Director, Project Management

Panera LLC; United States; On-site; USD 177,000 - 213,000; Full time

Job summary

Panera LLC is seeking a Director of Project Management to lead the Operations Services project-management function, ensuring strategic initiatives are delivered on time and within budget. This role oversees five Managers of Project Management and drives governance, standards, and portfolio decisions aligned with executive sponsorship.

Location: Newton, MA moving to Weston, MA in 2027. Competitive pay with a wide annual range offered to reflect experience and market considerations.

Qualifications

• Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree required; master's degree preferred.
• 5+ years of progressive project management experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience with responsibility for project managers or complex portfolios.
• Experience partnering with executive sponsors and senior leaders.
• Restaurant, retail, hospitality, franchise, or multi-unit operations experience strongly preferred.
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own portfolio health and delivery performance.
• Establish project intake, evaluation, prioritization, sequencing, approval, and portfolio review processes.
• Partner with executive sponsors to define outcomes, success measures, sponsorship, and priorities.
• Identify capacity constraints, dependencies, timing conflicts, and tradeoffs and recommend portfolio decisions.
• Lead, coach, and develop five Managers of Project Management.
• Assign projects based on complexity, capacity, priority, and capability.
• Set expectations for outcomes, stakeholder experience, and execution quality.
• Build project-management competencies, coaching routines, and career development.
• Design and improve methodologies, stage gates, tools, templates, and minimum standards.
• Establish requirements for charters, integrated plans, governance, risk, financial tracking, change control, deployment, and closeout.
• Conduct portfolio and project health reviews and intervene when work is off track.
• Serve as the primary project-management advisor to executive sponsors.
• Lead steering committees, portfolio reviews, and critical decision forums.
• Oversee budgets, forecasts, variances, vendor commitments, resources, and investment tradeoffs.
• Ensure projects incorporate change management, field readiness, communications, training, and adoption.

Skills

Leadership

Executive sponsorship

Cross-functional collaboration

Project management

Strategic portfolio management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Director, Project Management Position Summary

The Director, Project Management leads the Operations Services project-management function and is accountable for successful delivery of strategic, cross-functional initiatives across Panera. This leader oversees five Managers of Project Management, establishes consistent governance and delivery standards, manages the enterprise project portfolio, and ensures initiatives are delivered on time, within budget, and to executive sponsor expectations.

Location: Newton, MA moving to Weston, MA in 2027

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Portfolio Leadership

• Own portfolio health and delivery performance.
• Establish project intake, evaluation, prioritization, sequencing, approval, and portfolio review processes.
• Partner with executive sponsors to define outcomes, success measures, sponsorship, and priorities.
• Identify capacity constraints, dependencies, timing conflicts, and tradeoffs and recommend portfolio decisions.

Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead, coach, and develop five Managers of Project Management.
• Assign projects based on complexity, capacity, priority, and capability.
• Set expectations for outcomes, stakeholder experience, and execution quality.
• Build project-management competencies, coaching routines, and career development.

PMO Governance & Standards

• Design and improve methodologies, stage gates, tools, templates, and minimum standards.
• Establish requirements for charters, integrated plans, governance, risk, financial tracking, change control, deployment, and closeout.
• Conduct portfolio and project health reviews and intervene when work is off track.

Executive & Financial Oversight

• Serve as the primary project-management advisor to executive sponsors.
• Lead steering committees, portfolio reviews, and critical decision forums.
• Oversee budgets, forecasts, variances, vendor commitments, resources, and investment tradeoffs.
• Ensure projects incorporate change management, field readiness, communications, training, and adoption.

Qualifications

• Education & Experience: Bachelor's degree required; master's degree preferred.
• 5+ years of progressive project management experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience with responsibility for project managers or complex portfolios.
• Experience partnering with executive sponsors and senior leaders.
• Restaurant, retail, hospitality, franchise, or multi-unit operations experience strongly preferred.
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Exceptional project planning, organization, prioritization, and follow-through.
• Strong business acumen, analytical thinking, judgment, and creative problem-solving.
• Ability to influence without authority, navigate ambiguity, and build stakeholder alignment.
• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive presentation skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and project-management tools.
• Ability to travel based on business needs.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Disabled/Veterans

Pay

Competitive Pay $177,243 - $212,691 annually

The actual pay offered will be determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, and geographical location. Individual compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

Newton Support Center

With more than 2,000 Panera LLC and independent franchise bakery-cafes in the Panera Bread® family, and more locations opening all the time, it’s no wonder our company has been an excellent source of career and personal growth opportunities for more than 25 years. In neighborhoods across the U.S. and Canada, customers enjoy flavorful, handcrafted meals centered around freshly baked artisan bread. To us, that means serving food like we serve our own families – free of any of the items on our ‘No No’ List. Along the way, we also like to give back to our community. We enjoy working together, shoulder to shoulder with our customers, to confront a serious problem plaguing communities across this country – Hunger. Through our Panera Cares community cafes, we offer a dignified dining experience in an uplifting environment. In addition, we support our communities through day-end donations at our bakery-cafe locations and partner with local non-profit organizations. It’s this warmth that you’ll find when you join Panera Bread. From our competitive compensation and benefits packages to our unique cultural values, we’re confident you’ll find us a rewarding and fun place to work.