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Kavya Pillai

Senior Manager | Product Development | Program Management | Project Planner | PMO | Cross Functional Leadership | Budget & Risk Management | Automotive R&D | Executive MBA (SIBM)

Pune District

5+ years of work experience

Tata Motors
Oct 20251 yr 1 moPresent

Pune District, Maharashtra, India

• Leading end-to-end execution of vehicle development programs from concept to production. • Driving cross-functional collaboration across Engineering, Design, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, and Suppliers. • Managing project timelines, risks, dependencies, budgets, and milestone delivery. • Preparing executive dashboards and governance reports for senior leadership. • Coordinating engineering change implementation while ensuring product quality and program objectives. • Supporting strategic decision-making through data-driven program reviews.
Tata Motors
Jul 20223 yrs 4 mosOct 2025

Pune District, Maharashtra, India

• Successfully managed 40+ Small Commercial Vehicle development projects. • Delivered 100% design gateway releases within planned timelines. • Ensured complete adherence to allocated project budgets. • Coordinated activities across multiple engineering domains to achieve program milestones. • Developed project dashboards for management reviews and executive decision-making. • Conducted risk assessments, issue resolution meetings, and stakeholder communication. • Improved project visibility through digital reporting initiatives. • Contributed to winning the National Gold Award at the CII Digitalization, Robotics & Automation Competition for developing a Real-Time Data Integration solution for proactive R&D Program Management.
Tata Motors
Jul 20211 yrJun 2022

Salem, Tamil Nadu, India

• Managed dealer operations across four districts in Tamil Nadu. • Led dealer sales teams to improve retail performance and customer satisfaction. • Increased market share by 7%. • Achieved 12% YoY growth in Small Commercial Vehicle sales. • Received the President's Cup for outstanding sales performance.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
May 20193 mosJul 2019

Trombay, Mumbai

Establishment of Correlation between Hydrogen content and Area Fraction of Hydrides through Image Analysis in Zr-0.25% Nb Pressure Tubes
The Kerala Minerals & Metals Limited
May 20182 mosJun 2018

Kavya’s AI Stack

claude
claude
manus
manus
metaai
metaai
openai
openai
perplexity
perplexity
ChatGPT
ChatGPT

Education

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune

Executive Master of Business Administration

Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune

20252 yrs2027
COEP Technological University

Honors in Metallurgical Engineering

COEP Technological University

20191 yr2020

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Headline

Senior Manager | Product Development | Program Management | Project Planner | PMO | Cross Functional Leadership | Budget & Risk Management | Automotive R&D | Executive MBA (SIBM)

About

I am a Project and Product Development professional with over 5 years of experience delivering complex engineering programs in the automotive industry at Tata Motors. Throughout my career, I have successfully managed cross-functional vehicle development projects, coordinating engineering, design, manufacturing, purchasing, quality, finance, suppliers, and leadership teams to ensure timely and cost-effective program execution. My expertise lies in translating business objectives into executable project plans, driving stakeholder alignment, mitigating risks, monitoring budgets, and ensuring milestone adherence across the complete product development lifecycle. I enjoy solving complex problems that require structured thinking, collaboration, and data-driven decision making. My experience spans project management, project governance, PMO activities, executive reporting, dashboard development, engineering change management, and strategic program execution. Prior to Product Development, I worked as a Territory Sales Manager where I led dealer operations across multiple districts, increased market share, improved retail performance, and developed a strong customer-centric perspective. This unique combination of engineering and business experience enables me to bridge technical execution with commercial priorities. I am currently pursuing an Executive MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, to strengthen my leadership, strategy, and business management capabilities.

Location

Pune District

AI stack

claude

manus

metaai

openai

perplexity

ChatGPT

Work experience

Senior Manager-Product development at Tata Motors, Oct 2025 - Present · 1 yr 1 mo, Pune District, Maharashtra, India, • Leading end-to-end execution of vehicle development programs from concept to production. • Driving cross-functional collaboration across Engineering, Design, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, and Suppliers. • Managing project timelines, risks, dependencies, budgets, and milestone delivery. • Preparing executive dashboards and governance reports for senior leadership. • Coordinating engineering change implementation while ensuring product quality and program objectives. • Supporting strategic decision-making through data-driven program reviews.

Senior Manager - ERC at Tata Motors, Jul 2022 - Oct 2025 · 3 yrs 4 mos, Pune District, Maharashtra, India, • Successfully managed 40+ Small Commercial Vehicle development projects. • Delivered 100% design gateway releases within planned timelines. • Ensured complete adherence to allocated project budgets. • Coordinated activities across multiple engineering domains to achieve program milestones. • Developed project dashboards for management reviews and executive decision-making. • Conducted risk assessments, issue resolution meetings, and stakeholder communication. • Improved project visibility through digital reporting initiatives. • Contributed to winning the National Gold Award at the CII Digitalization, Robotics & Automation Competition for developing a Real-Time Data Integration solution for proactive R&D Program Management.

Territory Sales Manager at Tata Motors, Jul 2021 - Jun 2022 · 1 yr, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India, • Managed dealer operations across four districts in Tamil Nadu. • Led dealer sales teams to improve retail performance and customer satisfaction. • Increased market share by 7%. • Achieved 12% YoY growth in Small Commercial Vehicle sales. • Received the President's Cup for outstanding sales performance.

Research Intern at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, May 2019 - Jul 2019 · 3 mos, Trombay, Mumbai, Establishment of Correlation between Hydrogen content and Area Fraction of Hydrides through Image Analysis in Zr-0.25% Nb Pressure Tubes

Intern at The Kerala Minerals & Metals Limited, May 2018 - Jun 2018 · 2 mos

Education

Executive Master of Business Administration, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune

Honors in Metallurgical Engineering, COEP Technological University