Spark Minda Hiring Assistant Manager – Project Management in Greater Noida

Spark Minda is hiring an experienced Assistant Manager – Project Management for its automotive operations in Greater Noida (Gr. Noida). The opportunity is suitable for professionals with 5+ years of experience in the automotive industry and hands-on exposure to new product development, customer programs, cross-functional coordination, project planning, and execution.

The selected candidate will be responsible for managing projects from planning through launch while ensuring that quality, cost, timing, and customer requirements are achieved.

• Post : Assistant Manager – Project Management 
• Company: Spark Minda 
• Location: Greater Noida 
• Experience: 5+ Years Automotive Experience

About the Role

This Assistant Manager – Project Management role involves leading project planning, execution, monitoring, and customer coordination for automotive new product development programs.

The professional will work closely with Design, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and customers to ensure project milestones are achieved on time and within the approved budget and quality requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end project planning, execution, and monitoring for new product development and customer programs.
• Coordinate with Design, Manufacturing, Quality, Supply Chain, and customer teams to achieve project milestones.
• Monitor project schedules, risks, resources, KPIs, and deliverables.
• Identify project deviations and drive corrective actions to maintain planned timelines.
• Manage customer communication, project reviews, presentations, and status reporting.
• Ensure compliance with APQP, PPAP, and applicable automotive industry standards.
• Support launch readiness by coordinating activities across different functions.
• Improve project management processes and optimize resource utilization.
• Monitor project risks and develop suitable mitigation plans.
• Support operational excellence and business improvement initiatives.

Required Skills and Experience

Candidates should have:

• 5+ years of experience in the automotive industry.
• Strong understanding of Project Management and New Product Development.
• Experience coordinating multiple cross-functional teams.
• Knowledge of APQP and PPAP.
• Ability to track project schedules, milestones, risks, and KPIs.
• Good customer communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Good knowledge of project reporting and presentation preparation.

Educational Qualification

The original hiring information does not specify a particular educational qualification. Candidates with relevant engineering or technical backgrounds and automotive project management experience may be suitable, depending on the employer’s selection criteria.

Why This Project Management Job Is a Good Opportunity

This position offers an opportunity to work on automotive new product development and customer programs while coordinating with several core functions. Professionals can gain valuable exposure to project execution, customer management, APQP, PPAP, product launches, and cross-functional leadership.

The role can be particularly useful for professionals looking to progress toward Senior Project Manager, Project Manager, Program Manager, or NPD leadership positions.

How to Apply

Interested candidates can share their updated profile directly with:

Email: ankit.saini1@mindacorporation.com

Applicants should highlight their experience in automotive project management, NPD, APQP, PPAP, customer coordination, project scheduling, and launch management in their CV.

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Interview Questions and Answers for Assistant Manager – Project Management

1. What is your approach to managing an automotive NPD project?

I begin by understanding the customer requirements, project scope, timelines, deliverables, and available resources. I then create a project plan covering major milestones, responsibilities, risks, and dependencies.

During execution, I track progress through regular reviews and KPI monitoring. Any deviation in timing, quality, cost, or resources is escalated and addressed through a corrective-action plan.

2. What is APQP and why is it important?

APQP stands for Advanced Product Quality Planning. It provides a structured approach for developing and launching products that meet customer quality requirements.

APQP helps coordinate activities such as feasibility, design review, process development, validation, control planning, and launch readiness. Effective APQP reduces the chances of quality problems during mass production.

3. What is PPAP?

Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) is used to demonstrate that the supplier understands the customer’s engineering and specification requirements and can consistently manufacture parts meeting those requirements.

Depending on the customer’s requirements, PPAP may include documents such as drawings, process flow, PFMEA, control plan, MSA, capability studies, dimensional results, material certifications, and PSW.

4. How do you handle a project that is behind schedule?

First, I identify the reason for the delay and determine whether it is related to manpower, tooling, supplier development, design changes, testing, quality issues, or another dependency.

I then assess the impact on subsequent milestones and create a recovery plan. Responsibilities and deadlines are clearly assigned, and progress is monitored more frequently until the project returns to the planned schedule.

5. How do you manage cross-functional teams?

I establish clear responsibilities and communicate project expectations to every function. Regular review meetings are useful for tracking actions and identifying dependencies.

For critical activities, I maintain an action tracker with the owner, target date, status, and escalation requirement. This creates accountability and reduces communication gaps.

6. How do you manage project risks?

I identify potential risks during project planning and assess their probability and impact. High-priority risks are assigned mitigation actions and responsible owners.

For example, if a critical supplier has a capacity concern, I would evaluate capacity, development timing, alternate sourcing possibilities, and production requirements rather than waiting for the issue to affect the launch.

7. Which KPIs would you monitor in an automotive project?

Important project KPIs can include:

• Milestone achievement
• Project schedule adherence
• PPAP status
• Tooling readiness
• Supplier development status
• Open quality issues
• Cost versus budget
• Prototype and trial status
• Customer action closure
• Launch readiness

The exact KPIs depend on the project and customer requirements.

8. How would you handle a customer escalation?

I would first understand the exact customer concern and collect the relevant facts. I would coordinate with the concerned technical and quality teams to establish containment and identify the root cause.

The customer should receive clear communication regarding the immediate action, root cause investigation, corrective action, and expected closure timeline.

9. What is the difference between a project milestone and a project activity?

An activity is an individual task required to complete the project, such as tool design, prototype manufacturing, testing, or PPAP documentation.

A milestone represents an important achievement or checkpoint, such as design freeze, tooling completion, successful validation, PPAP approval, or SOP readiness.

10. How do you ensure a project is ready for SOP?

I use a structured launch-readiness review covering tooling, manpower, process capability, material availability, supplier readiness, quality documentation, PPAP approval, production capacity, inspection systems, and customer requirements.

Any open critical issue should have a defined owner, action plan, and closure date before SOP.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who is hiring for the Assistant Manager – Project Management position?

The opportunity is with Spark Minda for its automotive operations.

2. Where is the Project Management job located?

The position is based in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

3. How much experience is required?

Candidates should have 5+ years of experience in the automotive industry.

4. What type of experience is preferred?

Experience in project management, automotive NPD, customer programs, APQP, PPAP, cross-functional coordination, and product launches will be relevant.

5. What are the major responsibilities?

The role focuses on project planning, execution, monitoring, customer coordination, risk management, milestone tracking, and launch readiness.

6. How can candidates apply?

Candidates can send their updated profile to ankit.saini1@mindacorporation.com.

Interview Preparation Tips

Before attending the interview, candidates should revise APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, Control Plan, project scheduling, risk management, customer communication, and NPD processes.

Prepare real examples from your previous projects, especially situations where you recovered a delayed project, solved a cross-functional issue, managed a supplier problem, handled customer escalation, or achieved a successful product launch.

Also be ready to explain your contribution using measurable results such as reduced development time, improved project adherence, reduced rejection, cost savings, or successful SOP achievement.

Quick Job Summary

Assistant Manager – Project Management | Spark Minda | Greater Noida | 5+ Years Automotive Experience

📩 Apply: ankit.saini1@mindacorporation.com