Associate Project Manager

Position Summary

The Associate Project Manager is for independently managing low-to-moderate complexity commercialization and launch projects from initiation through execution. This role serves as the primary project owner for assigned projects and is responsible for driving timelines, coordinating cross-functional activities, managing risks, and ensuring successful launch execution while achieving Product Availability Date (PAD), On-Time In-Full (OTIF), and Right First Time (RTFT) objectives.

The Associate Project Manager partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Research & Innovation, and Sales to ensure project deliverables are completed on time and customer expectations are met. This position leads customer and internal project communications, proactively identifies risks, develops mitigation plans, and drives accountability across functional teams to support successful commercialization, development, pilot, line trial, and production launch activities.

The role requires strong organizational, communication, and project management skills, along with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced manufacturing environment while supporting continuous improvement and launch excellence initiatives.

Responsibilities and Essential Duties

• Own and manage low-to-moderate complexity project timelines, ensuring tasks, dependencies, and milestones are created, maintained, and consistently updated.
• Lead customer and internal project meetings, ensuring action items, risks, and deliverables are clearly communicated and tracked. Coordinate commercialization activities including development, pilot runs, line trials, first production, and launch readiness activities.
• Execute established launch processes to ensure RFT and OTIF metrics are achieved.
• Drive weekly project reviews, identifying at-risk items and enforcing escalation paths when delays threaten PAD or customer commitments.
• Serve as the primary owner of the launch timelines, and ensuring timelines reflect accurate information from Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Quality.
• Track and communicate risks and blockers, develop mitigation plans, and ensure accountability across teams.
• Coordinate line trials, pilot batches, and component readiness with Packaging Engineering and Process Engineering.
• Conduct post-launch evaluations to identify process inefficiencies, lessons learned, and improvement opportunities.
• Collaborate with Scheduling and Outside Sales to support capacity alignment and execution readiness.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives related to launch execution, project visibility, and cross-functional processes. Maintain limited ERP updates (item setup, PAD-aligned dates, demand entry) as needed to keep project timelines accurate.
• Foster strong internal partnerships and communication channels to improve launch performance.
• Utilize AI and automation tools to improve project coordination, reporting, risk identification, and process efficiency.

Technical Skills Required

• Proficiency with project management platforms, including Monday.com, Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent systems.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and deadlines simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate with customers, suppliers, and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to identify project risks, evaluate impacts, and develop mitigation plans.
• Ability to facilitate meetings, drive action items, and hold stakeholders accountable to project commitments.
• Understanding of project lifecycle management, commercialization processes, and launch execution.
• Working knowledge of manufacturing operations, supply chain processes, production scheduling, and product development activities.
• Ability to analyze project data, timelines, and performance metrics to support decision making.
• Strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
• Ability to navigate changing priorities and support multiple customer projects simultaneously.
• Understanding of ERP systems, Bills of Material (BOMs), specifications, and product master data preferred.
• Ability to build collaborative relationships across Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Regulatory, Research & Innovation, and Sales functions.
• Proficiency with AI tools, reporting platforms, and workflow automation tools.
• Ability to analyze project data and leverage technology to improve project execution and visibility.

Experience Required

• Bachelor's Degree preferred in Business Administration, Project Management, Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Life Sciences, Chemistry, or a related field. 2-5 years of experience in project management, project coordination, manufacturing, engineering, supply chain, quality, commercialization, or related business functions. 2-5 years of experience utilizing project management systems such as Monday.com, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or equivalent platforms preferred.
• 1+ year experience within Personal Care, Cosmetic, Pharmaceutical, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), or Contract Manufacturing environments preferred.

Physical Requirements

• Regularly sit, stand, and walk for extended periods of time.
• Ability to sit, balance, climb, stand, bend, squat, squeeze, kneel, turn, crouch, stoop repeatedly.
• Physically able to lift 25 pounds occasionally.
• Frequent exposure and/or to varying temperatures, loud noises, heavy machinery, fumes, or airborne particles, moving mechanical parts, electrical, chemicals, and vibrations.
• Frequent use of computer screen and use of headphones.