Program Manager

Lakeside Recruiting; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Lakeside Recruiting is seeking a Program Manager for Casting in the United States. The role leads automotive programs from quotation through production readiness, coordinating engineering, quality, and manufacturing teams to meet schedules and budgets.

You will manage APQP activities, PFMEA, and PPAP while ensuring customer requirements are met. The ideal candidate has strong program management experience in automotive casting, tooling, and supplier coordination, with a track record of launching

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in engineering, manufacturing, or related field.
• 5+ years of automotive manufacturing or program management experience.
• Experience managing new product launches and customer programs.
• Experience with tooling projects and supplier deliverables.
• Experience with OEMs or Tier 1 automotive suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Lead automotive programs from award through launch and ramp-up.
• Develop and communicate program timing plans, milestones, and risk plans.
• Serve as primary customer contact for timing, deliverables, and program status.
• Coordinate cross-functional activities across engineering, quality, operations, and supply chain.
• Manage APQP activities including PFMEA, control plans, and PPAP submissions.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional coordination

Stakeholder communication

Risk management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Manufacturing/Business/Operations Management

Tools

APQP processes

PPAP

PFMEA

Job description

Program Manager - Casting

The Program Manager will be responsible for leading and coordinating customer programs from quotation, development, tooling, launch, and production readiness through full production support. This role serves as the primary interface between the customer, engineering, quality, operations, supply chain, tooling, and plant leadership teams to ensure programs are delivered on time, within budget, and in alignment with customer requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned automotive manufacturing programs from award through launch, production ramp-up, and ongoing production support.
• Develop, maintain, and communicate program timing plans, milestones, deliverables, open issues, and risk mitigation plans.
• Serve as the primary customer contact for program timing, technical deliverables, launch readiness, engineering changes, commercial issues, and program status updates.
• Coordinate cross-functional activities with engineering, quality, production, maintenance, purchasing, logistics, finance, tooling, and plant operations teams
• Manage APQP activities, including feasibility reviews, design reviews, process flow, PFMEA, control plans, gage planning, capability studies, run-at-rate activities, PPAP submissions, and customer approvals.
• Track tooling, equipment, fixtures, gauges, packaging, EDI requirements, material readiness, and supplier deliverables to support successful program launch.
• Support engineering change management by evaluating timing, cost, quality, material, tooling, and production impacts.
• Monitor program budgets, capital expenditures, tooling costs, material costs, and change requests to ensure financial targets are achieved.
• Coordinate prototype builds, pre-production trials, process validation, PPAP runs, and launch readiness reviews.
• Support customer visits, audits, launch meetings, technical reviews, and issue-resolution activities.
• Prepare and present program status reports to customers, leadership, and internal stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Business, Operations Management, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.
• 5 years of experience in automotive manufacturing, program management, launch management, engineering, quality, or operations.
• Experience managing new product launches, engineering changes, tooling projects, and customer program deliverables.
• Experience with aluminum die casting, high-pressure die casting, machining, tooling, or automotive structural/component manufacturing
• Experience working with OEMs or Tier 1 automotive suppliers.
• Experience supporting EV, powertrain, chassis, body structure, or safety-critical automotive components.