Back to jobs
New

Sr Staff TPM, NPI

Mountain View, CA

We are CARIAD, an automotive software development team with the Volkswagen Group. Our mission is to make the automotive experience safer, more sustainable, more comfortable, more digital, and more fun. To achieve that we are building the leading tech stack for the automotive industry and creating a unified software platform for over 10 million new vehicles per year. We’re looking for talented, digital minds like you to help us create code that moves the world. Together with you, we’ll build outstanding digital experiences and products for all Volkswagen Group brands that will transform mobility. Join us as we shape the future of the car and everyone around it.

​Role Summary:

The Sr Staff Technical Program Manager, New Product Introduction (NPI) leads the launch of new electronic control units (ECUs) from concept to full-scale production, ensuring they meet cost, quality, compliance, and timing targets. This role drives cross-functional collaboration, supplier performance, and readiness for seamless integration into CARIAD’s hardware portfolio.

Role Responsibilities:

Supplier Management

  • Drive strategic supplier selection and qualification globally and locally, ensuring scalability, performance, and compliance aligned with CARIAD’s long-term hardware portfolio goals.
  • Manage purchase orders, delivery schedules, and logistics coordination for EE components
  • Lead high-level supplier negotiations on cost, lead times, and service levels in partnership with procurement, optimizing for both cost efficiency and supply security.
  • Build and sustain strategic supplier partnerships, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement
  • Oversee supplier performance metrics, ensuring readiness and quality targets are met for all new ECUs.

Process and Project Management

  • Own the end-to-end NPI process, from concept to production, defining scope, milestones, KPIs, and exit criteria.
  • Act as primary point of contact for NPI-related communication between engineering, operations, suppliers, and leadership, ensuring alignment on strategy, priorities, and risk mitigation.
  • Serve as the primary NPI liaison, coordinating cross-functional teams (engineering, operations, quality, logistics, procurement, and leadership) to align strategy, mitigate risks, and drive launch readiness, ensuring projects meet cost, quality, and schedule objectives.
  • Champion process improvements, lessons learned, and knowledge sharing across the NPI portfolio to optimize efficiency and minimize risk
  • Ensure process documentation and project records are complete, current, and compliant
  • Provide senior management with data-driven insights on program performance, cost, quality, and delivery.

Quality Assurance & Compliance 

  • Oversee incoming inspection and testing of prototype and production parts
  • Drive enterprise-level oversight of product quality, regulatory compliance, and design validation for new ECUs.
  • Drive resolution of non-conformance issues and verify corrective actions are effective and documented
  • Collaborate with engineering and TPM teams to define and validate testing protocols, ensuring products meet technical, safety, and legal standards prior to SOP.
  • Incorporate customer feedback, field data, and analytics into strategic product improvement initiatives

​General Skills:

  • Exceptional communication skills—verbal, written, and presentation—to effectively collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders
  • Strong organizational and delegation skills, ensuring effective project execution and accountability
  • Strategic and visionary mindset, capable of anticipating future technology trends and aligning them with business needs

​Required Skills:

  • Proven track record in managing the full lifecycle of New Product Introduction (NPI) from concept through market launch
  • Strong technical understanding of hardware product design, manufacturing processes, and integration into automotive systems
  • Extensive supply chain management expertise for electrical/electronic (EE) components, including lead time forecasting, obsolescence management, and vendor qualification
  • Demonstrated leadership as a New Product Introduction Manager or equivalent role in a complex, regulated industry
  • Knowledge of laws, regulations, and industry standards (e.g., IATF 16949, ISO 9001, environmental regulations)
  • Solid understanding of the EE development cycle

​Desired Skills:

  • Familiarity with procurement platforms, ERP systems, and inventory management tools for accurate tracking of parts and materials
  • Experience with DFx (Design for Manufacturing, Test, and Assembly) principles to ensure efficient product ramp-up

​Years of Relevant Experience:

  • 10+ years of new product introduction (NPI) management in the automotive industry/ technology industry
  • 2+ years of hardware platform development experience

​Required Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business administration, supply chain management, engineering, product management or related field

Desired Education

  • Master’s degree in engineering, business administration, supply chain management, product management or related field

Work Flexility

  • Occasional travel (up to 25%) may be required

Compensation

Salary range is dependent on factors such as geographical differentials, credentials or certifications, industry-based experience, qualification and training. In the city of Mountain View, California, the salary range for this position is $182,310 - $264,195.

CARIAD, Inc. provides performance based merits and annual bonus along with a competitive benefits package. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, 401k with employer match and defined contribution plan, short and long term disability, basic life and AD&D insurance, employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment plans, maternity and non-primary caregiver leave, adoption assistance, employee referral program and vacation and paid holidays. We also offer a unique vehicle lease program that covers registration and insurance fees. 

CARIAD is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We welcome and encourage applicants from all backgrounds, and do not discriminate based on race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, color, gender identity/expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable laws. 

Employment with CARIAD Inc. is subject to export control and sanctions compliance. Some positions may involve access to technology and/or software source code subject to U.S. legal restrictions on release to certain foreign persons based on citizenship or permanent residence. To ensure compliance, applicants will be required to provide information for screening. Employment may be contingent on the outcome, including verification of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status, or confirmation that a license, exemption, or exception applies. CARIAD retains the discretion to decline to obtain a required license in any case. By applying, you acknowledge and agree to participate in this process.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Cariad, Inc.? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Cariad, Inc.’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.