Director, Project Management

Kion Group AG; Grand Rapids (MI); On-site; USD 180,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career Development

Competitive Compensation and Benefits

Pay Transparency

Global Opportunities

Job summary

KION Group AG is seeking a senior leader to drive end‑to‑end delivery of complex material handling equipment projects. You will oversee planning, budgeting, scheduling and cross‑functional execution across multiple sites, while ensuring customer satisfaction and safety standards.

As a senior leader, you will coach project managers, manage P&L and supplier performance, and lead continuous improvement initiatives to reduce effort on follow‑on sites. Travel to sites is expected.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business or related field.
• 10+ years of project delivery experience, including 5+ years in a senior project leadership role.
• Proven track record delivering complex, multi-site industrial projects.
• Experience owning project P&L and supplier networks.
• Certifications preferred: PMP, MBA.

Responsibilities

• Own program delivery: lead planning, resourcing, budgeting, scheduling and execution for multi‑site projects.
• Build and run repeatable execution models, playbooks and governance to standardize delivery.
• Lead and coach project managers, site leads and cross‑functional teams; set KPIs.
• Ensure commercial performance: manage project P&L, change orders, claims and supplier performance.
• Risk & issue management: identify and mitigate risks; drive recovery plans.
• Stakeholder management: interface with customers, senior leadership and suppliers.
• Drive safety & quality: enforce safety/compliance across sites.
• Continuous improvement: apply learning to future projects.
• Resource & supplier strategy: optimize capacity and secure long‑lead items.

Skills

Strategic leadership

People management

Stakeholder management

Negotiation

Planning & scheduling

Earned‑value management

Data‑driven decision making

Communication & presentation

Travel willingness

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Construction Management/Business

Tools

MS Project

Primavera

Job description

Senior leader responsible for end-to-end delivery of complex MHE projects, driving schedule, cost, quality, safety and customer satisfaction across multiple concurrent programs.

The base pay range for this role is estimated to be $180,000 - $210,000 at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined by various factors such as work location, education, experience, knowledge, and skills.

We offer

• Career Development
• Competitive Compensation and Benefits
• Pay Transparency
• Global Opportunities

Learn More Here: https://www.dematic.com/en-us/about/careers/what-we-offer/

Dematic provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Tasks and Qualifications

Core responsibilities

• Own program delivery: lead planning, resourcing, budgeting, scheduling and execution for multiple, high‑complexity projects.
• Build and run repeatable execution models, playbooks and governance to standardize delivery and capture lessons learned.
• Lead and coach project managers, site leads and cross‑functional execution teams; set objectives, KPIs and career development.
• Ensure commercial performance: manage project P&L, change orders, claims and supplier performance.
• Risk & issue management: identify, mitigate and escalation critical risks; drive timely recovery plans.
• Stakeholder management: act as primary interface to customers, senior leadership and major suppliers; provide clear, timely reporting.
• Drive safety & quality: enforce safety, compliance and quality standards across sites.
• Continuous improvement: lead post‑project reviews and apply learning curve gains to reduce engineering and PM effort on follow‑ons.
• Resource & supplier strategy: optimize internal and external capacity, pre‑qualify vendors and secure critical long‑lead items.

Required qualifications & experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of project delivery experience, including 5+ years in a senior project leadership role.
• Proven track record delivering complex, multi‑site industrial projects (material handling equipment/automation experience strongly preferred).
• Demonstrable experience managing multi‑million dollar project portfolios and supplier networks.
• Strong financial acumen with experience owning project P&L and commercial negotiations.
• Certifications preferred: PMP, MBA.

Key competencies & skills

• Strategic leadership and people‑management skills.
• Excellent stakeholder, negotiation and escalation management.
• Strong planning, scheduling and earned‑value familiarity (MS Project, Primavera or equivalent).
• Data‑driven decision making; uses KPIs and dashboards for performance management.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; comfortable at executive and customer forums.
• Willingness to travel frequently to sites.

KPIs / success measures

• On‑time delivery rate (projects completed to committed ROS).
• Budget performance (% projects within +/- target).
• Customer satisfaction / NPS for delivered sites.
• Safety performance (TRIR / recordable incidents).
• Change order rate and schedule growth (%).
• Reduction in engineering and PM hours on follow‑on sites (learning curve gains).
• Supplier delivery reliability (OTD for long‑lead items).

Reporting & scope

Reports to Sr. Director of Project Execution Directs a team of project managers and site leads; dotted relationships with engineering, procurement, manufacturing and service functions. Responsible for a regional or global portfolio depending on company scale.

Nice‑to‑have

• Prior experience with Amazon or large e‑commerce/3PL customers.
• Background in automation, controls and systems integration.
• Change management / transformation experience.

KION brands keep the world moving – globally, regionally, and locally.

KION is the Supply Chain Solutions Company.

With over 42,000 employees in more than 100 countries, we enable smart, sustainable, and reliable supply chains worldwide - wherever goods are stored, moved, or delivered.

KION offers its customers the full spectrum of solutions to make their supply chains future-ready.

Our international brands, Linde Material Handling, STILL, and Baoli and our regional brands, Fenwick and OM, stand for outstanding technological innovation, intelligent automation and service excellence in forklift trucks and warehouse equipment.

Dematic complements this expertise with state‑of‑the‑art automation technology and AI‑supported software solutions that optimize intralogistics across warehousing, production, and distribution.

Whether locally or globally – we offer exciting career opportunities in an innovative environment shaped by our core values: Integrity, Collaboration, Courage, and Excellence. Together, we create the magic of supply chain solutions.