Senior Project Management Specialist

 

As the world leader in nutrition, health and wellness for children from birth to preschool, Gerber Products Company is committed to creating a strong future. We joined the Nestlé Nutrition family in 2007, and have been a partner in parenthood ever since. Our Anything for Baby team works closely with experts to create products that enrich and establish healthy habits for children, and are good for the planet as well. A career at Gerber provides meaningful opportunities to develop professionally, and nurture generations to come. Now is the time to define your future, and ours too.

 

This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

 

 

JOB SUMMARY:   

Lead and manage a wide range of complex research and development projects for Nestlé Nutrition's Global Baby Food Meals & Drinks Category, with a consumer-centric, growth mindset, and passion for innovation. Includes the development of new science & technologies, new product launches, development of strategic roadmaps & pipelines, and new concept development. Lead projects from the front end of innovation through industrialization and to launch.  

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Project & Process Management 

• Lead the definition and communication of project scope, objectives, and expectations in collaboration with senior management and stakeholders  

• Navigate and facilitate Front-End innovation activities, distilling complexity and ambiguity and swiftly creating actions to enable decision making  

• Align on the strategy and approach for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing the project  

• Identify the project resource requirements and lead project planning 

• Build and manage the end-to-end project schedule, define the critical path, track activities to ensure functional team members are meeting agreed upon deadlines, generate, and communicate status reports, and escalate critical issues   

• Build and maintain project budget 

• Connect Science and Technology data, facts and people to deliver solutions with competitive advantage 

• Proactively manage roadblocks and risk mitigation plans 

• Coordinate and facilitate project meetings including kick-off meetings, project team meetings, risk assessments, and additional meetings as required 

• Engage and communicate effectively with partners, stakeholders, and decision makers 

• Coordinate and facilitate post launch reviews and communicate key learnings and proposed continuous improvement actions 

• Responsible for the consistent application, disciplined execution, and continuous improvement of Nestlé’s I&R processes and tools  

 

Project Leadership 

• Apply coaching and influencing skills to lead cross-functional and multidisciplinary teams, by embracing details and ambiguity while keeping a general view to reduce complexity and to strive for rapid but informed management decisions  

• Unite and energize team members behind a shared vision, guiding and motivating them to achieve project objectives  

• Create an environment that encourages diversity of thought and constructive challenge/debate 

• Bring structure, transparency, and clarity to project teams during times of complexity, chaos and/or ambiguity 

• Foster collaboration amongst team members, ensuring effective information flow and timely resolution of challenges 

• Minimize risk and increase project impact by creating alternative scenarios in an agile way to ensure project performance in terms of quality, speed, cost 

• Be the guardian of project management excellence by mastering tools and coaching peers and project team members to deliver the highest value  

• Connect internally and externally to identify opportunities to leverage knowledge and to enhance competitive advantage 

• Coach Project Managers to build their skill sets 

 JOB QUALIFICATIONS (Education, Experience and Knowledge):        

• Proven (at least five years) experience in project management of large-scale cross-functional and multidisciplinary projects with high business impact, preferably in a research / innovation driven environment 

• Experience in FMCG industry, in R&D and/or Operations/Manufacturing