Commercialization Manager

Winland Foods•Oak Brook, IL

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Commercialization Manager leads cross-functional teams from project definition through successful launch, coordinating commercialization initiatives and driving consistent execution. The role serves as a central point of coordination and accountability, helping bring high-quality products to retail shelves and restaurant tables. The Commercialization Team manages innovation, product reformulation, and graphic refresh projects, including high-complexity initiatives with direct customer-facing engagement. The manager translates ideas and requirements into clear plans, timelines, and deliverables; identifies risks and develops solutions; optimizes processes and supports cost savings and continuous improvement; and uses project and data tools to track progress and support informed decisions. The role coordinates with a wide range of functional partners and communicates project status, risks, decisions, and actions to stakeholders. This is a hybrid position based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Fridays are remote, while Monday through Thursday are in the office. The stated annual salary range is $93,000 to $138,000 based on experience and other qualifications, with additional bonus potential.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 2 years leading cross-functional teams in a CPG or food manufacturing environment.
At least 5 years of experience in commercialization, R&D, Supply Chain, or Operations.
Strong communication, facilitation, and influence skills.
Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Strong decision-making, conflict-management, and communication skills.
Experience with Microsoft Project or similar tools.
Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities.
Analytical thinking and comfort working with data in multiple systems.
Collaborative, problem-solving mindset focused on efficiency.

Nice To Haves

A degree in Business, Project Management, Supply Chain, Operations, Food Science, or a related discipline.
Experience with SAP, PPM, and data visualization tools.
PMP certification.

Responsibilities

Lead projects through the established stage-gate process, ensuring required deliverables, decisions, and approvals are completed at appropriate milestones.
Develop integrated project plans defining scope, objectives, milestones, dependencies, deliverables, owners, and due dates.
Establish a reliable single source of truth for project status, milestones, risks, decisions, and outstanding actions.
Coordinate activities across R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement, Packaging, Quality, Regulatory, Finance, Sales, Marketing, and other functional partners.
Provide visibility into risks that could affect launch timing, customer commitments, cost, or successful execution, and develop contingency plans with cross-functional input.
Partner with operations and technical teams to support plant trials, production qualifications, new equipment or process requirements, capacity considerations, and manufacturing readiness.
Partner with business and functional leaders to support prioritization of commercial activities.
Motivate and influence cross-functional team members to achieve project deliverables.
Prepare concise, executive-ready updates that translate detailed project information into key messages, decisions, risks, and actions.
Manage commercialization projects involving innovation, product reformulations, and graphic refreshes from concept through launch.
Identify risks early, resolve issues, and collaborate on solutions that keep launches on track.
Optimize processes, drive cost savings, and champion continuous improvement efforts.
Use tools such as PPM, SAP, and Power BI to track progress, measure results, and support data-informed decision-making.
Facilitate communication across teams and organizational levels to ensure alignment and transparency.