The Commercialization Project Leader (CPL) is responsible to lead successful commercialization of new products and costs savings of existing products to deliver both top and bottom-line results in line with the Client's US Retail Strategic Plan. The position will manage projects to deliver from $10MM NS up to $100MM NS, from idea conceptualization through to product on shelf and success in market utilizing the commercialization process and stage gate methodology.
Education: Bachelor's degree
Experience: 5 years related business experience in project management.
Technical or project management concentration preferred.
General knowledge of food manufacturing processes, planning and logistics, engineering, quality assurance, and food safety.
Proficient in Microsoft Applications: MS Project & MS Office, Excel, SharePoint, Power-BI.
Demonstrated experience leading diverse, cross functional teams.
Experience with stage gate process and innovation.
Strong interpersonal and communication skills written, verbal and presentation.
Primary Responsibilities:
Project Management
Lead teams to develop project scope incorporating cross functional inputs.
Development of comprehensive project schedules, which may include alternative methods to meet project objectives.
Identify and mitigate risk/issues throughout a project life cycle.
Provide concise communication of risks (both financial and technical) along with planned tactics to mitigate risks to Director and VP of Innovation
Identify scope changes, such as timing and cost implications and communicate the impacts to the affected parties. Drive decision making at Director and VP level on scope.
Ensure projects fit within financial parameters determined by brand finance. Elevate and drive decisions by senior leaders when projects fall outside of these
Track the status of projects across the portfolio while concurrently providing visibility to resource loading.
Stage Gate
Manage key stakeholder/partners throughout the stage gate process.
Conduct key gate reviews and regular management reviews
Ensure accuracy of stage gate documents, which help drive the leadership teams to make effective decisions.
Continuous Improvement
Conduct post launch reviews of key initiatives (>$30MM NS, or >$5MM cost savings) and recommend and implement improvements to the commercialization process cross functionally (brand, finance, R&D and Supply Chain)
Ongoing responsible for identifying opportunities and implementing improvement to ensure adequate evolution of the commercialization process.
Job Complexity:
Works across Client's Americas to manage complex projects i.e., new product platforms, new product brands, and new product line extensions.
When needed will also support fewer complex projects i.e., label, packaging, and corrugate changes, etc.
Act as liaison throughout commercialization process to provide visibility to interdependence/conflicts between projects.
Works with Manager of Commercialization Planning to notify teams of high levels of activity within a particular field, which affords the relevant leadership teams the visibility of department-specific activities and allocated resources.
Utilize scheduling tools to build project schedules and update milestones.
Effectively manages project schedules of higher visibility, risk, and complexity (new SKU, new packaging, new brand, etc.).
Coordinates projects that work across fiscal years, capital/plant improvements and manufacturing systems. Coordinates with those team members supporting other Brands to ensure the effective and efficient usage of shared manufacturing systems.