Strategic Programs Lead — Capital Projects (Remote-friendly)

Kraft Heinz; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 121,000 - 151,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance-based bonus

Healthcare benefits

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Kraft Heinz in Chicago seeks a Senior Manager, Strategic Programs to lead large, cross‑functional initiatives that drive growth, modernization, and operational excellence. You will define objectives, build integrated plans, manage risks, and report to executives with clear governance and milestones.

The role requires travel up to 50% and a strong background in engineering, program management, and stakeholder leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from an accredited engineering school or related field is required.
• 6+ years experience in engineering, project management, program management, and/or technical leadership across multiple sites.
• Demonstrated success in project and program management execution including requirements definition, scope, schedule, budget, governance, reporting, risk, dependency, resource planning, execution, monitoring/control, closeout, roadmap development, cross-workstream dependency management, and decision cadence.
• Familiarity with Agile, Scrum, or other iterative delivery methods is beneficial where applicable.
• Demonstrated leadership, communication, influence, critical thinking, problem-solving, relationship-building, executive communication, and business acumen.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex capital programs from requirements definition and conceptual design through execution, commissioning, vertical startup, and handover.
• Define program objectives, scope, budgets, schedules, success measures, and execution plans aligned to approved business cases.
• Develop integrated program roadmaps that sequence workstreams, milestones, dependencies, resources, and key decision points.
• Provide cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Finance, Operations, HR, Legal, R&D, EHS, FSQ, Procurement, and external partners.
• Align sponsors, functional leaders, and portfolio governance teams on program scope, trade-offs, priorities, risks, value realization, and escalation needs.
• Communicate program health, milestones, budget, risks, dependencies, decisions, and required leadership actions through clear, decision-oriented reporting.

Skills

Program management

Cross-functional leadership

Budgeting

Risk management

Stakeholder alignment

Agile/Scrum

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering

Tools

PMO tools

Job description

Kraft Heinz in Chicago seeks a Senior Manager, Strategic Programs to lead large, cross‑functional initiatives that drive growth, modernization, and operational excellence. You will define objectives, build integrated plans, manage risks, and report to executives with clear governance and milestones.

The role requires travel up to 50% and a strong background in engineering, program management, and stakeholder leadership.