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R&D Project Manager
Plano
, Texas $75.00/Hour Contract
On-Site
R&D Project Manager - Global PMO Foods Division
Plano, TX
$75/HR
The Global PMO Foods is the global division or team that oversees food-related projects across different countries, ensuring that all food projects meet standards, are completed efficiently, and align with the organization’s objectives. The global PMO Foods R&D team enables visibility for complex project & programs for our foods global top priority programs across multiple teams and sectors.
The global PMO is seeking an R&D Project Manager to help lead and manage the development of innovative food products, streamline cross-functional project timelines, and ensure the successful execution of research and development initiatives across international markets.
The R&D Project Manager 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.
R&D Project Manager 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.
R&D Project Manager 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 teams, 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
• 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
R&D Project Manager Preferred Requirements:
• Familiarity with PMI methodology preferred
• Project Management Professional Certified (PMP) a plus, eligibility to get the certification is a plus
PEPJP00039337
Plano, TX
$75/HR
The Global PMO Foods is the global division or team that oversees food-related projects across different countries, ensuring that all food projects meet standards, are completed efficiently, and align with the organization’s objectives. The global PMO Foods R&D team enables visibility for complex project & programs for our foods global top priority programs across multiple teams and sectors.
The global PMO is seeking an R&D Project Manager to help lead and manage the development of innovative food products, streamline cross-functional project timelines, and ensure the successful execution of research and development initiatives across international markets.
The R&D Project Manager 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.
R&D Project Manager 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.
R&D Project Manager 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 teams, 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
• 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
R&D Project Manager Preferred Requirements:
• Familiarity with PMI methodology preferred
• Project Management Professional Certified (PMP) a plus, eligibility to get the certification is a plus
PEPJP00039337