Digital Initiatives Project Manager

Loram•Medina, MN

6d•$117,000 - $175,500•Hybrid

About The Position

Senior level P.M. accountable to Plan, direct, and coordinate all assigned Projects, including customer-facing projects, IT projects, enterprise business projects, and strategic initiatives. Project Manager is accountable for the management of all activities to ensure projects are delivered on-time, on-budget, scope management, meet quality expectations, and ensures the project team is following procedures and policies; along with meeting or exceeding customer requirements and expectations. Owns project strategy and execution from customer tender or initiative intake through acceptance, implementation, and benefit realization, including stakeholder alignment, escalation management, and financial outcomes. Provides concise executive-ready communication of status, risks, trade-offs, and decision requests.

Requirements

Makes safety of our team members and customers a number one priority (even over budget, and schedule)
Views the role as a “Defender of the Business”
Possess a natural intellectual curiosity
Strong emotional intelligence
Takes accountability and does not shift blame.
Excellent leadership skills that enable them to lead enterprise-wide multi-functional teams.
High level of business acumen
Ability to take on challenges and be the problem solver for all aspects of their projects.
Ability to read and understand contracts
Be a polished individual who has the right tact to participate in customer meetings both virtually and face to face.
Be well spoken and a precise and inclusive communicator to all project stakeholders.
Excellent written and verbal skills.
Excellent level of analytical ability to assess, identify and facilitate appropriate alternative courses of action.
Attention to detail and able to multi-task with strict deadlines.
Be a champion of change (new process’s, documentation, etc…)
Is a professional, humble, empathetic leader
Executive presence: communicates with Director/VP-level stakeholders, frames trade-offs, and drives timely decisions.
Strong negotiation and commercial acumen: leads scope/schedule/cost negotiations and change-order discussions to protect project financial outcomes.
Structured risk management experience (risk register ownership, mitigation/contingency planning, triggers, and escalation).
Ability to manage ambiguity across IT projects and strategic initiatives, aligning scope, resources, timelines, dependencies, adoption needs, and measurable business outcomes.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Engineering and/or Business.
Experience: 10+ years of Project management experience. Significant experience leading numerous large-scale projects, from inception to completion, within the prescribed budget, Scope of Work and schedule. Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional, customer-facing projects, IT projects, enterprise business projects, and strategic initiatives with formal governance, executive stakeholder reporting, and accountability for schedule, cost, scope, quality, adoption, benefits realization, and margin outcomes.
Or equivalent combination of 14+ years of education and experience in Engineering, Business or Project Management.
Must maintain railroad safety training and certifications

Nice To Haves

Advanced Degree
Project Management Certification. PMP, PgMP, or equivalent; Lean/Six Sigma certification; experience with ERP-driven cost control, formal change management practices, IT project delivery, and strategic initiative governance.

Responsibilities

Responsible for all aspects of the entire project life cycle (initiate, plan, execute, control, close) for multiple complex projects and sophisticated project schedules from customer tender through delivery and customer acceptance.
Lead IT projects and strategic initiatives through defined intake, prioritization, planning, execution, change management, implementation, and post-launch stabilization.
Ensure projects meet all requirements. (Technical, procedures/policy, scope, budget, and schedule)
Communicate all variance in the project (budget, scope, schedule, and out of process/policy.
Support and plan for machine testing, training, commissioning, and customer acceptance. Assist Engineering, Marketing, Production, and Strategic Sourcing on project cost estimates (budgetary and full project quotes) for Contract submission.
Maintain and manage project action logs.
Develop and maintain integrated project plans for technology deployments, system enhancements, process improvements, and strategic business initiatives.
Works with cross functional project teams to identify risks up front and develop plans to reduce or eliminate their impact.
Manage and communicate project cost, P&L management, and project change orders.
Validate ERP-derived project cost estimates and exemplifies solid ERP skills to drive action.
Develop project forecasts and communicate any variances to budget
Participate in the development of project schedules, and leads the team to deliver projects on-time.
Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain integrated project baselines (scope/schedule/cost), including formal change control, impact analysis, and approvals.
Proven experience leading multiple concurrent complex projects, balancing resource constraints, and driving prioritization decisions with leadership and customers.
Confers with project staff to outline work plans and to assign duties, responsibilities, the scope of authority, and execution.
Takes ownership of project performance.
Review status reports prepared by project personnel and modify schedule or plan as required. Prepare project reports for management, client, or others.
Customer interface to ensure project scope compliance, yet managing project scope creep
Achieve project Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for all assigned projects
Stage-gate process champion with strict adherence to process documentation completion
Accept special assignments as needed
Leads governance forums (e.g., stage-gate readiness reviews), drives cross-functional decisions, and owns corrective actions when KPI performance is at risk.
Partner with IT, business leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate strategic priorities into executable project roadmaps with clear milestones, owners, benefits, and decision points.
Ensure that all team members understand all aspects of the project requirements and how their role fits into the successful execution of the project.
Lead , and train Project Managers, I, II and III on Project Management best practices.
Challenges teams to meet stretch targets
Steps in and helps project team when needed.
Participate in the continuous improvement of the Project Management Office (PMO)
Direct and coordinate activities of project personnel to ensure projects progress on schedule and within prescribed budgets while following our process and policies.
Effectively lead cross-functional teams and coordination of team activities, ensuring appropriate and timely issue escalation and member accountability
Demonstrated experience coaching and developing other PMs and leading PMO standard work / templates / KPI reporting improvements.

Benefits

company-sponsored medical, dental, and vision insurance
Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options
wellness programs
basic life and AD&D insurance
voluntary life insurance
company paid short-term and long-term disability coverage
401(k) retirement plan including an employer match of 150% up to the first 6% you contribute to the Plan
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
behavioral health support
leaves of absence
tuition reimbursement
payroll charity contributions
adoption assistance
optional plans such as legal, critical illness, and hospitalization