Project Manager, Environmental Stewardship

People. Planet. Community.

Dairy’s journey starts on the farm, and the road we travel demonstrates our unwavering commitment to sustainable nutrition, as our farmers provide lasting and meaningful nourishment to people, the planet and our communities, both urban and rural.

Role Purpose

The main goals of the Project Manager, Environmental Stewardship are to manage multiple projects within and improve operational efficiency for the U.S. Net Zero Initiative (NZI), a collaboration of six national dairy organizations leading a major strategy for reaching the dairy industry’s 2050 environmental stewardship goals. The PM will ensure that assigned projects and workflows are effectively and efficiently executed, reported upon, and completed by participating in the development of comprehensive project plans, operating software/databases to track milestones, monitoring project progress, taking steps to minimize delays, communicating progress to project stakeholders, maintaining project documentation and status reports, coordinating and organizing inputs to facilitate the completion of deliverables, and performing related operational tasks. This role will coordinate actions and reporting across teams and organizations, facilitate progress through influence, efficiently manage resources, identify potential areas of improvement and implement the right processes and practices to ensure projects are completed on schedule and within scope budgets.

In addition to project management skills, this role requires relationship management experience to effectively coordinate with and organize inputs from partner organizations. With visibility to other major strategies contributing to the 2050 environmental goals, the PM will identify synergies and contribute to overall progress reporting. On occasion, the PM may represent NZI and its partners in speaking engagements, workshops, advisory groups, etc. This position reports to the EVP of Environmental Stewardship.

Location: Position can be a flexible/hybrid arrangement or fully remote from a U.S. location.

Responsibilities

Manage U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative (NZI):

• Understand the full landscape of projects across NZI
• Define objectives, requirements and scope, break projects and workflows into doable actions, set timelines and assign reporting-related tasks to relevant parties
• Provide timeline guidance and resources to project leads, subject matter experts, and project managers to ensure deliverables are being met
• Operate and input data into project management systems/software that tracks overall progress and the accomplishment of specific milestones, and assist colleagues and clients in its use
• Monitor NZI projects to verify that they are on track to meet predetermined timelines and deliverable dates, and recommend adjustments to project plan to achieve maximum benefit when warranted. This may include managing a master calendar for key meetings, project due dates, etc.
• Help project teams track tasks and progress against deliverables and communicate progress on managed projects
• Compile progress reports on managed projects for partners, DMI and Innovation Center Boards, Committees, Net Zero Initiative (NZI) leadership team meetings, etc.
• Work with others to clear blockages as they arise — escalating issues as necessary; this requires a clear understanding of the projects and support expectations for each
• Act as a point of communication between project leads, project management/operations staff, and other internal and external teams and resources
• Ensure that assigned project needs are met or exceeded as projects evolve, including support and preparation for NZI team meetings as needed (e.g., agenda development, note-taking, next steps, etc.)
• Assist in submitting and managing contracts, processing invoices, and ensuring final payment for consulted work to assigned projects, as needed
• Alone or in collaboration with others, prepare and maintain project documentation, plans, reports, contracts, calendars, communication materials, and other material; maintaining accessibility of materials in company software platforms (e.g., MS Teams)
• Ensure standards and requirements are met by analyzing project progress for quality assurance (e.g., milestones are met and communicated, stakeholders are informed of status, etc.)

Support Environmental Stewardship Operations:

• Develop process to identify potential risks and liabilities of multiple projects and propose risk mitigation solutions in conjunction with the project lead and team lead
• Optimize and improve operational management systems, processes, and best practices, identifying potential problems and points of friction and working to find solutions to maximize effectiveness and efficiency
• Participate in long-term planning to ensure projects/initiatives align with the organization’s priorities and ensure coordination with partners
• Use provided tools/software to report the overall progress of environmental stewardship projects and create Gantt charts to set targets for milestones, adhere to deadlines, and allocate resources
• Assess, analyze, and manage the team/NZI budget, working with VP of Operations regarding department budget and contracts

Department-based deliverables and reporting:

• Ensure environmental stewardship reporting is laddering up to the organizational dashboard by using provided reporting tools
• Support project documentation and reporting for environmental stewardship, for purposes of internal and external reporting (e.g., board committee deliverables)
• Provide support and guidance to project managers to develop project performance measures using appropriate project management tools and ensure timely updates on measurements

Qualifications

Proven success in:

• Developing project plans for tracking/reporting results to demonstrate progress toward goals
• Creating, maintaining, and organizing project management documents (e.g., charters, status report templates, etc.) and databases
• Working effectively with cross-functional teams, including external resources and partners, to achieve business results
• Prioritizing and delivering work/projects with minimal supervision/oversight
• Ongoing relationship and account management with valued partners/stakeholders

Skills & Abilities:

• Strong leadership skills
• A solid understanding of business cases and risk management processes
• Hands-on experience with project management tools
• Efficient and strategic fact-based decisions
• Proven self-management and team-management skills
• Ability to monitor and control project budgets
• Understanding of performance metrics reporting
• Demonstrated strong judgment and time management skills
• Ability to handle conflicting priorities in a multi-task environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in addition to presentation skills
• Ability to build, maintain, and grow meaningful relationships with internal and external partners
• Ability to speak effectively to a wide variety of audiences
• Demonstrated problem-solving skills
• Detail-oriented
• Strong work ethic and integrity
• Comfortable navigating in an entrepreneurial/ambiguous environment

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university
• At least seven (7) years of progressive experience in project management, operations or a related field
• Dairy and/or agricultural operations experience a plus
• Proficiency with project management tools and software (e.g., SmartSheets) preferred
• PMP/PRINCE 2 certification is a plus
• Some travel may be required

Benefits

We know that in order to meet our goal of growing dairy demand, we need the best people. We offer competitive compensation and generous benefits to help our employees balance their work and personal lives. Our Rosemont office is conveniently located across from O’Hare Airport and is accessible to the CTA Blue Line and Metra transit.

Our comprehensive health and welfare plans offer medical, dental, vision, life, short-term and long-term disability and flexible spending accounts (health care, dependent care, transit and parking). Our 401k provides up to a 10% match and includes a Roth account. DMI reserves the right to change or end its benefits plans or programs at any time.

Dairy Management Inc.™ is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to the principles of diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, ethnicity, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.