Sr. Project Manager

First Quality; Defiance (OH); On-site; USD 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Bonus opportunities

Paid time off

Medical, dental and vision on day one

401(k) with employer match

Paid parental leave

Dependent care FSA with employer match

Diapers benefit

Tuition assistance

Wellness program

Job summary

First Quality Tissue Division in Defiance, Ohio is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead a state-of-the-art tissue manufacturing complex. You will manage scope, procurement, and construction, ensuring safety, quality, and on-time delivery while coordinating with Engineering, Procurement, and Operations teams.

Ideal candidates bring 15+ years of project leadership on large manufacturing builds, knowledge of paper production processes, and strong communication and leadership skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field required.
• 15+ years of project management experience.
• Experience leading large greenfield manufacturing projects (≥$75M).
• Knowledge of construction, engineering, and paper production processes.
• Experience with Lump Sum and Unit Rate contracting.
• Strong project controls knowledge and reporting.
• Safety-focused and ethics-driven.
• Excellent verbal and written communication, and interpersonal skills.

Responsibilities

• Oversee scope definition, design deliverables prioritization, constructability reviews and close-out documentation.
• Coordinate interface between Engineering and Procurement for equipment and bulk materials.
• Lead procurement of construction contracts, RFPs, bids, and awards.
• Manage vendors/contractors and their deliverables.
• Direct project team, staffing, HR issues, and performance development.
• Ensure site safety program is implemented and continuously improved.
• Maintain quality program and apply lessons learned to future projects.
• Oversee installation turnover to Operations and support start-up.
• Lead scheduling, budgeting, cost management, forecasting, and status reporting.
• Provide regular project updates to senior leadership and align with production leadership.

Skills

Project management

Construction management

Safety mindset

Communication skills

Interpersonal skills

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field

Job description

Founded over 35 years ago, First Quality is a family-owned company that has grown from a small business in McElhattan, Pennsylvania into a group of companies, employing over 5,000 team members, while maintaining our family values and entrepreneurial spirit. With corporate offices in New York and Pennsylvania and 8 manufacturing campuses across the U.S. and Canada, the companies within the First Quality group produce high-quality personal care and household products for large retailers and healthcare organizations. Our personal care and household product portfolio includes baby diapers, wipes, feminine pads, paper towels, bath tissue, adult incontinence products, laundry detergents, fabric finishers, and dishwash solutions. In addition, we manufacture certain raw materials and components used in the manufacturing of these products, including flexible print and packaging solutions.

Guided by our values of humility, unity, and integrity, we leverage advanced technology and innovation to drive growth and create new opportunities. At First Quality, you’ll find a collaborative environment focused on continuous learning, professional development, and our mission to Make Things Better®.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager for our First Quality Tissue Division located in Defiance, Ohio, site for a new state-of the art tissue manufacturing complex.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Overall management inclusive of services scope definition, design deliverables prioritization, constructability, reviews and approvals, engaging end-users, ensuring complete close-out documentation, administration of agreement terms and conditions.
• Manage and coordinate interface between Engineering and Division Procurement for the purchase of equipment and bulk materials.
• Manage construction contract procurement by the Project Team inclusive of RFP preparation, bid process, post bid verification and award recommendation.
• Responsible and accountable for all contracted vendors/contractors and their deliverables.
• Overall management of Project Team personnel, ramp-up and down of third party personnel, recruitment as necessary, administration of HR related issues.
• Provides direction, supervision and development to all direct reports, ensures that all project team members receive clear direction, feedback and development
• Overall responsibility for Construction Site Safety inclusive of program enhancements, implementation and enforcement.
• Overall management of the Quality program ensuring incorporation of previous projects lessons learned, ensuring quality is built-in from the beginning and continuous improvement in processes to meet the high standards of First Quality.
• Overall management of the Construction Check-Out process inclusive of system boundaries definition, flushing, testing and complete check-out with required documentation.
• Ensure a complete installation is turned over to Operations in a sequential manner to support Operational Check-Out and Start-Up.
• Schedule - Overall management of planning, scheduling and progress measurement processes for all project phases.
• Cost - Overall management of estimating/budgeting, value engineering, cost management, change control, forecasting and reporting processes
• Project Controls processes and tools shall ensure accurate project status communication and timely completions to support end-user requirements.
• Reports regularly to senior leadership on project status and works closely with production leadership to ensure accurate installation and application.

Action Oriented – Takes an enthusiastic approach to the job, is energetic and action oriented for the role’s challenges, demonstrates insight, courage and a bias for decisiveness, recognizes and acts upon opportunities when they arise.

Approachability – Is approachable and amiable, invests the extra effort to put others at ease, can be warm, pleasant, and gracious. Is sensitive to and patient with the interpersonal anxieties of others, builds rapport, listens actively, is an early knower, working with informal and incomplete information in time to take appropriate action.

Compassion – Genuinely cares about people, conveys sincere concern, is available and ready to help, empathetic to employees and their situations.

Customer Focus – Understands and responds to the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; effectively mines for data and information and uses it for improvements in products, services and delivery; develops trust and influence in all relationships.

Ethics & Values – Projects and practices the highest level of propriety and serves as a model of ethics and integrity. Demonstrates and promotes the Company’s core values and principles at all times, acts in line with those values, appropriately addresses employee behaviors at all levels, through reward, recognition and corrective action.

Hiring and Staffing – Possesses an intuitive eye for talent; hires the most qualified internal and external candidates; willing to select strong people; assembles talented staffs.

Integrity and Trust – Builds credibility and trust across the business; recognized as direct and truthful; constructively represents the truth; able to maintain confidences; acknowledges mistakes and presents him/herself openly and serves as a conscience to the organization.

Interpersonal Savvy - Relates well across the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships; uses diplomacy and tact; can diffuse even high-tension situations comfortably. Recognizes and acts appropriately.

Managerial Courage – In serving as a conscience to the organization, has the appropriate insight and timing to speak and act when and where situations require. Provides constructive and effective feedback at all levels, especially to leadership. Ensures the work environment is respectful, constructive and motivational. Willing to confront unacceptable behaviors at all levels.

Relationship with Peers – Takes a 360 perspective in problem solving, can represent his/her own interests and yet be fair to other groups, can solve problems with peers constructively, is seen as a team player and is cooperative, gains trust and support of peers, encourages collaboration, delivers feedback candidly.

The ideal candidate should possess the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field.
• Project Management experience with 15+ years of successful expertise.
• Large greenfield project experience, including experience leading at least $75M+ manufacturing projects; experience with campus builds (multiple buildings) preferred
• Vast construction and engineering knowledge
• Pulp and paper industry experience preferred
• Core belief in site Safety.
• Previous experience with both Lump Sum and Unit Rate contacting.
• Solid Project Controls knowledge.
• Knowledge of paper production equipment and processes.
• Deep domain with project and construction management.
• Advanced verbal and written communication and presentation skills.
• Superior interpersonal skills.
• Ability to keep sensitive information confidential.

What We Offer You

We believe that by continuously improving the quality of our benefits, we can help to raise the quality of life for our team members and their families. At First Quality you will receive:

• Competitive base salary and bonus opportunities
• Paid time off (three-week minimum)
• Medical, dental and vision starting day one
• 401(k) with employer match
• Paid parental leave
• Child and family care assistance (dependent care FSA with employer match up to $2500)
• Bundle of joy benefit (year's worth of free diapers to all team members with a new baby)
• Tuition assistance
• Wellness program with savings of up to $4,000 per year on insurance premiums