Comfort electronics programme portfolio

Context

As Engagement Manager at Capgemini Engineering, from April 2023 to January 2025 I was responsible for a portfolio of eleven parallel R&D programmes in vehicle electronics and comfort systems for leading vehicle manufacturers, primarily Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The combined portfolio value was €32 million CAPEX. The programmes covered quality assurance, test management, defect coordination and technical validation for safety-relevant ECU modules across several vehicle platforms, running in parallel with shared resources and different contract constructions spanning fixed-price and framework agreements.

Initial situation

The automotive industry was in a structurally challenging phase. Cost pressure, declining volumes and the transformation pressure of electrification and digitalisation significantly raised the demands on efficiency and transparency. At the same time, Capgemini Engineering had to continue delivering technical excellence, on-time delivery and regulatory compliance under ISO-9001 and ASPICE, with a team spread across several locations and client projects. The central challenge was steering eleven related but contractually and organisationally independent programmes under one coherent governance structure without losing operational detail.

My role

As Engagement Manager I was the overarching steering authority for the entire programme portfolio, with direct accountability towards Capgemini-internal stakeholders across delivery executive, finance and presales, as well as the client organisations at Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. My core responsibilities covered portfolio governance and resource steering across all eleven programmes, financial steering and contribution margin optimisation, quality assurance under ISO-9001 and ASPICE, client communication and escalation management, support for presales and bid activities, and leading division-wide collaboration initiatives to harmonise management practices. In parallel I held direct project responsibility for the largest individual programmes.

Approach

I established a uniform governance structure across all eleven programmes, with standardised reporting formats, regular portfolio reviews and clear escalation paths. Resources were planned across programmes and deployed flexibly to avoid bottlenecks early and optimise utilisation. Financial steering was based on monthly contribution margin analyses per programme, with targeted optimisation of resource mix and delivery. To ensure compliance I ran internal and external audits under ISO-9001 and ASPICE and maintained documentation quality across all programmes. On the presales side I supported the preparation of competitive bids with realistic costing and technical credibility.

Outcome

Contribution margin increased by up to 7% in key programmes through targeted resource and portfolio optimisation. On-time delivery and profitability across all eleven R&D programmes with a combined value of €32 million CAPEX. All ISO-9001 and ASPICE standards met during internal and external audits with no critical findings. Successful support of presales activities with a direct contribution to new contract wins. Strengthened division-wide collaboration through leading cross-functional initiatives.