Project Manager

Title: Project Manager

Location: New York, NY 10177 (REMOTE)

Duration: 06+ Months

Job Description:

Introduction

• The Global Innovation team based in New York is responsible for many exciting brands. The spirit industry in is complex and constantly evolving. It’s a fun and challenging environment with plenty of opportunity to make a mark.
• This person needs to be a senior, experienced innovation expert, who thrives with complex projects, has strong project management and influencing skills, who knows how to truly collaborate for superior results and who is truly passionate about innovation. The person should also have strong leadership and team management skills, managing a diverse team spread across different locations. They need to have that #Gamechanger spirit that will make them go the extra mile to impact the business.

Job Aim:

To deliver this vision this role will:

• Help bring to life the Innovation team vision with both a local focus to coordinate and assist with governance on the US pipeline and global partnership to create innovation.
• Create and manage Project Plans & KPIs according to the business needs/strategy of key brands.
• Provide project management support to the team, by flexing to support on specific projects within the Innovation team – these projects could be design, development, a “TLO” (test, learn, optimize in market), or working on detailed R+D/operations efforts.
• Provide End-to-End Project Management of specific innovation launches from ideation to commercialization
• Relentlessly drive for action by collaborating with local and Global Brand Companies, CORBY, NBV, key cross functional partners and other Innovation team partners where relevant, to ensure projects are on-time, on budget.
• Creatively problem solve for challenges along critical path that impact timing or budget; understand critical path impacts and solve for challenges along the way – while taking into account budget, timing or consumer/proposition ramifications
• Instill Consumer Centricity as a best practice by integrating action standards into the innovation stage gate and tracking process as part of project management
• Proactively contribute to the global Pernod Ricard Innovation community to build and share learnings with the International Innovation teams, Brand Cos and Global HQ teams.
• Actively coordinate with Local Brand Marketing Teams, Corby (Canada), US Whiskies and Brand Cos: to gain alignment on innovation platforms, pipeline, agenda for the region, sign-off on local brands’ innovation initiatives.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Bring PRNA Innovation Hub vision to life & deliver leading edge innovation capabilities.
• Leverage Project Management best practices to elevate project management skills/output and drive accountability through the system
• Ensure that methodologies / approaches / frameworks developed are value-add and facilitate local and global market needs.
• Create and manage Project Plans & KPIs according to the business needs/strategy of the Innovation team
• Develop project plan, including defining the problem/opportunity, scope, objectives, deliverables, risks, strategies, timeline, budget, resources required, project sponsor / team
• Facilitate and coordinate project team by maintaining/updating the project plan, assigning tasks and responsibilities, along with defining sequencing and dependencies
• Lead and engage stakeholders, motivating the project team, chairing meetings, driving the agenda, participating in decision making, gaining approvals, assigning responsibilities / directing people, pushing people, escalating, and resolving conflict
• Track and manage project timelines and provide status reports to stakeholders and management.
• Communicate to key stakeholders, including brand owners, brand teams, Senior Management and other cross-functional team members by producing and circulating minutes and conveying project status to key stakeholders
• Provide project management support to the Innovation team, by flexing to support and sprint on specific projects
• Lead Cross-functional Sprints on specific projects – from Design, TLOs (test, learn, optimize efforts in market), to development (working with R+D or operations locally or innovation teams at Brand Cos)
• Support Projects throughout the system – be willing to dive into projects wherever support is needed
• Project manage critical PRUSA innovation projects, with pace, through the stage-gate process and ensure compliance from Brand Teams. Lead these projects through the Innovation Leadership Team (ILT) Governance approval process
• Manage Agency partners, cross-functional teams to deliver with excellence, on-time, on-budget
• Provide End-to-End Project Management
• On key assigned projects – lead these projects from ideation to commercialization, with support from Senior Managers/Directors on the team
• Relentlessly drive for action by collaborating with local and Global Brand Companies, CORBY, NBV, key cross functional partners and Innovation Team Members
• Strong bias for pace and Action – ensure projects are on-time and on-budget
• Actively manage stakeholders – collaborating with wide array of partners, but also driving alignment according to critical path/milestones
• Creatively problem solve for challenges along critical path that impact timing or budget
• Understand critical path impacts and solve for challenges along the way – while taking into account budget, timing or consumer/proposition ramifications
• Recognize options to creatively solve for problems and challenges that arise; collaborate with stakeholders to align on tradeoffs
• Manage overall project costs, timelines and workflows. Identify project scope creep to help accelerate speed to market.
• Drive consumer centricity across the business
• Integrate key analytics and consumer action standards into project management to inform the Innovation Stage Gate process..
• Balance rigor, data and TLO for speed to market
• Influence and shift culture to drive consumer centricity from ideation to execution.
• Foster strong collaboration and interaction with cross functional partners, local and global brands
• Challenge / inspire innovation project management opportunities by identify synergies and pain-points across brand to accelerate speed to market
• Ensure strong collaboration on common projects with Brand Cos, Local Brands, CORBY, Operations and Sale through ideations, working sessions, commitments, and agreed-upon KPIs.
• Support best practice share outs with other International Teams, Global and Local Brand Companies, Global PR Headquarters, and Marketing teams.
• Work closely with Global HQ to help track current and launched projects in their automated system, and/or collaborate to help identify North America “requirements” to further optimize ongoing tracking
• Push and support excellence in delivery (Post-Evaluation Analysis) with post launch tracking 90, 180 and 365 days after launch with KPI’s and other market data to help “analyze” success.
• Scope of role
• Key internal contacts: PRNA Marketing Teams, Management Entities in PRNA, HQ, Local and Global Brand Companies, CI COE’s and CI planners across Brand & Market Company community.
• Budget responsibility: P&L Responsibilities – must adhere to project budgets
• Travel (as % work time): unlikely for mat coverage timing

Required Skills

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• Project Management qualifications essential (Six Sigma, Scrum Master, PMI, or equivalent)
• Work experience

Proven Innovation Experience

• A minimum of 6+ years project management experience supporting innovation teams, ideally in the Spirits/BevAlc or Beverage or other CPG in North America; Alternatively –PMO experience within start up CPG (food/beverage)
• Demonstrated PMO experience using agile methodologies with examples of how project management has influenced speed to market and quality New Product launches.
• Demonstrated ability to work through adversity, with examples of management influence.
• Ability to drive collaboration to move projects forward in a complex, matrix organizational structure.
• Financial experience to work the P&L and manage costs while staying true to the “must have” innovation deliverables; ability to conduct business analysis a plus
• Global experience in spirits or BevAlc a plus.