Senior Project Manager

Job Description

<p>Position Summary</p><p>Reporting to the Director of Marketing, the<br>Senior Project Manager<br>is responsible for leading complex, high-impact, cross-functional initiatives that drive strategic growth across branded and private label portfolios within the food CPG category. This role oversees project planning, execution, commercialization, and post-launch evaluation while guiding cross-functional teams and ensuring alignment with corporate, marketing, and product roadmaps. The Senior Project Manager is a seasoned operator who brings structure, foresight, and strategic judgment to fast-paced environments, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, anticipate challenges, and facilitate decision-making.</p><p>The ideal candidate has deep experience managing CPG project lifecycles—from concept through commercialization—within food manufacturing environments. They demonstrate leadership, cross-functional mastery, operational excellence, and the ability to drive continuous improvement across processes and teams.</p><p>Key Responsibilities</p><p>Strategic Project Leadership</p><ul><li>Own the oversight and delivery of complex, multi-phase CPG projects—including innovation, renovation, packaging changes, private label development, and process improvements—from initiation through commercialization and handoff to brand teams.</li><li>Lead strategic scoping, prioritization, and resourcing discussions with Marketing, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and Executive Leadership.</li><li>Establish and manage project governance structures, including stage-gate documentation, risk registers, resource plans, projections and critical-path timelines.</li><li>Ensure all regulatory, packaging, quality, and compliance requirements are built into project plans specific to food CPG product development.</li></ul><p>Advanced Cross-Functional Collaboration</p><ul><li>Serve as a senior liaison between Marketing, Sales, R&D, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Operations, and external co-manufacturers or suppliers.</li><li>Facilitate alignment across competing priorities, ensuring cross-functional clarity, accountability, and timely decision-making.</li><li>Present recommendations, trade-offs, and resource needs to key stakeholders to remove bottlenecks and enable project velocity.</li></ul><p>Co-Manufacturing Project Leadership</p><ul><li>Lead all project management activities related to co-manufacturing opportunities, serving as the primary interface between internal teams and external partners.</li><li>Evaluate co-manufacturing feasibility by coordinating with R&D, QA, Operations, Procurement, Finance, and Sales to assess technical, financial, and operational fit.</li><li>Drive onboarding, capability assessments, trials, scale-up plans, and commercialization activities with co-manufacturers.</li><li>Manage timelines, deliverables, risk mitigation, and communication to ensure seamless integration of co-manufactured products into the company's portfolio.</li><li>Serve as the escalation point for resolving issues related to formulations, specs, sourcing, production capacity, or quality during third-party manufacturing.</li></ul><p>Commercialization & Operational Excellence</p><ul><li>Lead commercialization milestones including pilot runs, sensory evaluations, product cuttings, shelf-life testing, packaging reviews, and launch readiness.</li><li>Identify operational challenges early and partner with Supply Chain & Ops to ensure feasibility, cost targets, and manufacturing readiness.</li><li>Support Sales and Marketing teams with launch materials, pricing alignment, customer presentations, and retailer-specific requirements.</li></ul><p>Process Optimization & Continuous Improvement</p><ul><li>Analyze existing project management processes and implement enhancements to improve speed-to-market, cross-functional coordination, and documentation quality.</li><li>Build and maintain standardized tools, templates, dashboards, and best practices for the project management function.</li><li>Mentor junior project managers and project coordinators, providing guidance and supporting capability development across the team.</li></ul><p>Risk Management & Strategic Problem Solving</p><ul><li>Anticipate risks related to timelines, cost targets, ingredient availability, regulatory shifts, or operational constraints—propose clear mitigation strategies.</li><li>Lead change management activities, ensuring scope adjustments and implications are communicated and agreed upon across leadership teams.</li><li>Capture lessons learned and drive organizational learning to prevent recurrence of systemic issues.</li></ul><p>Communication, Reporting & Executive Visibility</p><ul><li>Deliver polished, data-driven updates to senior leadership, highlighting progress, risks, mitigation actions, and strategic dependencies.</li><li>Develop executive-ready presentations, dashboards, and KPIs to track portfolio-level project health.</li><li>Serve as the communication hub, ensuring transparency and alignment at all stages of the project lifecycle.</li></ul><p>Qualifications & Experience</p><ul><li>Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Operations, or related experience; MBA or PMP certification is preferred.</li><li>7+ years of project management experience<br> within the<br> CPG industry<br> , with a strong preference for food and beverage product development.</li><li>Demonstrated experience managing commercialization cycles, stage-gate processes, and cross-functional initiatives in branded and private label environments.</li><li>Strong familiarity with Nielsen, IRI, or other syndicated data, category insights, retail trends, and customer-specific requirements.</li><li>Proficient in project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Asana) and advanced Microsoft Office Suite, especially PowerPoint and Excel.</li><li>Experience influencing senior stakeholders and navigating complex organizational structures.</li><li>Prior experience working with co-manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and regulatory/quality teams in food manufacturing is a significant asset.</li></ul><p>Skills & Competencies</p><ul><li>Strong strategic thinking with the ability to connect project work to broader business objectives.</li><li>Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills across all organizational levels.</li><li>Highly analytical, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to make data-informed decisions under pressure.</li><li>Strong financial acumen, with experience evaluating cost scenarios, margins, and resource allocations.</li><li>Expert organizational skills with the ability to lead multiple high-priority projects simultaneously.</li><li>High degree of professionalism, confidentiality, resilience, and emotional intelligence.</li><li>Comfortable leading in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with evolving priorities and tight deadlines.</li></ul><p>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION</p><ul><li>Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada.</li><li>We thank all applicants; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.</li><li>Summer Fresh Salads welcomes and encourages applications from individuals with disabilities. Accommodation is available upon request for candidates to take part in all aspects of the selection process.</li></ul>