Director, Project & Change Management

Saputo Inc. • Milwaukee, SC

2d

About The Position

The Director, Project and Change Management leads the ingredients division’s operating rhythm, strategic initiative governance, and organizational change approach. As a trusted partner to the President and Senior Leadership Team, this role creates visibility and accountability across priorities, decisions, commitments, risks, and change initiatives to keep the division aligned and moving forward during ongoing operations and periods of transformation.

Requirements

• 10 or more years of progressive leadership experience in program or portfolio management, change management, business operations, or related discipline.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, project management, organizational development, change management, communications, or a related field; an advanced degree or relevant professional certification is preferred.
• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience establishing or leading a PMO, enterprise portfolio, transformation office, or comparable business-governance function.
• Experience serving as a trusted advisor to senior executives and translating leadership priorities into clear strategies, governance practices, communications, and action plans.
• Ability to translate complex business strategies, decisions, and organizational changes into clear and compelling communications.
• Demonstrated experience leading the people side of organizational transformation, including stakeholder engagement, impact assessment, readiness, communication, adoption, and sustainability.
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen, with the ability to connect business priorities, organizational impacts, employee needs, and execution risks.
• Exceptional writing, presentation, facilitation, and verbal communication capabilities, with the ability to communicate effectively from the plant floor to the executive leadership level.
• Ability to synthesize complex and sometimes conflicting information into a clear, reliable enterprise view and actionable recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, challenge constructively, and drive accountability across functions without relying on direct authority.
• Strong judgment and discretion when handling confidential, sensitive, crisis-related, or high-impact business matters.
• Knowledge of recognized project management, portfolio management, change management, and communication principles and methodologies.
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships and operate as an objective, collaborative partner across functions and leadership levels.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and related project, communication, collaboration, and reporting technologies.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting acquisitions, integrations, major investments, organizational redesigns, or other large-scale business transformations is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead the ingredients division’s project management and strategic coordination framework, creating an integrated view of priorities, major initiatives, milestones, dependencies, risks, and decisions.
• Maintain an integrated view of divisional priorities, milestones, dependencies, risks, decisions, and commitments without duplicating the delivery responsibilities held within individual functions.
• Create visibility to milestones, dependencies, decisions, resource constraints, risks, and expected business outcomes across the portfolio.
• Ensure initiatives are appropriately sequenced and aligned with divisional strategy, business capacity, and leadership priorities.
• Identify cross-functional risks and dependencies that may not be visible within individual workstreams and elevate them for leadership action.
• Challenge initiative and workstream leaders to address off-track commitments and develop credible recovery plans without assuming ownership of functional execution.
• Continuously evaluate and evolve the PMO approach as the division’s strategy, scale, and complexity change.
• Serve as the central coordination point for the ingredients division’s most significant cross-functional priorities and transformation efforts.
• Provide the Division President and Senior Leadership Team with a single, integrated view of progress across major initiatives without duplicating the delivery responsibilities that reside within individual functions.
• Partner with executive sponsors and workstream leaders to clarify objectives, scope, milestones, decision requirements, interdependencies, risks, and measures of success.
• Escalate significant barriers, unresolved dependencies, and material deviations from agreed plans to the President or appropriate Senior Leadership Team member.
• Design and lead the Senior Leadership Team’s operating rhythm, including leadership meetings, business reviews, strategic planning sessions, decision forums, and off sites.
• Partner with the President to determine meeting priorities, frame critical decisions, identify trade-offs, and direct leadership attention toward the most important business matters.
• Integrate information and perspectives from across the division into a clear, trusted leadership view.
• Drive follow-through between leadership meetings and ensure decisions, commitments, and unresolved issues remain visible through completion.
• Set the communication strategy for major divisional initiatives and organizational changes, aligned with the broader change-management approach.
• Translate business strategy, leadership decisions, and complex organizational changes into clear, credible, and actionable messages.
• Lead the development of change-related executive communications, including leadership messages, presentations, talking points, town hall materials, employee updates, frequently asked questions, and manager toolkits.
• Ensure communications clearly explain what is changing, why the change is needed, how employees may be affected, and what actions are expected.
• Partner with Human Resources and Communications to align divisional messages with organizational priorities, culture, and employee engagement efforts.
• Coordinate with Commercial and Marketing when internal change messages intersect with external brand, customer, or market communications.
• Own the Ingredients division’s Crisis Handbook and Special Circumstances manual, ensuring that roles, escalation paths, decision rights, communication protocols, and contact information remain current.
• Establish a regular review and testing process to strengthen divisional readiness for crisis, sensitive, or non-standard business situations.
• Serve as the coordination and communications lead supporting the President and designated Crisis Manager during an active crisis.
• Convene the appropriate stakeholders, maintain a reliable source of current information, and oversee real-time decision and action tracking.
• Lead the development and coordination of timely, accurate, and consistent internal communications throughout the response.
• Ensure crisis execution remains with the President, Crisis Manager, and appropriate functional leaders while maintaining the governance and coordination required to keep the response organized and moving forward.
• Lead after-action reviews, document lessons learned, and ensure approved improvements are incorporated into crisis protocols, communication plans, and readiness materials.
• Maintain discretion and sound judgment when managing confidential, sensitive, or high-impact matters.

Benefits

• Development opportunities that enhance your career fulfillment.
• Meaningful compensation & benefits that help you care for your family.
• Opportunities to contribute to your community and enhance the lives of others through Saputo products.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director