Senior Project Manager

Our Mission: Driving technology always feels old. Not by a little bit. We believe vehicles can be a thousand times smarter, safer, and more connected to the world around us, and our mission is to see it happen. In 2019, we joined forces with Honda as their first startup acquisition, and now we’re expanding our vision into building the future of electric vehicles (BEV) for millions of people around the world.

Why Drivemode:  Drivemode is the new software and user experience division of Honda that is focused on digital experience for new electric vehicles. You will be joining an exciting startup environment that combines impactful work, competitive compensation, and excellent benefits. By becoming a part of our team, you'll contribute to our crucial mission of changing the way people engage with vehicles and help solving the world's environmental challenges. This presents an exceptional opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation and drive Honda's success in the EV market.

About The Role: As a Senior Project Manager, you will lead the cornerstone project for Honda to deliver the future connected service with Honda. This is a critical role to grow Honda’s presence in the EV market while transforming the enterprise to a product-driven, more agile culture. You will focus on the electric motorcycle project and ensure successful delivery across multiple regions.

What You Will Do:

• Leadership and Accountability
• Work closely with Product Management to ensure that the requirements, scope, and timeline are aligned with Honda's stakeholders
• Develop and implement flexible frameworks for managing projects with multiple groups.
• Generate, clarify owner, track, and ensure completion of action items for both Honda and Drivemode.
• Facilitate meetings to drive actionable outcomes and decision-making.
• Schedule Management [Timeline & Roadmap]
• Develop and manage a comprehensive master schedule that aligns with Honda’s timeline and milestones.
• Ensure each milestones have a clear outcome and the rationale behind the goals
• Make Drivemode members have a clear understanding of how our product roadmap will mesh to Honda’s hardware driven milestones.
• Maintain a big-picture view while managing day-to-day project activities.
• Ensure clarity on objectives, activities, and priorities, making it easier to make prioritization decisions.
• Gain cultural knowledge about Honda's processes and implicit understandings.
• Stakeholder Management
• Identify both Drivemode and Honda stakeholders for the project and make decisions with those members.
• Involve external stakeholders when necessary.
• Identify both Drivemode and Honda stakeholders for the project and make decisions with those members.
• Involve external stakeholders when necessary.
• Information management and radiation
• Information is clear to all Drivemode members and information is easily discoverable and it is accessible.  Information is in a single place.
• Identify mis-communication regardless of language (Japanese/English) and work toward resolution
• Enhance information radiation, ensuring vendors and stakeholders including stakeholders from Honda, are informed in a timely manner.  This includes but not limited to our progress and status updates.
• Cultivate cultural fluency in both Japanese and Western business environments.
• Develop explicit conclusions and actions even within vague contexts.
• Risk Management
• Identify, communicate, and manage project risks and issues early and continuously so that we avoid big risks at the last minute.  Develop and implement strategies and frameworks to automate the process as much as possible.
• Confront difficult challenges and guide all parties towards actionable next steps.

What we are looking for:

• 5+ years of Project Management experience in software companies.
• Business level Japanese and English.
• Knowledge/experience of both Agile/waterfall software development processes.
• Flexible and willing to learn new project/product processes.
• Knowledge/experience of Project management tools (JIRA , Gantt chart tools etc.)
• Knowledge/experience of Project operations (contract, meeting facilitation etc.)
• Proactive, detail-oriented, and a master of collaboration.
• Experience working in a multicultural environment with multiple stakeholders.

Nice to Have:

• Experience in managing projects that interact with hardware, ideally within the automotive industry.
• Familiarity and flexibility with outcome-oriented roadmapping on the product side.