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Job Summary:
HARMAN International is a company that designs innovative Branded Audio consumer experiences. The Executive Director will lead the brand experience vision and manage cross-functional teams to deliver product bundles while developing customer relationships.
Responsibilities:
• Leading cross-functional teams to create production-ready experience packages, combining hardware, software, and consumer-focused features, and presenting them as brand and customer proposals.
• Delivering reusable assets for production integration and validation in automotive environments, ensuring speed and quality.
• Build and lead Brand Experience Strategy.
• Manage a small, nimble, powerful direct brand experience team, plus larger supporting matrix teams.
• Lead the translation of the brand experience vision into a technical vision, feature ideas, and feasible technical path aligned with customer needs
• Coordinate the brand's portfolio strategy and positioning with Consumer and Pro Divisions
• Lead the determination of Commercial/Strategic/Technical Feasibility - Lead PLM Lite Process – risk eval & go/no-go analysis
• Align internal delivery planning with OEM facing customer roadmaps
• Collaborate with other Brand Owners, adjacent stakeholders, internal teams, external partners & vendors to come up with new UI/UX and audio related technologies and best practices.
• Evaluate new ideas coming out of innovation pipeline for potential brand experience inclusion
• Act as Brand Ambassador and “CEO” to Lead the brand experience vision, development, customer relationship, business model, and direct plus cross-functional teams to define, match, and deliver compelling brand experience product bundles with customer partners
• Serve as single point of contact for Customer Account Management Team for the brand – Support the jointly developed customer engagement strategy on pursuits
• Represent & Promote brand and experience both internally and at the customer - build relationships, support tech day events, present brand and customer proposals
• Signoff on production proposals during PLM200 concept freeze and approval
• Overseas Brand Confirmation validation for production vehicles with branded systems
• Manage overall team that builds, tests, and delivers Brand Features to Project Teams, with market leading speed and quality
• Assign business value to objectives during PI Planning. Approves Sprint and Release scope (what/when)
• Oversee the creation of internal documentation for holistic brand experience and/or OEM adaptations through Brand Experience concept freeze and approval (PDM)
• Drive development of demo cars integrating brand experience package and features
• Approve production proposals during concept freeze and approval.
• Decide inclusion of new ideas and concepts into roadmap
• Determine delivery plan & roadmap and OEM facing customer roadmaps
• Brand Experience Strategy
• Concept freeze and approval (business sections).
• Achievement of business goals / outcomes / pursuit success
• Ensure on-time deliveries with project team
• PI predictability and release scope adherence
• Feature acceptance rate
• Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): Direct feedback on user satisfaction.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend.
• Roadmap hit rate
• Net earnings – both value and trend
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related demonstrated technical expertise
• 20+ years of combined brand, audio, product, and business-related experience.
• 5+ years in leadership, customer relationship management, and supplier relationships, preferably in automotive and/or luxury audio.
• A mature approach toward leadership and soft skills: building trust and long-term internal team relationships to influence consistent, positive outcomes.
• Functional audio architecture knowledge of automotive infotainment and audio systems.
• Demonstrated acumen in business case development, program management, make/buy, commercial, and product bundling/sales strategy, feature ideation, and consumer validation.
• Ability to communicate advanced and complex concepts and ideas persuasively and concisely to all levels of the business.
• Experience leading a team to drive time critical projects to completion.
Preferred:
• A combination of Engineering and Business Degrees (eg. Ba ENG + MBA)
• Strong recommendations from automotive industry colleagues
• Automotive Business & Engineering Landscape Knowledge
• Passion for the power of brand as a unifying concept for bundles of experience products
• Passion for acoustics and sound reproduction
Company:
Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. Founded in 1980, the company is headquartered in Stamford, USA, with a team of 10001+ employees. The company is currently Late Stage.