R&D Project Manager

R&D Project Manager

  Not Disclosed

  Plano, TX

  5.5 Months

  Not Disclosed

  Not Disclosed

  Food Service

Job Description

Description:

The global PMO Foods R&D team enables visibility for complex project & programs for foods global top priority programs across multiple teams and sectors.
This role will support projects for the large complex Foods R&D portfolios. This role will apply technical expertise and coordinate with Sectors, Function teams, Sensory and Regulatory to develop clear plans for projects and programs to be completed on-time, in-full and on-budget with proper quality controls in place. This will support the effort to make the Global Foods R&D PMO a center of excellence for how to run projects. The right candidate has STEM background, has R&D experience in a CPG company and excels at execution with a mindset for project management.

Accountabilities:

Project PMO Support to kick-off and set overall direction – Ensure project objective and the ‘how’ to deliver are clear and understood by the entire project team. Facilitate the definition of project goals, objectives, scope, timebound milestones, and deliverables. Define project tasks and resource requirements with the Project Leader and team.
Facilitate the definition of project goals, objectives, scope, timebound milestones, and deliverables. Define project tasks and resource requirements with the Project Leader and team.
Scope & Change Control - Ensure completeness and alignment of full scope with project teams and manage/reduce unnecessary scope creep via regular change control checks and measures.
Project Governance & Meetings - Establish Ways Of Working (WOW) for the project team including meeting cadence, documentation, communication, roles and responsibilities. Coach the cross-functional project team on best practice project management.
For allocated projects, collate agendas, facilitate meetings, distribute meeting minutes, track actions and actively facilitate follow up data inputs, stakeholder meetings and elevation to leadership issues or concerns to close open actions.
Drive collaborative team behaviors, ask impartial critical technical questions, and anticipate and highlight potential impacts.
Build, maintain and track project workplans and timelines throughout project lifecycle and look for connection gaps within teams or dependencies that could be run parallel rather than sequential.
Stakeholder Engagement & Decision Making - Identify and ensure appropriate engagement with stakeholders for the project and engage global and regional representatives (as applicable) at key stages of the project. Support decision-making forums through the preparation of materials for Stage Gate governance.
Understand and establish your critical network to effectively navigate the R&D organization, across different functional/geo-category stakeholders, recognizing their different roles & responsibilities, and facilitate ways of working
Risks, Issue & Dependency Management - Ensure project risks are assessed, managed, and mitigated with the appropriate level of stakeholder engagement and frequency. Lead cross-functional risk workshops and subsequent ongoing management of mitigation of the plan. Support project teams with issue management and resolution, understanding appropriate escalation channels. Actively manage interdependencies through highlighting them to the project team and ensuring links are established with other projects to gain clarity on any potential impacts.
Reporting & Tracking - Track project deliverables using appropriate tools and reporting processes, suitable for each stakeholder group level. Ensure company standard project management systems are used to plan, monitor, and review project execution with the relevant KPIs. Capture and communicate lessons learned on innovation projects

Key Skills / Experience Required:
Must have: Bachelor’s or Masters (preferred) Degree and 5 to 7 years of experience working in a Food Industry company or similar consumer package goods company.
Experience with R&D product or process development /commercialization/optimization and/or productivity
Familiarity with tools like MS Project and/or Planner and/or Smart Sheet
Manage multiple stakeholders and form recommendations for leadership
Cross-regional/global organizational team co-ordination experience and familiarity across multiple food/snacking formats is an advantage
Ability to navigate complex programs at various stages of development cycle with multiple project dependencies across multiple landing years.
Ability to collate and interpret multiple sources/formats of R&D technical information, escalate issues, and seek alignment towards workable solutions.
Exceptional data organizational and problem-solving skills with attention to detail and accuracy
Good communication skills – oral and written (e.g. communication on TEAMs, external and internal to PMO, managing with other support group functions, etc.)
Ability to manage time effectively across multiple priorities and projects requiring a high degree of personal organizational skills to ensure requests are actioned in a timely manner
Act as an owner and work with urgency in a fast-paced environment
Applies initiative and intellectual curiosity on assigned tasks and accountabilities with minimal supervision
Ability to embrace change and flexibility, while working with their team to prioritize and provide solutions in an ever-changing and often ambiguous environment

Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite – TEAMs
Proficient with Smartsheet preferred.
Proficient with Timeline Pro preferred.
Familiarity with PMI methodology preferred. Project Management Professional Certified (PMP) a plus, eligibility to get the certification is a plus.
Ability to interpret technical timeline & actionable data to disseminate data into Smartsheet project and program management leveraging PMO known tools and recommending new ones as appropriate.
Knowledge and understanding of Product Development Process or similar science & technology development process
Ability to rapidly learn computer applications/programs & navigate systems
Fluent in English
Innovative/Creative
High Energy
System thinker
Strategy into action
Team player who can bring teams together to collaborate
Positive “can do” attitude
Excellent communication skills
Drives organization out of chaos
Working with parallel teams or functional leads in different time zones and locations

Notes:

Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm