The posting
Roles & Responsibilities:
Program Management and Customer Interface
InterfaceAct as the main point of contact for Key Account Customer(s), managing all technical communications, status updates, and program-related inquiries. Define project scope, objectives, and success metrics in close collaboration with customer and align cross-functional teams within Akribis Advanced Solutions to meet these objectives. Develop, track, and manage detailed project plans, timelines, and milestones, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the project lifecycle.
New Product Introduction (NPI)
Lead new product introduction projects for customer, coordinating closely with engineering, production, quality assurance, and supply chain teams to ensure on-time and on-spec delivery. Collaborate with customer on design specifications and performance requirements, ensuring that Akribis meets the technical and operational needs of the customer. Identify and mitigate project risks, ensuring potential issues are proactively addressed to minimise impact on project timelines and quality.
Engineering Change Management (ECM)
Oversee engineering change management (ECM) processes for Key Account Customer(s)' projects, ensuring all modifications are smoothly integrated and communicated to relevant stakeholders. Coordinate with production, quality, and supply chain teams to ensure seamless implementation of engineering changes and compliance with customer requirements. Document and track engineering changes, ensuring alignment with both Akribis’s standards and Key Account Customer(s)’s requirements.
Technical Alignment and Decision Making
Facilitate technical discussions between Akribis and Key Account Customer(s), ensuring all stakeholders understand project requirements, objectives, and progress. Serve as a technical advisor to internal teams, aligning customer requirements with Akribis’s capabilities and solutions. Drive decision-making processes related to technical aspects, balancing customer requirements with feasibility, cost, and quality.
Continuous Improvement and Process Optimization
Identify areas for process improvement and implement changes to enhance project efficiency, product quality, and cost-effectiveness.Utilise feedback from Key Account Customer(s) and internal stakeholders to continuously refine program processes and customer engagement strategies. Implement metrics to monitor program performance, analyzing data to identify trends, address issues, and support strategic goals.
Documentation and Reporting
Develop and maintain detailed documentation of project plans, schedules, risk assessments, and change orders for full transparency and traceability. Provide regular reports, updates, and technical reviews to Key Account Customer(s) and Akribis leadership, ensuring all parties have a clear understanding of project status. Maintain organised and accessible project documentation to support quality audits, compliance, and future reference.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field. Candidates holding a Diploma with relevant project engineering experience in a manufacturing environment are equally welcome to apply, and will be assessed on demonstrated capability rather than qualification alone.
- Minimum of 3 years in tin project engineering, technical project management or project management, preferably within semiconductor, precision engineering or customized equipment manufacturing.
- Experience in manufacturing environment, preferably high-mix, high-volume or customized automation equipment or semiconductor equipment.
Project Management
Led and managed multiple complex technical programs, overseeing project planning, resource allocation, budgeting, and timeline tracking. Developed and maintained project roadmaps and schedules, ensuring alignment with customer requirements and internal goals. Implemented Agile and Lean methodologies to streamline project workflows, reduce waste, and improve efficiency across cross-functional teams.
Customer Relationship Management
Acted as a day-to-day point of contact for key accounts, building trust-based working relationships to understand and address customer technical and business needs. Conducted regular project status updates and reviews with stakeholders, ensuring transparency and aligning deliverables with customer expectations. Worked closely with customers to identify and resolve issues, improving customer satisfaction. Ready to take on full ownership of a key account relationship, with handover support in the first quarter.
New Product Introduction (NPI)
Contributed to New Product Introduction (NPI) programmes, owning defined workstreams across engineering, manufacturing and quality, with the ambition to lead full NPI programmes within 12 months. Coordinated design validation, prototype testing and initial production runs to meet customer specifications and support successful product launches. Managed risk assessments and mitigation plans, proactively addressing potential roadblocks to keep projects on track.
Change Management and Process Optimisation
Hands-on experience raising and executing engineering changes (ECO/ECN) on live builds, including revision effectivity and disposition of work in progress. Identified recurring inefficiencies in their own project workflow and proposed practical improvements, with evidence of at least one change they saw adopted.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Communication
Facilitated communication and alignment between engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance and supply chain teams to achieve project objectives. Organised and led cross-functional meetings to ensure all departments understood project priorities, goals and timelines. Demonstrated ability to garner buy-in and drive a diverse team towards positive outcomes, relying on persuasion and influence building instead of formal authority.
Data Analysis and Reporting
Monitored and reported against key performance indicators (KPIs) for projects, using data to measure progress, identify issues and inform decision-making. Created clear reports and dashboards giving stakeholders timely insight into project status, resource utilisation and risk factors. Used data to inform operational adjustments that improved project outcomes.
Skillset(s) Requirement:
Technical Skills:
Comfortable with structured, milestone-driven project delivery. Working proficiency in an ERP system (Microsoft Business Central, SAP or equivalent) and in a scheduling or project tracking tool (SmartSheet, Microsoft Project or equivalent). Experience supporting new product introductions and engineering change management. Basic familiarity with technical drawings, engineering specifications and quality control standards.
Customer Management Skills:
Experience working directly with customers on live projects, with a focus on aligning deliverables to customer expectations and on communicating problems early rather than late.
Analytical Skills:
Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyse project performance data and identify practical improvements.
Communication Skills:
Excellent verbal and written communication skills to interact effectively with cross-functional teams and customers.
Organizational Skills:
Strong organizational skills, with a proven ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Other Preferred Skills and Competencies:
- Familiarity with the semiconductor or precision engineering industry, and with engineering change management processes.
- PMP, CAPM or equivalent project management certification is a plus.
- Exposure to Lean, Six Sigma or other continuous improvement methodologies is a plus.
- Familiarity with PLM systems is a plus.
Personal Attributes: - High mental resilience -- ability to thrive under dynamic and evolving conditions
- Intrinsic motivation -- takes pride in doing one's job well
- Growth mindset -- willingness to learn and grow together with the organization
- Strong influencer -- ability to convince others to join one's cause
