R & D Project Manager

Job Details Job Location: Morton Grove, IL 60053 Salary Range: $80,000.00 - $95,000.00 Job Description JOB TITLE: R&D Project Manager EXEMPTION STATUS: Exempt POSITION SUMMARY: Join FAREVA Morton Grove, a leading contract manufacturer in the beauty and makeup industry, specializing in innovations in tubes, jars, bottles, and cutting‑edge filling and compounding technologies. As the Project Manager for R&D, you will spearhead a captivating portfolio of multiple large customer‑based projects. Collaborating seamlessly with cross‑functional teams, you will ensure the orchestration of all essential planning, qualification, trial, and execution components for top‑priority projects, paving the way for successful product launches. Concurrently, you will oversee Technical Transfer initiatives for ongoing business change management needs. This pivotal role will be the cornerstone of customer satisfaction, by masterfully executing FAREVA R&D and Customer Technical Transfer launches on schedule, with precision, safety, and industry‑leading quality. This ever‑evolving position will dynamically adapt to business exigencies, fortifying site growth and propelling us into a time of unmatched acceleration and improvement. It may also involve leading the efforts of junior staff. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Project Development and Management (40%) Independent Leader: Define, monitor, execute, and report results for multiple complex large volume (5M‑20M units/year) new project launches (10‑20 projects/year) across multiple customers (4‑6 customers) independently with minimal supervisory input. Acts as the voice of the project with senior management, stakeholders and project sponsors. May lead or mentor junior project managers. Feasibility Assessment: Conduct thorough feasibility studies to evaluate project viability, considering resources, timeline, budget, and potential risks. Scope Definition: Collaborate with customers and stakeholders to define project scope, objectives, and deliverables, ensuring a well‑defined roadmap for the product launch. Cross‑Functional Leadership: Lead cross‑functional teams including R&D, Sales, Customer Service, Supply Chain, Procurement, Warehouse, Operations, Finance, Engineering, Quality, and Safety teams, fostering collaboration, cooperation, open communication, and a sense of ownership among members from various departments. Budget Oversight: Manage and track project expenditures such as CapEx, trial spend, excess inventory, material destruction or cost of poor quality, and launch COGS to ensure appropriate invoicing and project profitability. Performance Metrics: Measure key performance indicators (KPIs) for project success such as Right First Time Initiative delivery (on time, on quality) with a 40% high Customer Service achievement (on time, in full) and a sustainable manufacturing and procurement supply chain in place before handing the project over to customer service and operations. Project Planning and Supply Chain Monitoring (20%) Timeline Management: Create and manage a well‑structured project schedule, setting realistic deadlines, tracking milestones, dependencies, and critical path activities to ensure on‑time delivery to the established schedule and customer launch timing. Resource Planning: Strategically allocate resources, both human and material, to ensure optimal utilization and prioritization throughout the project lifecycle. Material Risk Mitigation: Identify potential material risks in collaboration with supply chain, quality and procurement teams, such as shipping delays, manufacturing disruptions, or quality issues, and develop strategies to mitigate their impact on project timelines. Lead Time Analysis: Analyze lead times for various components and materials, factoring in production schedules, capacity constraints and shipping times to ensure seamless and realistic timelines are communicated to customers. Change Management, Decision Making and Risk Mitigation (20%) Change Impact Analyst: Assess the potential impact of proposed changes to products, analyzing implications on processes, workflows, teams, quality, and overall product performance with little supervisory input. Change Communication Expert: Develop and implement effective communication strategies that keep all stakeholders such as customer service, sales, quality, and operations informed and engaged throughout the change journey, ensuring clarity and transparency. Collaborative Decision Facilitator: Foster a collaborative decision‑making environment, facilitating discussions that draw on the collective expertise of cross‑functional teams to arrive at robust solutions. Lessons Learned Champion: Facilitate data‑driven post‑project evaluations to capture lessons learned from both successes and challenges, using insights to refine risk mitigation strategies and inform future decisions. Contingency Planning Prodigy: Develop robust contingency plans for issues such as capacity constraints, material supply concerns, and quality risks that outline actionable steps to mitigate identified risks, ensuring the organization is prepared for a variety of scenarios during launches. Troubleshooting and Continuous Improvement (10%) Process Enhancer: Continuously assess project workflows and processes, identifying areas ripe for enhancement and implementing refinements that streamline operations and elevate outcomes. Resilient Optimism: Maintain a positive outlook in the face of challenges, leveraging setbacks as opportunities to learn and refine approaches, driving a culture of resilience and growth. Engineering and Technical Support (10%) Technical Liaison: Serve as the bridge between engineering teams and sales and customer stakeholders by translating technical complexities into understandable terms and ensuring alignment between project goals and technical requirements. Technology Integration Champion: Stay updated on emerging industry technologies and trends, advocating for the integration of relevant capital advancements to maintain competitiveness in the industry. Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Foster collaboration between engineering teams and other departments to facilitate effective planning, purchasing, tactical execution and acceptance testing of capital equipment and change parts to meet project timelines. Quality and Safety Compliance (continually) Compliance Champion: Promotes cGMP compliance within the workplace by following site procedures and incorporating compliance into all assigned project scopes. Risk Mitigation Master: Identifies potential quality and safety risks proactively, devising and implementing ingenious risk management strategies to safeguard project progress and personnel. Quality Documentation Guru: Ensure meticulous documentation of quality and safety procedures, qualifications, validations, audits, and outcomes, creating a comprehensive record of project compliance and achievements. Educational Stewardship: Provide mentorship and training to team members on best practices in quality and safety, cultivating a skilled and empowered workforce that prioritizes these critical aspects. REQUIRED EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE 3+ years project management experience in a manufacturing/production environment. Proven track record on managing projects and delivering on time, on cost and on quality. Exposure to production environment & interaction of packaging, process, manufacturing preferably in the personal care products or similar industry. Understanding of new product development processes & stage gate approach. Knowledge of Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Monday.com, Jira or other equivalent project management‑related software. Advanced Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint skills. Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent from a four‑year accredited college or university typically a degree in the Sciences, Engineering, Operations, Business or a related discipline. Fluency in English (spoken and written). ADDITIONAL ELIGIBLITY QUALIFICATION Experience with an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system such as SAP or other related software and general understanding of MRP (Material Requirements Planning) logic is a plus. PMP Certification, CAPM or equivalent certification is a plus. LSS (Lean Six Sigma) Green or Black Belt certification is a plus. Fluency in French or Spanish is a plus. WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions in accordance with applicable law. On‑Site 70% Office Based 30% Hand‑On Manufacturing Up to 0‑5% Travel PHYSICAL DEMANDS Walking and standing for extended periods while visiting different areas of the production floor or meeting with team members. Being actively engaged on the factory floor may require a Project Manager to navigate machinery, equipment, and production lines. Depending on the manufacturing environment, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety glasses, gloves, or steel‑toed shoes might be required when visiting certain areas. While not as common for Project Managers, there might be instances where lifting or carrying moderately heavy objects or materials is necessary for inspections, quality checks, or to gain a better understanding of specific processes. #J-18808-Ljbffr Fareva