Project Manager

WEM Automation - A Valstone Company; City of Pewaukee (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

WEM Automation (Valstone Portfolio) is seeking a Project Manager who thrives at the intersection of structure and people, balancing clear communication with strategic thinking. The role involves defining scope, managing expectations, and driving progress across cross-functional teams while traveling to customer sites.

You’ll come with organization, calm under pressure, and a talent for stakeholder management to keep projects on track and aligned with client needs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred; what matters most is how you think and lead.
• PMP, CAPM, or CSM certification a bonus.
• Experience in small business environments with direct client interaction is expected.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned customer projects, ensuring scope is defined and progress is transparent.
• Translate customer needs into clear, actionable requirements for engineers.
• Convert technical plans into timelines and action items.
• Coordinate across engineering, service, sales, and manufacturing to ensure seamless execution.
• Own customer communications around progress, changes, and timelines.

Skills

Organized & detail-oriented

Calm under pressure

Curious & collaborative

Clear communicator

Relationship-builder

Strategic thinker

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred

PMP/CAPM/CSM certification bonus

Tools

Project management tools

Gantt charts

Milestone tracking

Job description

Company: WEM Automation (Valstone Portfolio)

About WEM Automation

WEM Automation LLC is the leading supplier of control systems for the feed and grain, aggregate, concrete, and asphalt industries. Founded in Milwaukee in 1955, WEM has spent over 70 years delivering trusted process automation systems across North America — constantly evolving its capabilities to capture tangible value for customers.

WEM's purpose is simple: unlock tangible value for the animal feed and aggregates industries through automation and analytics. Our success is built not only on engineering excellence but on the strength of our customer relationships and our ability to execute complex projects with precision.

WEM Automation is a Valstone company. Valstone is an industrial software conglomerate that acquires and operates mission‑critical software businesses across agriculture, logistics, food processing, bulk materials, and manufacturing — taking a long‑term, buy‑and‑hold approach to building businesses.

The Role

We're looking for a Project Manager who thrives at the intersection of structure and people—organized, clear, and steady, even when the stakes are high and the details are complex. This is a client‑facing role built around building real relationships, creating clarity, and driving progress across cross‑functional teams. We're looking for someone who can read between the lines—understanding not just what’s being asked, but what actually matters—and who brings a relationship‑first, strategic mindset to every project. If you love keeping things on track, influencing without direct authority, and solving problems before they become fire drills, you’ll thrive here. This role also includes regular travel to customer sites.

What You Bring

• Naturally organized and detail‑oriented—you get energy from creating structure where there is none.
• Calm under pressure—you don't panic, you plan.
• Curious and collaborative—you ask good questions and know how to work with people who think differently than you.
• Comfortable saying what needs to be said—even when it's hard.
• A natural relationship‑builder—people trust you quickly, and you know how to read a room.
• Strategic—you can see past the immediate ask to what's truly important, and prioritize accordingly.

Experience & Skills

• Small business experience with direct, hands‑on customer interaction—not a large corporate PM structure where customer contact is layered or indirect.
• Manufacturing and/or software industry background preferred.
• Business analyst experience—translating customer needs into technical requirements—is a strong bonus.
• Comfort working with budgets, timelines, and tradeoffs—you understand the business impact of decisions.
• Strong communication and relationship‑building skills.
• Familiarity with project management tools, Gantt charts, and milestone tracking.
• Comfortable developing and presenting customer quotations, and translating requirements into scope and pricing.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly to customer sites.

Education

• Bachelor's degree preferred — what matters most is how you think and lead.
• PMP, CAPM, or CSM certification a bonus.

What You'll Do

Be the Bridge Between Teams and Customers

• Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned customer projects, ensuring scope is defined, expectations are aligned, and progress is transparent.
• Understand what a customer actually needs and translate it into clear, actionable requirements our engineers can build against—thinking like a business analyst as much as a project manager.
• Translate technical plans and internal priorities into clear action items and timelines.
• Keep both internal teams and customers focused, informed, and aligned.

Navigate Complexity With Clarity and Control

• Track milestones, dependencies, and risks with obsessive clarity.
• Proactively address blockers and resolve issues before they escalated.
• Bring structure and momentum to each phase of the project lifecycle—from kickoff through commissioning.

Work Cross-Functionally to Get Things Done

• Coordinate across engineering, service, sales, and manufacturing teams to ensure seamless execution.
• Influence outcomes through credibility, clarity, and consistency—not just authority.
• Adapt communication style based on audience—plant operators, software engineers, executives.

Manage the Narrative

• Own customer communications around project progress, changes, and timelines.
• Anticipate concerns, manage expectations, and build trust by delivering what we say we will—on time and on spec.
• Document key decisions, surface tradeoffs, and ensure alignment at each stage.

Optimize Schedule Across Customer Projects

• Align production and resource planning with forecasted customer targets and project needs.
• Coordinate with engineering and service teams to ensure delivery timelines are achievable, adjusting proactively as demand shifts.
• Use available data to recommend scheduling strategies that balance efficiency, quality, and delivery timelines.

Develop Customer Quotations

• Partner with sales and engineering to develop and prepare customer‑requested quotations.
• Translate customer requirements into clear, accurate scope and pricing.
• Balance responsiveness to customer requests with the realities of scheduling, resourcing, and delivery.

Why WEM? Why Now?

WEM is in the midst of an exciting transformation—modernizing how we serve our customers while preserving the trust we've earned over decades. As Project Manager, you'll play a crucial role in ensuring that our systems are delivered with the same integrity, clarity, and excellence that define our brand.

If you're ready to step into a role where your structure, presence, and people sense can truly make a difference—let's talk.