CUSTOMER PROGRAM MANAGER

Align Production Systems

$88K — $105K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of project management experience preferred
  • Familiarity with mechanical engineering processes is a plus
  • Experience managing project budgets and schedules
  • Background in mentoring engineering or design teams
  • Strong communication skills for customer interactions
  • Willingness to work on-site in St. Louis, MO.

Responsibilities

  • Manage project economics and oversee job cost and margin assessments.
  • Lead customer meetings and handle all status reporting and post-mortems.
  • Ensure design quality and process adherence throughout project lifecycle.
  • Supervise project delivery and factory acceptance tests efficiently.
  • Take full authority over team management, including hiring and coaching.

Benefits

  • Direct accountability for project outcomes and team leadership
  • Real authority in budget and component decisions
  • Collaborative decision-making for any budget deviations
  • Ability to impact future design through customer feedback
  • Potential for professional growth in a leadership role.
Full Job Description
Customer Program Manager

Own the schedule. Own the team. Own the outcome.

LOCATION

St. Louis, MO - On-site

REPORTS TO

Chief Operating Officer

TEAM

Engineers & Designers

The Customer Program Manager is the single accountable owner of a Customer Project Team's book of work - the economics, the design quality, the delivery, and the people. This role folds full project management authority directly into team leadership: the person accountable for the schedule is also the person with authority over the team executing it.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

  • Project Economics - Accept or reject each project against as-sold scope and margin, then own total job cost and margin at completion.
  • The Customer Relationship - Run every customer meeting, own status reporting, and lead post-mortems that feed the next quote and design.
  • Design & Release Quality - Own the release process end to end and ensure Align's engineering standards are met on every project.
  • Delivery & FATs - Own project schedules and factory acceptance tests, start to finish (the on-site crew runs separately).
  • Your People - Full-authority manager of your team's engineers and designers - hiring input, coaching, reviews, and development.


REAL AUTHORITY, NOT JUST RESPONSIBILITY

Within the approved project budget, you commit spend, select components, release designs for build, and set schedules - without needing prior sign-off. Spend outside budget, delivery-date commitments, and staffing decisions are made jointly with the COO.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

  • Project management experience - highly preferred
  • Exposure to mechanical engineering design or processes - a plus, especially in custom/engineer-to-order manufacturing
  • Comfort owning budget, margin, and schedule performance like a P&L owner
  • Experience managing or mentoring engineering/design staff, or readiness to grow into it
  • Strong customer-facing communication skills
  • Ability to work on-site in St. Louis, MO (not remote-eligible)


**It is required to complete the Predictive Index Assessment to be considered for this position: https://assessment.predictiveindex.com/bo/D7NP/CustomerProgramManager_Aug2026_143222

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