Project Manager

Johnson Outdoors; Durban; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A technology and recreation company in Durban is seeking an experienced Project Manager to oversee product development. You will manage projects from ideation to production, ensuring they meet specifications, schedules, and budget requirements. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s degree in engineering and 2 to 5 years of relevant experience. Strong project management and communication skills are essential to succeed in this collaborative and dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 to 5 years experience in engineering or project management.
• Ability to articulate a complete product development process.
• Broad technical knowledge relating to core competency technologies.

Responsibilities

• Organizes design and development of products from ideation to production.
• Tracks and champions multiple projects to meet specifications and budget.
• Coordinates with production/operations to transfer new products to production.

Skills

Project management

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical engineering or equivalent

Tools

Project management certification (PMI/PMBOK)

Job description

About the Role

Endless Summer Technologies, a subsidiary to Johnson Outdoors requires a Project Manager to be based at their Durban site. Under general direction of department leaders, organizes, tracks and champions the design and development of products from ideation to production. Manages multiple simple to moderately complex projects to ensure that new products are completed to established specification, scheduling, and product cost requirements.

What you will be doing

• Reviews project plan and proposals and works with management to develop project objectives. Identifies project responsibilities by determining the phases and elements of the project.
• Determines project schedule and timelines by studying the project plan and specifications, calculating time requirements and sequencing project elements.
• Partners with the brand management team to determine requirements for a new product or product platform.
• Collaborates with engineering technical team to allocate technical resources for a project.
• Advocates for the design team, identifies and clears potential roadblocks.
• Controls and monitors project plans, reviews any design, specifications, plan, and schedule changes and recommends actions to improve project outcomes.
• Monitors product costs and capital spending. Proposes and pursues solutions if either goes over budget.
• Identifies manufacturing/operations and purchasing issues that require resolution to successfully complete a project and drive the decision process.
• Identifies technology and design issues that require resolution to successfully complete a project and drive the decision process.
• Facilitates activities within the company in support of completing project milestones. Tracks project milestones and deliverables, and effectively maintains project documentation.
• Communicates with project stakeholders on an ongoing basis. Prepares project status reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information and trends and recommends actions as needed to improve outcomes.
• Establishes design qualification, field testing, and production testing plans and success criteria.
• Coordinates with production/operations to successfully transfer a new product from ideation to production.
• Conducts training classes for customer service personnel for new products.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Typically requires a bachelor’s degree in mechanical, electrical engineering or equivalent.
• Typically requires minimum 2 to 5 years of experience in engineering related to design and/or project management.
• Advantageous to have an active project management certification (PMI/PMBOK) and preferred qualifications in project management
• Able to articulate a complete product development process from ideation to production.
• Broad technical knowledge and design experience relating to the core competency technologies.
• Skills and ability to effectively give direction and guidance and work well within the cooperative culture of the organization.
• Ability to take ownership of a project and be able to organize and manage it while motivating technical professionals to produce quality designs on schedule.
• Ability to conform to shifting priorities, requirements, and timelines.
• Project management skills and experience that demonstrates the candidate can effectively establish and accomplish product development objectives.
• Proactive management and problem troubleshooting techniques.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills to effectively develop project documents and work with cross functional teams throughout the organization.