Senior Engineering Project Manager

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The Senior Engineering Program Manager leads cross-functional delivery of product development initiatives, including new product introductions, cost reduction, technology integration, and lifecycle product support.

This role is accountable for translating product strategy, requirements, and business objectives into clear, executable delivery plans. The Senior Program Manager owns end-to-end delivery of programs of moderate complexity, manages cross-functional dependencies and risks, and ensures program teams remain aligned on scope, timing, trade-offs, and execution priorities.

The Senior Program Manager brings structure to ambiguity, connects decisions to business outcomes, and maintains visibility across programs within their product line or line of business. This role is expected to identify resource conflicts, sequencing risks, and dependency overlaps, surface risks early, facilitate difficult trade-off decisions, and keep teams focused on the work required to deliver intended outcomes.

This position works closely with product management, engineering, service, manufacturing operations, supply chain, marketing, quality, finance, IT, and other cross-functional partners. Success in this role is measured by predictable execution, clear program ownership, strong stakeholder alignment, proactive risk management, and on-time delivery of business and customer outcomes.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

- Own end-to-end delivery of assigned programs of moderate complexity through planning, execution, launch readiness, and closeout.
- Develop, maintain, and communicate integrated program plans that reflect scope, timing, capacity, dependencies, risks, milestones, and key decision points.
- Own the end-to-end program schedule, ensuring critical path, dependencies, sequencing constraints, and execution risks are visible and actively managed.
- Maintain visibility across related programs within the product line or line of business and identify resource conflicts, sequencing risks, and dependency overlaps.
- Maintain alignment between program plans and business objectives, identifying scope creep and dependency-driven scope risk early.
- Facilitate trade-off discussions when scope, schedule, cost, capacity, customer needs, or downstream commitments conflict.
- Translate product requirements and business objectives into clear delivery scope, milestones, and product realization plans in partnership with Product and Engineering.
- Lead programs through Generac NPI processes, including milestone, design, and gate reviews using accurate, decision-ready information.
- Drive execution with appropriate urgency by identifying blockers, clarifying ownership, escalating risks, and ensuring teams understand the decisions and actions required to maintain progress.
- Understand technical decisions at a systems level and surface schedule, cost, compliance, integration, or dependency implications proactively.
- Facilitate cross-functional alignment with documented outcomes, clear ownership, and proactive management of inter-team dependencies and conflicts.
- Prepare program status updates that are concise, decision-ready, and appropriate for senior stakeholders.
- Proactively manage stakeholder expectations as schedule, scope, dependencies, or execution conditions change.
- Analyze delivery performance and program data to identify patterns, root causes, risks, and opportunities to improve outcomes.
- Develop and maintain structured change logs and gain stakeholder agreement on material changes to scope or plan.
- Apply lessons learned, propose improvements to program management and GDP practices, and help drive adoption across the PgM team and supported business areas.
- Provide guidance to GDP programs that may not have dedicated PgM leadership.

Minimal Qualifications:

- Bachelor's degree
- 7+ years of progressive relevant experience, including 5+ years of project or program management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Demonstrated experience managing new product development programs using a stage-gate, phase-gate, NPI, GDP, or similar development process.
- Experience supporting full-system product releases including hardware, software, firmware, manufacturing, supply chain, service, and launch readiness.
- Experience managing programs within a product line or portfolio, including prioritization, sequencing, resource constraints, dependencies, and business trade-offs.
- PMP, PgMP, Lean, Six Sigma, or equivalent certification with demonstrated practical application.
- Experience working with global teams, international suppliers, or distributed development and manufacturing organizations.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

- Demonstrated ability to bring clarity and structure to ambiguous cross-functional work and confidently challenge unclear assumptions.
- Demonstrated ability to own program outcomes rather than simply task completion.
- Ability to design, explain, and defend program logic including scope, assumptions, dependencies, trade-offs, critical path, and risk posture.
- Ability to connect program decisions to business and customer outcomes including schedule, cost, quality, operational readiness, and portfolio priorities.
- Strong systems-level understanding of product development and the ability to recognize technical decisions with program implications.
- Proven ability to facilitate cross-functional alignment, resolve ambiguity, and drive decisions across competing priorities.
- Strong stakeholder-management skills and ability to communicate confidently to senior technical and non-technical audiences.
- Ability to surface risks and issues early, frame them clearly, and drive mitigation or corrective action with appropriate urgency.
- Ability to identify root causes when delivery misses occur and lead corrective actions.
- Ability to analyze program performance and determine whether workstreams and deliverables are contributing to intended outcomes.
- Ability to influence teams without direct authority while maintaining trust and productive relationships.
- Strong communication skills, including concise, decision-ready leadership updates.
- Strong ownership mindset, including the ability to reflect on misses, apply lessons learned, and continuously improve planning and execution practices.

Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear; and use hands to manipulate objects or controls. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. On occasion the incumbent may be required to stoop, bend or reach above the shoulders. The employee must occasionally lift up to 25 pounds. Specific conditions of this job are typical of frequent and continuous computer-based work requiring periods of sitting; close vision and ability to adjust focus. Occasional travel.

Generac is committed to fair and equity compensation practices. The salary range for this role based in Waukesha, WI is $133,500 - $173,500. Final compensation for this role will be determined by various factors such as a candidate's relevant work experience, skills, certifications and geographic location. This position includes a comprehensive benefit package that includes medical, dental and vision plans; life, long-term disability, flexible, spending and health savings accounts, accrued paid time off, eight paid holidays in 401(k) retirement benefits.

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