Projects/Hardware R&D Manager

SamTech Middle East is looking for a Full-time Projects/Hardware R&D Manager who will manage our customer's projects.

Job Summary:
Project management responsibilities include -

• Coordination and completion of projects on time within budget and within scope.
• Oversee all aspects of projects.
• Set deadlines, assign responsibilities and monitor and summarize the progress of the project.
• Prepare reports for upper management regarding the status of the project.
• Perform market research to determine what types of HW/Devices might be successful among customers, research for ideas to determine their viability, and research how existing HW/Devices on the market are performing.

Major Responsibilities and Key Performance Indicators:

• Manage projects with top-down oversight throughout the entire execution to ensure success as defined by adherence to standards of scope, budget, and timeline.
• Develop comprehensive project plans that merge customer requirements with company goals and coordinate various managers and technical personnel during all project phases, from initial development through implementation.
• Monitor project progress continuously and make detailed scheduled reports on measurable items, such as milestones and deliverables.
• Communicate proactively with all involved departments to provide encouragement, identify problems, create solutions, and implement efficiency improvements.
• Analyze the economics of project plans and provide actionable feedback relating to cost-benefit and return-on-investment standards.
• Review proposed modifications on project plans, including meeting with interested parties to approve and implement beneficial changes.
• Oversee the acquisition of resources and materials as needed before and during projects by talking with customers, team members, managers, and in-house accountants and negotiating price and payment agreements with vendors.
• Anticipate details of future projects by communicating directly with customers and staying informed of relevant trends and industry news.
• Perform market research to determine what types of HW/Devices might be successful among customers, research for ideas to determine their viability, and research how existing HW/Devices on the market are performing.
• Collaborate with developers to create product designs and with sales teams to develop sales plans for future products.
• Develop ideas, manage and lead projects until they become real projects.
• Reviews each call for tender in detail with the responsible Managers to determine a response strategy, which includes the scope of delivery, pricing, and delivery timelines.
• Provides all necessary project management skills to coordinate the work of all departments needed for the timely delivery of complete and successful tender responses.
• Collaborates with the technical tender managers and the sales team to assemble complete proposals and support during contract negotiations.
• Conducts and documents regular win/lost meetings after each customer discussion.
• Prepare and execute strategic meetings with concern managers.
• Keep Management and Marketing informed of the development of opportunities and accounts including market trends and competitor issues.
• Lead the tender process – setting up and follow-up on the tender project plan, drive tender opportunities, get commitment and maximize the tender outcome.
• Ensure all Project administration is comprehensive and completed on time.
• Putting together business cases for the sales teams to support their proposals.
• Ensuring that the company’s product can deliver on the customer’s requirements.
• Develop full-scale project plans.
• Lead the implementation of the projects from its inception to completion.
• Manage the day-to-day operational aspects of projects.
• Set up a strategy for successful new projects or on-going projects within the deadlines, budget, scope and customer’s expectations.
• Ensure that the necessary resources are available.
• Plan project timelines, project tasks and follow projects through their entire lifecycle using appropriate tools.
• Manage the project budget.
• Coordinate and manage the project teams to achieve project objectives.
• Support to project team and create a working environment that allows everyone to work to the best of their abilities.
• Monitor and regularly report the progress of projects.
• Manage changes in project scope, make adjustments and/or provide alternate solutions if necessary.
• Ensure compliance with international quality standards and Identify project risks and manage them.
• Perform assessment of results.

KPIs:

• Cycle Time: The time needed to complete a certain task or activity. This is helpful for repeated tasks in a project.
• On-Time Completion Percentage: Whether an assignment or task is completed by a given deadline.
• Time Spent: The amount of time that is spent on each project by all team members or by each team member individually in coordination with each department manager.
• Number of Adjustments To The Schedule: How many times your team has made adjustments to the completion date of the project as a whole.
• FTE Days Vs. Calendar Days: How much time is spent on a project by calendar days, hours, and/or full-time equivalent workdays in coordination with each department manager.
• Planned Hours Vs. Time Spent: How much is the estimated time of each project would take versus actual hours. If the time spent differs from the amount of time anticipated, it’s a flag that you underestimated the resource allocation or budget, and your timeline may be affected in coordination with each department manager.
• Resource Capacity: The number of individuals working on a project multiplied by the percent of the time they have available to work on it in coordination with each department manager.
• Resource Conflict YOY: Comparing the number of projects with resource conflicts year over year (YOY). Not having the resources to complete projects or having employees assigned to several projects at a time can lower efficacy. KPIs that compare these conflicts will show whether the situation is a persistent problem or a one-off situation that needs to be addressed in coordination with each department manager.
• Net Promoter Score: Similar to customer satisfaction and loyalty, NPS (or Net Promoter Score) is a user satisfaction KPI measured by a one-question survey whose purpose is to gauge brand loyalty in coordination with each department manager.
• Number of Errors: How often things need to be redone during the project. This is the number of times you have to redo and rework something, which affects budget revisions and calendar revisions as well.
• Number of Returns: If you have a capital project that requires many parts, you may track the return rate of those parts; this helps you see if you did a good job planning or adjusting to the project during implementation.
• Training/Research Needed for Project: You may track this in hours, number of courses, or something similar. If you need to do a lot of this, your project might get started later than you hope. Another way of looking at this is by asking, “What percent of resources did you have at the beginning of the project that was qualified to immediately begin working on the project?”
• Number of Cancelled Projects: Tracking how many projects have been paused or eliminated. A high number of canceled projects could indicate a lack of planning, lack of goal alignment, or an inability to take on new projects.
• Number of Change Requests: The number and frequency of changes requested by a client to established scope of work. Too many changes can negatively affect budgets, resources, timelines, and overall quality.
• Billable Utilization: The percentage of project hours you can bill to a client. Billable hours relate to revenue-generating, project-related tasks, whereas unbillable hours are typically more administrative, including things like drafting and negotiating proposals.