Karen Buerkle

About Karen Buerkle

High-tech products that do awesome things to make the world a safer and productive place is what I love and where I focus my education and career path. Listening, learning, leading, organizing, and gluing together the right conversations are the strengths I bring to the mission over decades of experience.I enjoyed diverse opportunities throughout my career in factory leadership, engineering management, data science, program and project management, production line supervision, and mechanical/manufacturing engineering roles.I’m a life-long learner in my spare time through online applications, classes, books, coaching/mentoring, and especially podcasts. Through these trainings and experiences I have learned:I can lead world-class people and teams- I listen, learn, plan, communicate, and motivate- I prioritize 1:1’s for building relationships, alignment, collaboration, career development, and support- I stay calm during conflict and provide conflict resolution mentorship- I drive business strategies that provide roadmaps for organizational alignment, leading to millions in savings for company and customer.I can lead multi-million-dollar projects and programs globally- I align with business objectives and deadlines to set the framework- The people assigned to the project as well as stakeholders and customers are of highest importance and how they are treated, included, and heard is the make/break of success- I am an interpreter between executives and the front-line, from physics engineers to software developers, from design to production- I have lived abroad, and worked for years with teams across the US, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Europe.Professional SkillsProgram Management | Product Management | Project Management | Operations/Factory Management | Leadership | Business Strategy | Engineering Management | Data Science | Analytics | Manufacturing

Experience

1. Senior Staff Technical Program Manager

   Aurora

   Aug 2024 — Present · Bozeman, MT, US

   Manager of the lidar technical program manager team. Partnering with cross-functional teams to drive program success through detailed schedules, risk management, and scope control. Working with the fields of electrical, optical, and mechanical engineering, embedded, signal processing, validation, and manufacturing.

Education

• South Dakota Mines

  Bachelor of Science - BS, Mechanical Engineering

  1997 — 2001

• Caltech

  Certificate, System Engineering Fundamentals

  2021 — 2021

• Kettering University

  Master of Science - MS, Manufacturing Technology

  2007 — 2009