Datacolor, a global leader in color management solutions, provides software, instruments, and services to improve the precision, performance, and efficiency of your color workflow. For over five decades, Datacolor has earned our reputation as a trusted leader by delivering unmatched capabilities that rapidly address the full spectrum of color challenges in textile and apparel, paint, and coatings, automotive, plastics, photography and videography, and other industries.
To support our business, we are looking for a Project manager for our Hardware Engineering team.
Position Summary:
Drive end-to-end execution of Suzhou R&D projects by owning project planning, schedule/risk control, cross-functional action closure, and development-stage sourcing coordination.
Ensure material readiness, schedule transparency, and cross-functional alignment from concept through pre-production readiness.
This role owns end-to-end project execution within Suzhou R&D and drives cross-functional actions to meet project commitments, aligned with the global project governance and milestone framework; Production sourcing ownership remains with Operations/Procurement.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
In this role you will:
- Own end-to-end project execution for assigned R&D projects (execution scope alignment, schedule planning, risk tracking, and action closure)
- Create and maintain integrated project schedules, track progress against milestones, and drive recovery plans when gaps occur
- Lead regular project cadence (core team meetings, stakeholder updates, decision logs, action tracking, lessons learned)
- Manage development-stage procurement and supplier coordination to ensure engineering material availability and lead-time efficiency
- Own R&D supplier interface management during development phases (onboarding support, quotation coordination, responsiveness, basic performance tracking) in alignment with Operations policies
- Support OEM and laboratory equipment related projects by coordinating RFQ, quotations, approvals, delivery tracking, and acceptance readiness
- Support early supplier involvement for engineering builds (cost, lead time, manufacturability, risk) and coordinate technical alignment with engineering owners
- Identify and develop rapid-turn suppliers for prototype builds and exploratory work; leverage existing supplier channels when appropriate
- Handle quotations, internal approvals, and new supplier setup processes during development phases
- Monitor development-phase cost drivers before pilot run and support cost transparency discussions with engineering and operations stakeholders
- Coordinate cross-functional communications among Engineering, Operations, Finance, Product Management, Service, and Marketing to ensure execution alignment
- Maintain project risk tracking and proactively highlight schedule/cost/supply risks, driving mitigation actions to closure
- Escalate critical schedule, supplier, resource, or cross-functional issues when needed to protect project commitments
- Ensure alignment between R&D timelines and manufacturing readiness (materials, supplier capacity, lead time, handoff checklist) in coordination with Operations
- Support gate readiness deliverables and gate review.
Experience & Qualification
You have:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Supply Chain, Project Management, or a related field, imaging, instrumentation, or scientific applications is a plus.
- Minimum 5+ years of experience in technical project management and/or R&D procurement in a hardware development environment.
- PMP certification is a plus.
- Experience working in cross-functional hardware product development teams (Engineering, Operations, Finance, Product Management, Service, Marketing)
- Experience interfacing with suppliers on RFQ, quotation, lead time, and cost discussions
- Experience supporting OEM partners or laboratory / instrumentation equipment sourcing is a strong plus
- Proven ability to manage multiple projects in parallel
- Experience developing and managing integrated project schedules for hardware development is strongly preferred
- Strong project tracking, communication, and documentation skills
- Excellent time management skills with the ability to prioritize, multitask, and work under shifting deadlines.
- Highly organized, proactive, and capable of driving tasks independently within a cross-functional environment.
