Customer Technical Program Manager - Ingolstadt/Unterschleissheim

Overview

The Customer Technical Program Manager (CTPM) is an engineering role coordinating all aspects of technical support assigned to the program and is the primary communication channel with customers for technical, organization, operational, and administrative topics. Technical support will be managed throughout the product lifecycle from concept to mass production/maintenance for EMEA customers. The CTPM closely tracks and understands customers’ technical requirements/issues along with priorities/schedules and translates them into actions for internal teams and mobilizes the required expertise calling on HW/SW application engineers, R&D and Quality and Reliability engineering. The CTPM owns all customer technical issues across SW, HW, Systems, Quality, Performance & Test and Manufacturing and negotiates RCA plans and resolution timeframes with the customers project management. An ideal candidate will come with an embedded SW engineering background with strong project management experience. The prime measure of success is an on‑time launch of the customers’ product, and the quality and responsiveness of the technical support delivered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with one or more components such as Displays, Audio, Camera, ML/AI, Bluetooth, Wi‑Fi, or Automotive SOC sector in general.
• Technical Project or Program management ideally within Infotainment.
• Technical understanding of Automotive Applications Processor, GPU, Memory, Camera, Interfaces and Systems.
• Knowledge of Automotive Applications, Requirements, KPIs and Use Cases.
• Experience with ASPICE, Functional Safety, Cyber Security.
• Technical background in systems, software, multimedia and/or hardware.
• Proven analytical and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to simultaneously support multiple projects and to work across functions.
• Team player with a successful track‑record of working inside diverse global organizations.
• Leadership, communication, and reporting skills.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.
• 5+ years of Program Management or related work experience.
• 8+ years of Software Applications Engineering, Software Development experience, or Systems Project Management.
• 5+ years of experience in an automotive customer‑facing role.
• 2+ years of work experience in a role requiring interaction with senior leadership (e.g., Director level and above).
• 3+ years of experience working in a large matrixed organization.
• 2+ years of experience with program management tools such as dashboards, Gantt charts, etc.
• Fluent in English.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• Own every aspect of the program, including developing and managing relationships across the technical groups, from working level to leadership.
• Maintain a deep and dynamic understanding of the customer’s technical objectives, strategies, and capabilities, and ensure ongoing alignment within Qualcomm Automotive team.
• Responsible for creating a bridge between customers and Qualcomm to facilitate timely and quality problem resolution of customer products.
• Manage customer project support from its inception throughout the entire development and deployment cycle.
• Act as a tech lead on large projects and own the outcome of the project.
• Negotiate, establish, and manage effective technical support activities and plans towards customers.
• Track customer program schedules and priorities, manage risk, and report project status with a technical abstraction level, highlighting areas that need attention.
• Build and maintain trusted working relationships with key representatives within the Customer organization.
• Serve as a role model for building connections across the company and with the customers.
• Proactively identify complex customer problems and recommend solutions that meet customer needs.
• Lead and coordinate engineering resources in resolving complex technical issues.
• Build, maintain, and leverage a network of engineering specialists within Qualcomm.
• Organize technical training, design reviews, and engineering workshops on behalf of customers.
• Work closely with broader Qualcomm support organization (Sales Operations, Development, Product Marketing, Customer Service, etc.) to support all aspects of the customer business cycle and determine strategies regarding complex customer needs (e.g., pain points).
• Provide technical support to business development.
• Maintain solid technical knowledge of Qualcomm’s Automotive products, technologies, and roadmap.
• Maintain project pipeline, provide monthly planning and forecasts, and support quarterly global Business Unit reviews.
• Travel domestically as required.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders and program sponsors to develop program goals, set the prioritization of deliverables, discuss involvement of business processes (e.g., program change management, communication), and drive decisions necessary for on‑time delivery.
• Manage and take responsibility for multiple medium‑sized programs/technology with moderate complexity, applying up‑to‑date program management knowledge to meet deadlines.
• Develop and manage the execution of the program Plan of Record (on time, on budget, within scope) for multiple medium‑sized programs, including schedule and resource forecasting, stakeholder identification, communication frequency, scope, and prioritization.
• Establish key program metrics and manage the team to take action outside their comfort zone to ensure program success when metrics deviate from the Plan of Record.
• Identify and secure resources to ensure alignment of the team with program/technology demand for multiple medium‑sized programs with moderate complexity.
• Drive teams to identify program issues/risks, create a risk mitigation plan for multiple medium‑sized or a single complex program(s), and maintain and update the risk tracker.
• Promote program vision and objectives within the team, ensure program objectives are met or exceeded, present program vision to management, and gain buy‑in from stakeholders.
• Promote adoption of processes by applying best practices and identifying and executing process improvement initiatives across the Program Management team.

Level of Responsibility

• Decision‑making is critical in nature and highly impacts program, product, or project success.
• Requires verbal and written communication skills to convey highly complex and/or detailed information; may require strong negotiation and influence with large groups or high‑level constituents.
• Works within the prescribed budgetary objectives of the department.
• Has influence over the formulation and achievement of long‑term business plans and objectives.
• Tasks often require multiple steps that can be performed in various orders; extensive planning, problem‑solving, and prioritization are required.
• Works independently with little supervision.
• Makes decisions that are significant in impact; errors are not readily apparent due to the complexity of the work process/product or time between decisions and results; errors typically result in significant expenditure of time, resources, and funds to correct.
• Uses verbal and written communication skills to convey complex and/or detailed information to multiple individuals/audiences with differing knowledge levels; may require strong negotiation and influence, communication to large groups or high‑level constituents.
• Has a moderate amount of influence over key organizational decisions, often consulted by senior leadership to provide input on key decisions.
• Completes tasks that require multiple steps that can be performed in various orders; tasks require simultaneously executing multiple cognitive abilities and maintaining information in short‑ or long‑term memory.
• Exercises exceptional creativity to innovate new ideas and develop innovative products/processes without established objectives or known parameters.
• Uses deductive and inductive problem‑solving; multiple approaches may be taken or necessary to solve the problem; often information is missing or conflicting; advanced data analysis and interpretation skills are required.
• Occasionally participates in strategic planning within own area affecting immediate operations.

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.

Equal Opportunity & Accessibility

Qualcomm is an equal‑opportunity employer. If you are an individual with a disability and need an accommodation during the application/hiring process, Qualcomm is committed to providing an accessible process and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request.