Caterpillar

Career Area:

Strategy

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

At Caterpillar, we’re committed to our customers, who build a better, more sustainable world with our products, services and solutions. We understand and show the value of why they should choose us. We’re exploring new ideas and opportunities – innovating to discover the breakthroughs necessary for tomorrow’s growth. Through it all, we are one team– creating and delivering world-class products, services and solutions superior to the competition. Learn more about the Caterpillar Experience.

We are looking for a Programs Manager to join our Strategy, Growth and Transformation team within one of Construction Industries’ newly formed divisions: Customer Solutions Growth Regions. The division is regionally focused on Africa, the Middle East, Eurasia, Asia (excluding Japan), and Latin America (LATAM) and organized into three functional areas: Customer Facing, Customer Solutions, and Business Enablers.

This role is part of the Customer Solutions team, the engine of our business—driving growth by delivering tailored, territory-specific solutions that solve customer pain points, accelerate decision-making, and enable profitable sales execution.

About Strategy, Growth and Transformation Team

The team provides Data and insights for executive decision making and sales execution - ensuring that we are delivering our internal and external commitments as we set up the organization. We are responsible for driving accountability for results in Caterpillar and the Caterpillar dealer network. The team uses both structured and innovative problem solving to define opportunities and are centre of excellence for key strategic projects to drive results.

As the Programs Manager you will work on key strategic projects involving internal teams, dealers and/or customers to solve pressing business needs - both short and long term

Role Definition: Manages the planning, organization and implementation of complex programs.

What You Will Do (Responsibilities):

• Overseeing project processes and procedures; monitoring the productivity and performance of project team.
• Managing all aspects of projects. Setting deadlines, assigning responsibilities, and monitoring and summarizing progress of project.
• Reviewing and ensuring adherence to project materials, deliverables methodologies and procedures.
• Preparing and presenting program level reporting for upper management.

What Will Put You Ahead (Preferred Skills):

• Postgraduate qualification preferred
• PMP certification will be advantageous
• Minimum of 5 - 7 years of commercial project or programs management experience - related to strategy implementation
• Ability to execute project roll-outs with a clear understanding of phasing and governance standards.
• Proven experience working within multinational organizations and across multiple territories

What You Have (Basic Skills Required):

Planning: Tactical, Strategic: Knowledge of effective planning techniques and ability to contribute to operational (short term), tactical (1-2 years) and strategic (3-5 years) planning in support of the overall business plan.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Develops, refines, and communicates tactical plans for own responsibilities.
• Provides the right level of detail as input for strategic plan development.
• Demonstrates the value and necessity of linking tactical plans to overall strategic plan.
• Ensures attention to the detail and dependencies of existing departmental-level plans.
• Plans for allocation of resources in line with unit goals, technical and business objectives.
• Ensures the planning process is integrated with the overall business plan.

Analytical Thinking: Knowledge of techniques and tools that promote effective analysis; ability to determine the root cause of organizational problems and create alternative solutions that resolve these problems.

Level Extensive Experience:

Seeks discrepancies and inconsistencies in available information; explains variances.

Organizes and prioritizes the sequence of steps to be taken to remedy the situation.

Identifies many possible causes for a problem based on prior experience and current research.

Quantifies the costs, benefits, risks and chances for success before recommending a course of action.

Approaches a complex problem by breaking it down into its component parts.

Chooses among a diverse set of analytical tools according to the nature of the situation.

Flexibility and Adaptability: Knowledge of successful approaches and techniques for dealing with change; ability to adapt to a changing environment and be comfortable with change.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Creates processes with provisions to accommodate change.
• Helps others adapt to changing environments and accept new situations.
• Recovers from disappointments and setbacks.
• Works effectively with unstructured teams, situations, or environments.
• Leverages prior experience as a help towards handling changing situations.
• Makes progress in an atmosphere of ambiguity and uncertainty.

Influencing: Knowledge of effective influencing tactics and strategies; ability to impact decisions within and outside own organization.

Level Working Knowledge:

• Develops basic persuasive arguments.
• Discusses organizational culture around providing input on decisions.
• Uses active listening skills and probing techniques to surface opportunities to influence.
• Identifies who the decision makers are and how they receive information.
• Regularly presents ideas or suggestions to associates in persuasive terms.

Managing Multiple Priorities: Knowledge of effective self-management practices; ability to manage multiple concurrent objectives, projects, groups, or activities, making effective judgments as to prioritizing and time allocation.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Clarifies and handles multiple concurrent and diverse activities.
• Shifts focus among several efforts as required by changing priorities.
• Addresses potential conflicts that impact current delivery commitments.
• Works with or leads others to re-prioritize work and reschedule commitments as necessary.
• Responds to shifting priorities while maintaining progress of regularly scheduled work.
• Demonstrates an expectation that there will be ongoing shifts in demands and priorities.

Relationship Management: Knowledge of relationship management techniques; ability to establish and maintain healthy working relationships with clients, vendors, and peers.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Communicates to clients regarding expectations of all parties.
• Participates in negotiating the terms of the business relationship.
• Conducts periodic reviews of work effort, progress, issues, and successes.
• Maintains productive, long-term relationships with clients or vendors.
• Creates opportunities to educate support teams on client priorities.
• Empowers others to establish collaborative, healthy relationships.

Project Management: Knowledge of effective project management strategies and tactics; ability to plan, organize, monitor, and control projects, ensuring efficient utilization of technical and administrative resources to achieve project objectives.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Utilizes preferred tools, techniques and methods for estimating project cost and time.
• Plans, estimates, staffs, organizes and monitors significant projects.
• Identifies risks and vulnerabilities; creates contingency plans.
• Conducts regular and ad-hoc project reviews with project team, sponsors, and clients.
• Maintains open communication among project participants and interested parties.
• Communicates reporting requirements; creates monitoring and control mechanisms.

Requirements Analysis: Knowledge of tools, methods, and techniques of requirement analysis; ability to elicit, analyze and record required business functionality and non-functionality requirements to ensure the success of a system or software development project.

Level Working Knowledge:

• Follows policies, practices and standards for determining functional and informational requirements.
• Confirms deliverables associated with requirements analysis.
• Communicates with customers and users to elicit and gather client requirements.
• Participates in the preparation of detailed documentation and requirements.
• Utilizes specific organizational methods, tools and techniques for requirements analysis.

Additional Information:

• Must be able to travel up to 25% (Domestic & International)

Please frequently check the email associated with your application, including the junk/spam folder, as this is the primary correspondence method. If you wish to know the status of your application – please use the candidate log-in on our career website as it will reflect any updates to your status.

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for all positions. Caterpillar commits itself to the realization of employment equity goals as envisaged in the South-African Employment Equity Act and policies relating to workplace equality. Caterpillar is committed to creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion, respect and integrity, customer focus, and innovation.

For more information, visit https://www.caterpillar.com/en/careers/why-caterpillar.html

Caterpillar takes data privacy seriously and is committed to compliance with The Protection of Personal Information Act in South Africa. Candidate CVs are used for the limited purpose of evaluating suitability for this job role and deleted from our database when it is no longer needed for the purpose as soon as it is practicable. For more information on Caterpillar’s privacy practices, please visit our Global Data Privacy Statement.

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About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For 100 years, we’ve been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed. Caterpillar does business on every continent, principally operating through three primary segments – Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation – and providing financing and related services through our Financial Products segment.

Posting Dates:

January 28, 2026 - February 5, 2026

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply

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