Senior Program Manager - MES

Beacon Hill; North Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Beacon Hill is seeking a Sr. Program Manager to drive IT initiatives across manufacturing sites. This role requires hands-on leadership, coordinating roughly 20 stakeholders and balancing Quality, Operations, IT, and site functions.

The position is three days onsite in North Chicago, IL, with hybrid flexibility and a focus on delivering complex projects on time. The ideal candidate brings strong project planning, scheduling, and risk management skills, experience with MS Project and Office

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading medium-sized projects from planning through completion.
• Strong skills in project planning, scheduling, resource coordination, and risk management.
• Experience using Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, or comparable project management tools.
• Strong communication, organization, and leadership skills.
• Ability to drive accountability without direct authority.
• Comfortable taking ownership, challenging missed commitments, and escalating issues.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams in a hybrid, site-based environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the integrated project plan, including milestones, dependencies, resources, and effort estimates.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders and clarify ownership, timelines, and deliverables.
• Track project progress, risks, issues, decisions, and action items.
• Lead status meetings and provide clear project updates to leadership.
• Follow up consistently on commitments and address delays or resource constraints.
• Push back when deliverables are incomplete or deadlines are at risk.
• Escalate issues appropriately when additional support or decisions are needed.
• Maintain project documentation and support successful project execution through completion.

Skills

Project leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Organizational skills

Ownership without authority

Tools

Microsoft Project

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Our client is actively seeking a Sr. Program Manager to support their growing IT initiatives focused around their manufacturing sites.

This opportunity will be 3 days onsite in North Chicago, IL

Overview

• This person will develop and maintain the project plan, coordinate approximately 20 stakeholders, manage resources and dependencies, track risks, and drive deliverables through completion.
• The role requires a hands-on project leader who can work across Quality, Operations, Technical Operations, IT, and other site functions. Strong project management experience is more important than specific pharmaceutical, manufacturing, or system experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain the integrated project plan, including milestones, dependencies, resources, and effort estimates.
• Coordinate cross-functional stakeholders and clarify ownership, timelines, and deliverables.
• Track project progress, risks, issues, decisions, and action items.
• Lead status meetings and provide clear project updates to leadership.
• Follow up consistently on commitments and address delays or resource constraints.
• Push back when deliverables are incomplete or deadlines are at risk.
• Escalate issues appropriately when additional support or decisions are needed.
• Maintain project documentation and support successful project execution through completion.

Required Qualifications

• Significant experience leading medium-sized projects from planning through completion.
• Strong skills in project planning, scheduling, resource coordination, and risk management.
• Experience using Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint, or comparable project management tools.
• Strong communication, organization, and leadership skills.
• Ability to drive accountability without direct authority.
• Comfortable taking ownership, challenging missed commitments, and escalating issues.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams in a hybrid, site-based environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Pharmaceutical, GMP, regulated manufacturing, quality, validation, or site operations experience.
• Experience with MES, manufacturing systems, or technical implementation projects.
• PMP or comparable project management certification.
• Experience supporting cutovers or implementation activities.