness.
• Experience with engineered-to-order, configure-to-order, capital equipment, electrical equipment, or other complex engineered products strongly preferred.
• Power transformers, switchgear, power generation, energy infrastructure, heavy industrial equipment, or complex electromechanical manufacturing experience highly desirable.
• Ability to manage multiple complex programs in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong project/program management execution skills; PMP, Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, or similar certification preferred.
• Strong program leadership, organization, urgency, and personal accountability.
• Ability to drive results across multiple functions and organizational levels.
• Strong technical/manufacturing aptitude, problem-solving, and root-cause analysis capability.
• Data-driven decision-making with strong financial and business acumen.
• Excellent communication and executive presentation skills with the ability to challenge assumptions and drive decisions.
• Strong attention to detail while maintaining a strategic, big-picture perspective.

Location

This position is onsite in Roanoke, Virginia and requires close collaboration with Virginia Transformer’s Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, and leadership teams. Travel to other manufacturing facilities, suppliers, and customer locations may be required.

The New Product Launch Program Manager will play a critical role in turning new product concepts into scalable, repeatable manufacturing reality. This is an opportunity to build and lead a disciplined launch process while directly impacting speed to market, manufacturing capability, quality, cost, customer delivery, and Virginia Transformer’s next phase of growth.