Marketing Project Manager

Responsibilities

The Project Management Lead will establish and manage the PMO to drive cross-functional initiatives across Innovation, Sales, and Operations. This role serves as a central integrator to ensure projects are executed with accountability, transparency, and alignment with business objectives.

Requirements

Candidates must have a bachelor's degree and at least 8 years of project management experience, preferably within a CPG or manufacturing environment. Strong expertise in establishing PMO frameworks, Stage-Gate processes, and managing complex cross-functional teams is required.

Skills

• Project Management
• PMO Establishment
• Stage-Gate Governance
• Cross-functional Leadership
• Strategic Planning
• S&OP Coordination
• Risk Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Process Improvement
• Portfolio Management
• Executive Communication
• Analytical Skills
• Problem Solving
• Change Management
• Financial Acumen
• Meeting Facilitation

About this role

Job Title: Marketing Project Manager

Classification: Exempt Full Time

Reporting to: Head of Innovation

Position Backup: Head of Innovation

PURPOSE

The Project Management Lead will establish and lead the Project Management Office (PMO) for Del Real Foods, creating the processes, governance, tools, and operating rhythms required to successfully execute the company's most critical cross-functional initiatives.

This role will provide enterprise-wide project leadership and visibility across Innovation, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), R&D, Operations, and other strategic initiatives—ensuring projects are clearly prioritized, properly resourced, executed against agreed timelines and budgets, and delivering their intended business outcomes.

The Project Management Lead will serve as the central integrator across functions, connecting strategy to execution and bringing structure, accountability, transparency, and speed to Del Real's most important initiatives.

The ideal candidate combines strong project management discipline with business acumen, influencing skills, and an ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced CPG environment.

DUTIES:

Build & Lead the Del Real PMO

* Establish and continuously improve Del Real's enterprise project management framework, standards, tools, and ways of working.
* Create a consistent approach to project intake, prioritization, planning, execution, governance, reporting, and post-project evaluation.
* Develop project-management templates, RACI frameworks, timelines, dashboards, risk registers, decision logs, and other tools.
* Establish clear roles and accountability across project teams.
* Create visibility to the organization's overall project portfolio, resource requirements, dependencies, risks, and business impact.
* Drive a culture of "commit, execute, escalate and deliver."

Own Innovation Stage-Gate Governance

* Partner closely with Marketing, Innovation, R&D, Sales, Operations, Finance, and Supply Chain to manage the end-to-end innovation pipeline.
* Own the Stage-Gate process and governance cadence.
* Ensure projects progress through clearly defined stages, milestones, deliverables, and decision criteria.
* Coordinate Gate reviews and ensure leadership decisions are documented and translated into action.
* Track project timelines, commercialization readiness, resource requirements, financial assumptions, risks, and dependencies.
* Identify projects that are off-track and facilitate corrective action or escalation.
* Maintain a single source of truth for the innovation pipeline.
* Ensure handoffs from concept → development → commercialization → launch → post-launch review are clearly managed.

Support Sales & Operations Planning

* Partner with Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, and Customer teams to establish disciplined S&OP project management.
* Coordinate the S&OP calendar, meetings, deliverables, and decision-making cadence.
* Ensure cross-functional inputs are completed on time and are decision-ready.
* Track actions and commitments coming out of S&OP meetings.
* Identify cross-functional constraints, risks, and dependencies requiring leadership attention.
* Support continuous improvement of the S&OP process and governance.
* Create visibility to key decisions affecting demand, supply, inventory, capacity, and customer commitments.

Support R&D & Operations Initiatives

* Provide project-management leadership to R&D & Operations initiatives from development through commercialization.
* Establish project plans, milestones, owners, dependencies, and critical paths.
* Coordinate R&D with Marketing, Innovation, Operations, Quality, Procurement, Finance, and Sales.
* Track product development timelines, testing, specifications, commercialization requirements, and readiness.
* Proactively identify bottlenecks and facilitate resolution.
* Ensure projects remain aligned with commercial objectives, launch timing, cost targets, and operational capabilities.

Executive Leadership & Communication

* Prepare concise weekly/monthly portfolio updates for Executive Leadership.
* Develop executive dashboards highlighting progress, risks, decisions required, and business impact.
* Facilitate project reviews and steering committees.
* Ensure action items have clear owners and deadlines.
* Escalate issues proactively rather than waiting for missed deadlines.
* Establish a consistent escalation process for projects requiring leadership intervention.
* Translate complex project information into clear executive-level communication.

Specific Skills and Abilities Required:

* Structured without being bureaucratic
* Creates discipline while keeping the organization moving quickly.
* A natural integrator
* Connects Marketing, Sales, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and other functions around common objectives.
* Proactive
* Identifies risks and dependencies before they become problems.
* Can hold senior stakeholders accountable without relying on formal authority.
* Hands-on
* Able to move between executive-level portfolio management and the details required to unblock a project.
* Change-oriented
* Comfortable challenging existing processes and introducing better ways of working.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE 

* Bachelor's degree in Business, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field.
* 8+ years of project/program management experience, preferably within CPG, food, manufacturing, retail, or another complex operating environment.
* Experience managing multiple simultaneous cross-functional initiatives.
* Experience establishing or managing a PMO is strongly preferred.
* Experience with Stage-Gate, innovation, NPD, S&OP, transformation, or operational improvement programs.
* Demonstrated experience working with senior executives and cross-functional leadership teams.
* Skills
* Exceptional project planning and organizational skills.
* Strong...