Lead Customer Program Manager
Fictiv
Bengaluru, India OfficehybridPosted 1 month ago
Skill Required
Program ManagementObservabilitybuilding
Key highlights
- Work Hours: 7:30 PM – 3:30 AM IST, Monday through Friday (aligned with US Eastern business hours)
- Hybrid model (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in office, Thursday and Friday remote)
- 7–13 years of total work experience required
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, or Manufacturing Engineering required
Role overview
At Fictiv/MISUMI Americas, we are building the operating system for custom mechanical parts and assembly—enabling Fortune 500 companies to scale production across India, Mexico, China, and the US. We deliver highly complex, high-quality hardware for autonomous vehicles, surgical systems, industrial robots, and beyond. The Lead Customer Program Manager is a people leader role within the Customer Program Management team. You will build, manage, and grow a team of CPMs who are responsible for owning customer programs and projects end-to-end—from initial scoping and kickoff through delivery, escalation management, and long-term account health. This role sits at the intersection of customer success, project management, and manufacturing expertise, ensuring the team delivers exceptional results consistently. You will report to the Manager of Customer Program Management. This role has a hybrid model (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in office, Thursday and Friday remote).
Responsibilities
- Directly manage a team of Customer Program Managers (Junior to Mid Level), owning their performance, development, and day-to-day effectiveness
- Set clear goals and performance expectations for each direct report; conduct regular 1:1s and formal reviews
- Build structured development plans for each team member, identifying skill gaps, creating growth opportunities, and actively coaching toward them with the goal of accelerating each individual's potential, not just managing their current performance
- Serve as the first line of escalation for your team: step in on complex programs, difficult customer situations, or cross-functional blockers as needed
- Create and maintain onboarding frameworks, training materials, and capability-building resources for new and growing CPMs
- Actively participate in recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding new team members as the team scales
- Foster a high-accountability, high-support team environment rooted in the MISUMI Americas values: Not Afraid to Fail, Empowerment, Open to Change, Speed / Bias Toward Action, and Grit
- Maintain visibility across your team’s full portfolio of customer programs and projects - monitoring health, tracking risks, and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks
- Set and uphold team standards for how programs are planned, communicated, and executed: scope management, change control, risk identification, and status reporting
- Step in directly on strategic, high-complexity, or at-risk customer accounts to guide recovery, lead customer conversations, or provide senior presence
- Partner with Sales and Account Management to ensure smooth program onboarding, renewals, and escalation resolution
- Champion a consistent customer experience across the team - ensuring customers always have a responsive, knowledgeable, proactive point of contact
- Model and coach a customer success mindset within the team: proactive communication, anticipating needs, building trust, and driving long-term account health
- Ensure the team is measuring the right things - on-time delivery, customer satisfaction, escalation rate, response time - and improving over time
- Guide your team in navigating difficult customer conversations: how to deliver bad news, manage expectations, and turn friction into stronger relationships
- Build relationships with senior customer stakeholders on key accounts; represent the CPM team in strategic customer interactions as needed
- Maintain a working understanding of supply chain operations - supplier management, lead times, procurement constraints, and fulfillment workflows - to help your team navigate program risks and set accurate customer expectations
- Oversee customer operations health across the portfolio: order management, delivery performance, issue resolution timelines, and escalation response
- Partner with Supply Chain, Operations, and Quality teams to resolve cross-functional blockers affecting customer programs and ensure your team has the right internal connections to act effectively
- Coach your team to think beyond program execution - understanding how supply chain and operational decisions upstream directly impact customer experience downstream
- Identify systemic supply chain or operations issues that recur across programs and work with leadership to address root causes, not just individual incidents
- Stay close to how standards and tooling are evolving across the CPM team, and make sure your team is aligned, trained, and applying them consistently
- Own adoption. When new processes or tools are introduced, drive uptake within your team - close gaps, address resistance, and follow through until it becomes standard practice
- Coach individuals toward stronger execution habits. Where gaps are recurring, treat them as a development opportunity before escalating
- Keep a pulse on execution quality across your team's programs and bring that ground-level visibility into broader team conversations about what is working and what needs attention
Requirements
- 7–13 years of total work experience, with a minimum of 5 years managing customer-facing programs or projects in a fast-paced hardware product development or contract manufacturing environment
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering or Manufacturing Engineering required
- Minimum 2 years in a team lead, senior lead, or people management role with direct reports - owning performance reviews, development plans, and day-to-day team management
- Proven track record of running complex, multi-stakeholder customer programs end-to-end, with full accountability for scope, cost, timeline, and customer satisfaction
- Direct experience working with US-based or European-based customers from India on a US business hours schedule
Nice to have
- Experience at a contract manufacturer, digital manufacturing platform, or hardware supply chain company
- Exposure to low-volume / prototype builds and high-mix, high-velocity manufacturing environments
- Familiarity with the hardware product development lifecycle: EVT, DVT, PVT, MP
- Experience with CRM/ERP tools (Salesforce, Odoo), project management tools (Jira, Asana), and data platforms like Sigma
Additional details
- About MISUMI Americas: MISUMI Americas, a division of MISUMI Group, is a leading provider of standard, configurable, and custom manufacturing solutions. By integrating a vast catalog of components with a world-class digital manufacturing platform, MISUMI Americas empowers engineers and procurement teams to accelerate innovation across the entire product lifecycle. With operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago, the company serves as a vital partner for the most innovative companies in the Americas.
- Work Hours: 7:30 PM – 3:30 AM IST, Monday through Friday (aligned with US Eastern business hours)
- This role has a hybrid model (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in office, Thursday and Friday remote).
- We’re actively seeking teammates who: Bring diverse perspectives and experience to our culture and company. Excel at being part of a strong, empathetic team. Thrive in an environment emphasizing respect, honesty, collaboration, and growth. Have an ‘always learning’ mindset that celebrates learning, not just wins. Help us continue to build a world-class organization that values the contributions of all of our teammates. We encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups, including but not limited to women, members of the LGBTQ community, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans.