Project Manager

Optimas; Wood Dale (IL); On-site; USD 100,600 - 111,400; Full time

Job summary

Optimas in Wood Dale, IL is seeking a Project Manager to lead strategic initiatives. You will collaborate with teams across various functions to enhance operational performance, improve customer experience, and drive cost efficiency. The role demands excellent project management skills, ensuring projects meet defined objectives while maintaining clear communication with stakeholders.

Ideal candidates will possess a Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of relevant experience, alongside strong organization, problem-solving, and communication skills. Join us to play a crucial role in executing initiatives that align with business priorities.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of project coordination or project management experience.
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred.
• Experience working in distribution, supply chain, manufacturing, or industrial environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned projects from initiation through implementation.
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans.
• Facilitate effective project governance through structured meetings.

Skills

Project management principles

Collaboration and relationship building

Effective meeting facilitation

Clear written and verbal communication

Problem solving and critical thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Information Systems

MBA or similar advanced degree

Tools

Smartsheet

Microsoft Project

Job description

Project Manager – Strategic Initiatives

Onsite: Wood Dale, IL

Salary: $100,600.00 - $111,400.00

Position Overview

The Project Manager is responsible for leading cross‑functional initiatives that support Optimas’ strategic priorities and operational objectives. This role partners closely with teams across Commercial, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, IT, and Continuous Improvement to successfully execute projects that enhance operational performance, improve customer experience and drive cost efficiency. This role ensures initiatives are delivered on schedule, within defined scope, and aligned with business expectations. The Project Manager plays a key role in initiative planning, execution, risk management and stakeholder communication while reinforcing PMO standards, tools and methodologies. The Project Manager collaborates with functional teams and PMO leadership to translate business needs into actionable project plans and provide clear visibility into project timelines, milestones, risks and overall health.

Key Responsibilities

• Initiative Execution & Delivery: Lead assigned projects from initiation through implementation, stabilization, and post‑launch support, ensuring successful delivery against defined objectives.
• Partner with functional stakeholders to clearly define project scope, objectives, timelines, deliverables and measurable success criteria.
• Develop and maintain visible detailed project plans including milestones, dependencies, and resource needs.
• Monitor project progress against plan, proactively identifying and mitigating risks, managing issues and addressing constraints to maintain momentum.
• Coordinate cross‑functional activities to ensure alignment on priorities, deliverables and timelines, adjusting plans as needed to meet evolving business needs.
• Stakeholder Communication & Alignment: Facilitate effective project governance through structured meetings such as design sessions, working sessions and executive status reviews; provide clear, consistent, and actionable project updates to stakeholders and PMO leadership, highlighting progress, risks, dependencies and decisions needed.
• Proactively escalates risks, scope changes, timeline impacts or resource constraints with recommended mitigation strategies.
• Build strong relationships across stakeholder groups to ensure alignment on project goals, priorities and delivery expectations.
• Project Intake & Planning Support: Support structured intake, prioritization and discovery processes to evaluate and define new project opportunities; assist in gathering and documenting business requirements, success metrics and high‑level solution approaches; partner with functional teams to confirm technical feasibility and resource availability; contribute to development of realistic project timelines, resource plans and implementation strategies aligned to business priorities.
• Risk & Issue Management: Identify, assess, and prioritize project risks, developing mitigation and contingency plans; drive issue resolution through collaboration with functional teams; communicate risk status, trends and mitigation progress to stakeholders and leadership; maintain and regularly update risk and issue logs.
• Implementation & Adoption Support: Support development of training materials, documentation, and process updates; develop and coordinate implementation or readiness activities; partner with business stakeholders to ensure smooth transition to operational ownership following go‑live; participate in post‑implementation reviews, capturing lessons learned and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.
• PMO Standards & Methodology: Apply established PMO standards, methodologies, templates and governance practices; maintain accurate and up‑to‑date project documentation; support PMO reporting and portfolio visibility processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Supply Chain, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field required; advanced degree (MBA or similar) is a plus.
• 5+ years of project coordination or project management experience.
• PMP or equivalent certification preferred, with demonstrated application of project management principles and methodologies.
• Proven experience working across business functions such as Supply Chain, Operations, Commercial, Finance, or IT.
• Experience working in distribution, supply chain, manufacturing, or industrial environments.
• Exposure to ERP, CRM, or other enterprise system implementations or enhancements.
• Experience with project management tools (Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or similar).

Core Competencies

• Strong organization and planning skills.
• Effective meeting facilitation.
• Clear written and verbal communication.
• Problem solving and critical thinking.
• Collaboration and relationship building.
• Time management and prioritization.
• Adaptability in fast‑paced environments.

Optimas OE Solutions provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Optimas OE Solutions complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. 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.