Strategic Project Manager - Decatur, IL or Erlanger, KY

Strategic Project Manager - Decatur, IL or Erlanger, KY

Position Summary:
The R&D Strategic Project Manager is responsible for managing strategic R&D projects from idea through commercial solution. This role drives cross-functional teams of scientists, engineers, researchers, and business teams towards objectives on an established timeline, and communicates progress and hurdles to key stakeholders as the project progresses.

The Project Manager must be able to communicate across disciplines, and understand and coordinate technical, operational, and commercial aspects of a project.

Job Responsibilities:
The following represents many of the duties performed by the position:

• Drive delivery of strategic project objectives by monitoring progress, performance measurement, reporting, and proactive risk management to ensure the projects remain aligned with the scope, timelines, and business priorities
• Work across the organization, its business areas, and functions to ensure project teams are working efficiently and meeting expectations
• Establish and maintain high-quality project schedules, baselines, cost estimates, project returns, and estimates to completion, ensuring timely variance analysis, and high-level reporting
• Lead stakeholder alignment and communication while managing team expectations for project deliverables
• Ensure clear communication, effective decision making, and fit for purpose project governance that does not add undue complexity and reduce the R&D team’s productivity
• Work with resource managers in a matrix environment to ensure projects are resourced to achieve objectives on the required timeline
• Ensure that project risks are identified and mitigated
• Manage change of scope and resources as projects progress
• Coordinate and synthesize cross functional input from all workstreams including technical, commercial, and operations teams to identify project requirements, align priorities, address concerns, and support project execution

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field required, higher level degree preferred. 5+ years of work experience with technical projects
• PMI/PMP, Lean, Six Sigma, or other project management or process improvement certification is a plus
• Several years of experience managing multiple concurrent projects, documenting processes, and leveraging best-suited methodologies and practices
• Strong written and verbal skills with the ability to translate complex concepts into clear, concise, and easily understood information for diverse audiences
• Strong change leadership experience
• Strong troubleshooting skills, with the ability to work in a high-pressure team environment, handle multiple tasks and react quickly to problems and issues
• Some travel may be required.
• Comfortable managing/participating in various projects concurrently.
• Candidate will need to work within established company and laboratory safety guidelines.
• Willingness to spend time in plant and pilot areas, tolerate extreme temperatures, walk long distances, stand, climb stairs and ladders and move through close spaces.