Operations Project Manager

Copeland•Saint Louis, MO

About The Position

The Operations Project Manager leads and supports cross-functional projects across Copeland’s Manufacturing Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Logistics, and Operational Excellence functions. The role translates business priorities into structured project plans, coordinates execution across functions, manages risks and dependencies, and ensures projects deliver measurable improvements in safety, quality, customer delivery, cost, inventory, and productivity. The position serves as a central coordinator among plant operations, engineering, quality, procurement, planning, logistics, finance, information technology, suppliers, and service providers in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. The role manages small- to medium-sized operational projects or workstreams within larger programs from initiation through closeout. It establishes project scope, schedules, budgets, resource plans, success criteria, governance, reporting, risk and issue controls, and benefit tracking. It also coordinates stakeholders and change-management activities, supports operational initiatives across manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, and logistics, and leads or supports continuous-improvement efforts. The position may require travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, warehouses, or distribution centers as project needs require. Copeland describes itself as a global climate technologies company focused on sustainability, HVACR technologies, and cold-chain solutions. The company states that it invests in employee development and offers flexible and competitive benefits plans. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States; sponsorship is not provided.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations Management, Logistics, Business, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
At least one year of experience in project coordination or project management in manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, logistics, operational excellence, engineering, or a related environment.
Experience developing and maintaining project plans, schedules, action trackers, risk and issue logs, status reports, and executive-ready summaries.
Working knowledge of manufacturing operations or some combination of procurement, production planning, inventory management, logistics, warehousing, supplier management, or continuous improvement.
Experience working with cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to organize large data sets and translate findings into actions.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables, lookups, charts, and data analysis; proficiency in PowerPoint, Word, and Teams.
Experience with project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Planner, Smartsheet, Cora, or equivalent.
Familiarity with ERP/MRP systems such as Oracle or SAP.
Clear written and verbal communication, effective meeting facilitation, and strong attention to detail.
Ability to manage multiple priorities, adapt to changing requirements, and maintain execution discipline under deadlines.
Ability to travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, warehouses, or distribution centers as project needs require.
Legally authorized to work in the United States; the company does not provide sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Two to five years of experience in project coordination or project management in manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, logistics, operational excellence, engineering, or a related environment.
Experience supporting a plant expansion, equipment installation, production transfer, new product introduction, supplier transition, warehouse change, or manufacturing ramp-up.
Hands-on experience with Lean tools, Kaizen events, value-stream mapping, standard work, or structured root cause analysis.
Experience building Power BI dashboards, working with Power Query, or using advanced Excel data models.
Experience with AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot.
Experience with change management, benefits realization, or process-control plans that sustain improvements after project closeout.
Experience working with global suppliers, international supply chains, or multi-site manufacturing networks.
Understanding of basic financial concepts such as capital versus expense, business cases, payback, return on investment, purchase price variance, and cost-savings validation.
Knowledge of quality and operational systems such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949, or relevant environmental, health, and safety requirements.
Bilingual English/Spanish or other language capability relevant to the operating network.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent continuous-improvement certification.
ASCM/APICS CPIM, CSCP, or CLTD certification, depending on role emphasis.
Prosci Change Management certification or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Lead small- to medium-sized operational projects or defined workstreams within larger programs from initiation through closeout.
Develop project charters, scope statements, work breakdown structures, schedules, budgets, resource plans, and measurable success criteria.
Maintain action, risk, issue, decision, dependency, and change-control logs, ensuring ownership and due dates are current.
Establish project governance, meeting cadence, stage-gate reviews, and status reporting for sponsors and stakeholders.
Monitor schedule, cost, scope, benefits, and resource performance; escalate variances with fact-based recovery recommendations.
Capture lessons learned and transition completed deliverables to process owners with documented controls and sustainment plans.
Coordinate cross-functional teams and facilitate working sessions, readiness reviews, and steering committee updates.
Build relationships with plant leadership, functional teams, suppliers, carriers, and external partners.
Communicate project status, decisions, risks, and trade-offs to technical and non-technical audiences.
Apply practical change-management methods to assess stakeholder impacts, prepare communications and training, address resistance, and reinforce adoption.
Follow up on commitments and drive actions to closure.
Develop dashboards and analyses to support decisions and monitor readiness.
Define baseline performance, target outcomes, KPI ownership, and benefit-realization tracking before implementation.
Protect confidential information and follow applicable cybersecurity, data-governance, and records-management requirements.
Support production readiness, capacity expansion, equipment installation, facility changes, product transfers, new product introductions, and manufacturing ramp-up initiatives.
Assess constraints affecting throughput, capacity, takt time, cycle time, yield, changeover, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
Partner with Environmental, Health and Safety and Quality teams to ensure project deliverables meet site requirements and protect safe work practices and product quality.
Coordinate sourcing and procurement workstreams, including requirements definition, supplier-selection support, purchase-order milestones, tooling, samples, qualifications, and delivery readiness.
Track supplier commitments, lead times, capacity, quality, cost, and recovery actions that may affect project objectives.
Document supplier changes and project decisions and communicate them to affected planning, engineering, quality, and operations teams.
Lead or support initiatives to improve on-time delivery, inventory turns, freight performance, warehouse throughput, and end-to-end material flow.
Support Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), demand and capacity planning, and scenario analysis for changing volume or product-mix assumptions.
Evaluate warehouse, transportation, distribution, packaging, material-flow, and inbound/outbound logistics capabilities; identify capacity gaps and corrective actions.
Lead or support Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, value-stream mapping, 5S, standard work, visual management, and waste-reduction initiatives.
Facilitate structured problem-solving using methods such as A3, DMAIC, 5 Whys, fishbone analysis, Pareto analysis, and root cause/corrective action.
Develop current- and future-state process maps; define countermeasures, implementation plans, control plans, and benefit-tracking methods.
Identify opportunities to improve productivity, quality, throughput, lead time, inventory, cost, and process reliability.
Promote process standardization and adoption through stakeholder engagement, training, documentation, and change management.
Travel to manufacturing sites, suppliers, warehouses, or distribution centers as project needs require.