Sr. Program Manager, Elevation

The Kraft Heinz Company • Chicago, IL

7d • $120,800 - $151,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Program Manager, Elevation will lead complex capital programs from requirements definition and conceptual design through execution, commissioning, vertical startup, and handover. This role involves defining program objectives, scope, budgets, schedules, and success measures, aligned with approved business cases. The position supports Capital Appropriation Request submissions and acts as the program advocate to capital investment committees. A key responsibility is developing integrated program roadmaps that sequence workstreams, milestones, dependencies, resources, and key decision points. The role also provides technical guidance to influence design decisions, resolve technical challenges, and ensure feasible, scalable, compliant solutions. The Sr. Program Manager will establish the program structure, resource model, technical capabilities, and external partner support needed to deliver scope, schedule, and budget commitments. This role requires cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Finance, Operations, HR, Legal, R&D, EHS, FSQ, Procurement, and external partners. The individual will align sponsors, functional leaders, and portfolio governance teams on program scope, trade-offs, priorities, risks, value realization, and escalation needs. Managing cross-functional dependencies, decision interlocks, critical path constraints, and prioritization conflicts across workstreams, sites, suppliers, and partners is crucial. The role involves establishing governance cadence, including workstream reviews, leadership updates, decision forums, action tracking, escalation pathways, and decision records. Developing and managing risk, issue, assumption, and dependency processes to identify, monitor, mitigate, and escalate factors that may affect delivery is essential. Communication of program health, milestones, budget, risks, dependencies, decisions, and required leadership actions through clear, decision-oriented reporting is a key function. The role also leads operational readiness, change adoption, training coordination, readiness criteria, and sustained ownership planning with site and functional teams, ensuring safety, environmental, compliance, and operational requirements are embedded from design through operational verification and value realization. Additionally, the Sr. Program Manager will work with PMO and functional partners to drive continuous improvement of capital project management activities, workflows, tools, methodologies, and governance practices across KHC entities to improve efficiency, consistency, scalability, and execution quality. This includes developing and sharing best practices, reporting standards, reusable program artifacts, templates, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track program progress, financial performance, schedule performance, risk, and total cost of ownership (TCO). Leading post-implementation reviews and lessons learned activities to capture insights, identify improvement opportunities, and incorporate learnings into future program standards, tools, governance practices, and execution playbooks is also part of the role.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from an accredited engineering school or related field is required.
• 6+ years experience in engineering, project management, program management, and/or technical leadership across multiple sites.
• Demonstrated success in project and program management execution, including requirements definition, scope, schedule, budget, governance, reporting, risk, dependency, resource planning, execution, monitoring/control, closeout, roadmap development, cross-workstream dependency management, and decision cadence.
• Demonstrated leadership, communication, influence, critical thinking, problem-solving, relationship-building, executive communication, and business acumen to lead complex cross-functional programs, align technical decisions with stakeholder and business needs, and support operational readiness, change adoption, benefits realization, and sustained value delivery.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience in an in-plant technical role such as Operations, Maintenance, or Plant Engineering is preferred.
• familiarity with Agile, Scrum, or other iterative delivery methods is beneficial where applicable.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex capital programs from requirements definition and conceptual design through execution, commissioning, vertical startup, and handover.
• Define program objectives, scope, budgets, schedules, success measures, and execution plans aligned to approved business cases.
• Support Capital Appropriation Request submissions and serve as the program advocate to capital investment committees.
• Develop integrated program roadmaps that sequence workstreams, milestones, dependencies, resources, and key decision points.
• Provide technical guidance to influence design decisions, resolve technical challenges, and ensure feasible, scalable, compliant solutions.
• Establish the program structure, resource model, technical capabilities, and external partner support needed to deliver scope, schedule, and budget commitments.
• Provide cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Finance, Operations, HR, Legal, R&D, EHS, FSQ, Procurement, and external partners.
• Align sponsors, functional leaders, and portfolio governance teams on program scope, trade-offs, priorities, risks, value realization, and escalation needs.
• Manage cross-functional dependencies, decision interlocks, critical path constraints, and prioritization conflicts across workstreams, sites, suppliers, and partners.
• Establish governance cadence, including workstream reviews, leadership updates, decision forums, action tracking, escalation pathways, and decision records.
• Develop and manage risk, issue, assumption, and dependency processes to identify, monitor, mitigate, and escalate factors that may affect delivery.
• Communicate program health, milestones, budget, risks, dependencies, decisions, and required leadership actions through clear, decision-oriented reporting.
• Lead operational readiness, change adoption, training coordination, readiness criteria, and sustained ownership planning with site and functional teams.
• Ensure safety, environmental, compliance, and operational requirements are embedded from design through operational verification and value realization.
• Work with PMO and functional partners to drive continuous improvement of capital project management activities, workflows, tools, methodologies, and governance practices across KHC entities to improve efficiency, consistency, scalability, and execution quality.
• Develop and share best practices, reporting standards, reusable program artifacts, templates, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track program progress, financial performance, schedule performance, risk, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Lead post-implementation reviews and lessons learned activities to capture insights, identify improvement opportunities, and incorporate learnings into future program standards, tools, governance practices, and execution playbooks.

Benefits

• Coverage for employees (and their eligible dependents) through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future, we offer plans tailored to meet you and your family’s needs.
• Physical - Medical, Prescription Drug, Dental, Vision, Screenings/Assessments
• Social - Paid Time Off, Company Holidays, Leave of Absence, Flexible Work Arrangements, Recognition, Training
• Emotional – Employee Assistance Program , Wellbeing Programs, Family Support Programs
• Financial – 401k, Life, Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Disability
• This position is eligible for a performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents.

What This Job Offers

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