Project Manager

Project Manager – Strategic Initiatives

Onsite: Wood Dale, IL Salary: $100,600.00 - $111,400.00

Position overview: The Project Manager is responsible for leading cross-functional initiatives that support Optimas' strategic priorities and operational objectives. This role partners closely with teams across Commercial, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, IT, and Continuous Improvement to successfully execute projects that enhance operational performance, improve customer experience and drive cost efficiency. This role ensures initiatives are delivered on schedule, within defined scope, and aligned with business expectations. The Project Manager plays a key role in initiative planning, execution, risk management and stakeholder communication while reinforcing PMO standards, tools and methodologies. The Project Manager collaborates with functional teams and PMO leadership to translate business needs into actionable project plans and provide clear visibility into project timelines, milestones, risks and overall health.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead assigned projects from initiation through implementation, stabilization and post-launch support, ensuring successful delivery against defined objectives
• Partner with functional stakeholders to clearly define project scope, objectives, timelines, deliverables and measurable success criteria
• Develop and maintain visible detailed project plans including milestones, dependencies, and resource needs
• Monitor project progress against plan, proactively identifying and mitigating risks, managing issues and addressing constraints to maintain momentum
• Coordinate cross-functional activities to ensure alignment on priorities, deliverables and timelines, adjusting plans as needed to meet evolving business needs

Stakeholder Communication & Alignment

• Facilitate effective project governance through structured meetings such as design sessions, working sessions and executive status reviews
• Provide clear, consistent, and actionable project updates to stakeholders and PMO leadership, highlighting progress, risks, dependencies and decisions needed
• Proactively escalate risks, scope changes, timeline impacts or resource constraints with recommended mitigation strategies
• Build strong relationships across stakeholder groups to ensure alignment on project goals, priorities and delivery expectations

Project Intake & Planning Support

• Support structured intake, prioritization and discovery processes to evaluate and define new project opportunities
• Assist in gathering and documenting business requirements, success metrics and high-level solution approaches
• Partner with functional teams to confirm technical feasibility and resource availability
• Contribute to development of realistic project timelines, resource plans and implementation strategies aligned to business priorities

Risk & Issue Management

• Identify, assess, and prioritize project risks, developing mitigation and contingency plans to minimize impact
• Drive issue resolution through collaboration with functional teams
• Communicate risk status, trends and mitigation progress to stakeholders and leadership in a clear and concise manner
• Maintain and regularly update risk and issue logs, ensuring transparency and accountability for resolution

Implementation & Adoption Support

• Support development of training materials, documentation, and process updates
• Develop and Coordinate implementation or readiness activities
• Partner with business stakeholders to ensure smooth transition to operational ownership following go-live
• Participate in post-implementation reviews, capturing lessons learned and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement

PMO Standards & Methodology

• Apply established PMO standards, methodologies, templates and governance practices to ensure consistent project execution
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date project documentation, including plans, status reports and decision logs
• Support PMO reporting and portfolio visibility processes

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field required; advanced degree (MBA or similar) is a plus
• 5+ years of project coordination or project management experience
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred, with demonstrated application of project management principles and methodologies
• Proven experience working across business functions such as Supply Chain, Operations, Commercial, Finance, or IT
• Experience working in distribution, supply chain, manufacturing, or industrial environments
• Exposure to ERP, CRM, or other enterprise system implementations or enhancements
• Experience with project management tools (Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or similar)

Core Competencies

• Strong organization and planning skills
• Effective meeting facilitation
• Clear written and verbal communication
• Problem solving and critical thinking
• Collaboration and relationship building
• Time management and prioritization
• Adaptability in fast-paced environments