Lead Project Manager India (m/f/x)

About the role

Wieland-Werke AG is looking for a Lead Project Manager to drive the establishment of a new heat exchanger manufacturing plant in Pune, India. The role starts from Wieland's headquarters in Ulm, Germany, and covers the full lifecycle of the greenfield investment, from planning and site preparation through construction, start of production and ramp-up. It is a central position representing Wieland to international stakeholders and building a new manufacturing operation from the ground up.

Key responsibilities

• Drive scope, schedule, budget, quality and risk management, and set up project governance including steering committee reporting, milestone tracking and decision papers.
• Plan and lead the new facility: factory layout, production processes, infrastructure, utilities, equipment procurement, installation and commissioning.
• Manage the day-to-day relationship with the Indian joint venture partner and help set up the new legal entity with Legal, Finance and Tax.
• Coordinate with manufacturing sites in Italy, the USA and China and corporate functions in Germany.
• Work with Purchasing and Sales to build a local supplier base, support early customer engagement and lay the commercial groundwork.
• Build the local organization from a small core team and embed Wieland values, production standards and EHS requirements.
• Lead the ramp-up to stable performance in safety, quality, delivery and cost, and hand over to local operational management.

Required profile

• Degree in Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Business Engineering or a comparable technical or business field.
• Several years of experience in industrial manufacturing, plant engineering or a comparable technical environment; experience with heat exchangers, HVAC/R or metal processing is an advantage.
• Proven track record managing technical projects such as investments, plant construction or equipment projects; greenfield or expansion experience is a plus.
• Initial leadership experience and an entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
• Fluent English and German; willingness to relocate to Pune for at least three years and to travel extensively between Germany, India, Italy, the USA and China.