Strategic Project Manager

Who we are

OTIV is a Ghent-based company leading the autonomous revolution in rail. We are on a mission to increase safety and efficiency of railway operations by teaching rail vehicles to drive autonomously. By making trains more efficient and safer, we actively contribute to a modal shift and a greener future. We bring this vision to life by a unique focus on the most challenging environments such as cities, shunting yards and industrial sites. Thanks to high-profile partners and world-leading clients such as Deutsche Bahn, SNCF Group, ArcelorMittal and CAF we deliver the future of railway operations today.

OTIV is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals and in which personnel processes are merit-based and applied without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, disability, national or ethnic origin, military service status, citizenship, or other protected characteristic. OTIV strives to create an environment in which all employees feel confident in their ability to bring their authentic selves to work and secure collaborating with colleagues and customers.

What you will do

As a Strategic Project Manager within OTIV’s Strategy team, you will drive multi-year projects to co-develop, test, and implement remote-control and autonomous train solutions. You will bring structure and focus to complex, multi-stakeholder environments - coordinating teams, setting clear objectives, managing budgets, and ensuring optimal use of resources. Through proactive collaboration and diligent progress monitoring, you will remove obstacles and steer ambitious projects toward successful milestones. Your can-do mindset will help accelerate the deployment of groundbreaking technologies that are reshaping the future of transportation. While driving the projects, you will ensure that every solution we build today, contributes to the scalable core product of tomorrow.

Tasks and responsibilities

As Strategic Project Manager at OTIV you will..

Lead and manage our train remote-control and automation projects

• Lead and manage our train remote-control and automation projects from requirements definition through project delivery, defining timelines, scopes, budget, and project implementation, including risk mitigation.
• Coordinate interdisciplinary teams to develop, test and implement cutting-edge technologies.
• Monitor project budgets, ensuring expenditures remain aligned with financial plans and approvals.
• Monitor project progress and address potential risks to ensure timely completion.
• Identify potential commercial opportunities during the completion of the project.

Lay the foundations of our core products tomorrow

• Ensure that short-term technical shortcuts are tracked, managed, and eventually refactored into robust features.
• Analyze project requirements to distinguish between distinct market needs (core product) and unique client requests custom configurations).
• Identify high-value project deliverables - such as specific sensor integrations or software features - that have broader market appeal and lead their transition into the official product roadmap.

Requirements:
• 5+ years of experience in project management/business/corporate development in a deep-tech startup/tier-one strategy consultancy, corporate strategy department.
• Degree in Business Administration, (industrial) engineering, or similar.
• Knowledge of and experience in managing complex projects with large accounts.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.
• Hands-on / self-driven mentality with the ability to define and build greenfield projects from the ground up.
• Enthusiasm for cutting-edge technology.
• Experience of working in a fast-paced start-up environment.
• Fluent in English.

Nice to haves:

• Knowledge of and experience in the fields of logistics, railway, self-driving technology or software/platform-as-a-service businesses is a strong plus.
• French or Dutch is a strong plus.

Benefits:
What we offer

• Full time offer with competitive salary package.
• International environment in a disruptive scale-up with opportunities to grow.
• Early riser or night owl? Either way, you’ll fit right in our flexible working hours system.
• Office-first-culture, with an office in beautiful Ghent (Belgium).
• Collaborative, transparent, and fun-loving office culture.
• Team events and quarterly offsite.
• 32 days of vacation.