The client is seeking a senior leader to serve as Director of Customer Programs, responsible for leading strategic customer programs and strategic accounts in a complex manufacturing environment. This role is not sales-focused. The Director will serve as the executive owner for major customer relationships, oversee customer satisfaction and contractual execution, and ensure cross-functional program delivery is aligned with commitments, manufacturing capabilities, schedules, and quality standards.
The Director will initially lead customer programs directly and is expected to build and lead a Customer Program Management team within the first six months. Key responsibilities include managing multiple complex, high-value programs and major contractual commitments simultaneously, acting as the primary escalation point for customer concerns and program risks, and establishing governance, performance metrics, executive reporting, and customer communication frameworks. The Director will partner with Manufacturing, Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to drive accountability for delivery, quality, cost, and customer satisfaction, influencing internal stakeholders through complex technical and commercial challenges.
Required qualifications include 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in program management, customer program management, project management, operations leadership, or account management within an industrial environment. The ideal candidate has demonstrated success managing large-scale customer programs in complex manufacturing settings such as shipbuilding, heavy manufacturing, industrial equipment, aerospace/defense, energy, power generation, or other highly regulated industries, along with experience managing multiple high-value contracts and purchase orders concurrently. They should have a strong track record balancing customer expectations with operational realities and developing processes and execution frameworks that align contractual commitments with manufacturing capacity and production schedules, and be able to recruit, develop, and lead a program management organization while providing strategic oversight.