Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager

Location: Santa Fe Springs, CA (On-site)

 Pay Range: $130,000 – $140,000 per year + 10% Bonus Plan 

Job Type: Full-time, M-F Standard Business Hours

Job Summary

The Senior Project Manager leads the full lifecycle of strategic and operational projects across R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain. This role owns complex multi-phase programs, drives Agile delivery, mentors junior PMs, and serves as the primary accountability point for project governance, portfolio performance, and team development. The Senior PM partners with executive leadership to align initiatives with business strategy and champions project management best practices organization-wide.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Team Leadership

• Directly manage, mentor, and coach Associate Project Managers and Project Coordinators, identifying skill gaps and driving professional development.

• Lead intake, prioritization, and portfolio planning aligned to business goals.

• Foster a high-trust, high-accountability team culture characterized by positive motivation and proactive problem-solving.

• Maintain a resource capacity model to surface constraints and negotiate priorities across departments.

Project Governance & Execution

• Define project charters, OKRs, scope, and success metrics; build integrated master schedules using WBS and critical path analysis.

• Apply PLM frameworks to govern stage-gate reviews and balance Agile flexibility with food/pharma regulatory constraints.

• Champion Scrum, Kanban, and hybrid Agile frameworks; facilitate sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives.

• Manage and groom backlogs while maintaining burndown charts and velocity metrics.

Risk Management & Quality

• Own the risk register: score, assign, and track all project risks while developing robust response plans.

• Apply root cause analysis (5 Whys, Fishbone) and conduct pre-mortem analyses on high-risk projects.

• Integrate quality gates aligned with SQF, GMP, and internal standards.

• Apply Lean/Six Sigma methodologies to streamline workflows and drive continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Communication

• Serve as a key liaison for R&D, QA, Operations, Procurement, Regulatory, Sales, and the Executive Team.

• Deliver executive-level dashboards and RAG (Red/Amber/Green) health checks.

• Facilitate cross-functional alignment and resolve conflicts via interest-based negotiation.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Food Science, or a related field.

• Experience: 7+ years of project management experience, with at least 5 years in food, nutraceutical, CPG, or regulated manufacturing.

• Certification: PMP Certification is required.

• Leadership: Proven experience managing direct reports and leading cross-functional teams.

• Technical: Proficiency in PM tools (Monday.com, Jira, MS Project, or Smartsheet) and Microsoft 365.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or Master’s in Project Management.

• PMI-ACP or Certified Scrum Master (CSM).

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or higher.

• Bilingual (Spanish/English).

• Experience with ERP/PLM systems (e.g., NetSuite) and AI platforms (e.g., Claude).

Core Competencies

• Adaptability: Comfortable with ambiguity and able to remain flexible in a fast-paced environment.

• Influence: Ability to influence without authority across all organizational levels, including the C-suite.

• Strategic Thinking: Ability to connect granular project decisions to overarching business objectives.

• Mindset: Approachable, positive motivator with high emotional intelligence (EQ).

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