Program Manager

Powercast Corp.; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Powercast Corp. in Pittsburgh is seeking a Program Manager to drive end-to-end execution of complex hardware products, combining mechanical, electrical, and firmware disciplines. You will coordinate engineering, product management, manufacturing, and QA to keep programs on schedule and within budget.

You will manage cross-functional schedules, identify risks early, and lead prototyping, bring-up, and gate reviews, ensuring clear communications across teams and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years of project or program management experience delivering physical hardware products containing mechanical, electrical, and embedded software/firmware components.
• Technical Breadth: Understanding of hardware product development lifecycle (NPI), PCB development cycles, tooling lead times, and firmware release cadences.
• Dependency Mapping: Skill in identifying and tracking complex cross-team dependencies where software, electrical schematics, and mechanical dimensions intersect.
• Tool Proficiency: Experience in project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheet) applied to physical hardware workflows.
• Communication: Strong organizational and communication skills across ME, EE, and FW cultures.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate cross-disciplinary execution plan across ME, EE, and FW.
• Build and manage integrated hardware design schedules from concept to validation.
• Facilitate cross-functional risk assessments and mitigation strategies.
• Coordinate prototype builds, lab testing, and board bring-up sessions.
• Serve as primary status contact for Engineering, Product Management, Industrial Design, Quality, and Supply Chain.
• Refine development processes and maintain project reporting tooling.

Skills

Cross-Disciplinary Coordination

Schedule & Milestone Management

Risk & Issue Mitigation

Prototyping & Bring-Up Operations

Cross-Functional Communication

Process Standardization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Systems Engineering

Tools

MS Project

Smartsheet

Job description

Program Manager

Powercast is seeking a Program Manager to drive the end-to-end execution of complex hardware products incorporating mechanical, electrical, and firmware disciplines. In this role, you will act as the operational coordinator of our engineering organization, ensuring cross-functional teams stay aligned, mitigate project risks early, and deliver multi-disciplinary products on schedule and within budget.

Key Responsibilities

• Cross-Disciplinary Coordination: Align mechanical (ME), electrical (EE), firmware (FW), Operational, Quality and Commercial streams into a single unified execution plan. Manage inter-discipline dependencies (e.g., PCB board spins, enclosure prototyping and tooling, firmware/hardware integration).
• Schedule & Milestone Management: Build and manage detailed integrated project schedules tracking key hardware design milestones—from initial design concepts through EVT, DVT, and PVT. Monitor and coordinate resource loading and utilization.
• Risk & Issue Mitigation: Facilitate regular cross-functional risk assessments (Design FMEA, supply chain long-lead risks, bring-up roadblocks) and drive proactive mitigation strategies across engineering disciplines.
• Prototyping & Bring-Up Operations: Coordinate prototype build runs, lab testing schedules, and board bring-up sessions. Ensure ME, EE, and FW engineers have the hardware samples, tooling, and test equipment required to execute builds on time.
• Cross-Functional Communication: Serve as the primary point of contact for project status across Engineering, Product Management, Industrial Design, Quality, and Supply Chain teams. Translate technical tradeoffs into clear risks and actionable choices for stakeholders.
• Process Standardization: Continually refine development processes, design review gates, and change-management workflows to streamline cross-team handoffs. Develop and manage project reporting and management tools.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years of project or program management experience delivering physical hardware products containing mechanical, electrical, and embedded software/firmware components.
• Technical Breadth: Strong foundational understanding of the hardware product development lifecycle (NPI), PCB development cycles, mechanical tooling lead times, and firmware release cadences.
• Dependency Mapping: Proven skill in identifying and tracking complex cross-team dependencies where software, electrical schematics, and mechanical dimensions intersect.
• Tool Proficiency: Extensive experience in project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, etc.) applied to physical hardware workflows.
• Communication: Outstanding organizational and communication skills, with a track record of driving clarity across diverse engineering cultures (ME, EE, FW).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, or Systems Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Hands-on experience working directly with contract manufacturers (CMs) and testing/certification labs (FCC, CE, UL).