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Project Manager, Pre-commercialization

Kinder's

Responsibilities

  • help build confidence that great ideas can become great products - ones that meet Kinder's
  • Working closely with the Senior Pre-Commercialization Project Manager,
  • guide innovation projects through discovery, feasibility, validation, and development.

bring the right people and information together, ask

  • that need to be answered, and connect the dots across functions to help teams make informed decisions and keep projects moving forward.
  • Pre-Commercialization is an exciting and critical step in bringing Kinder's innovation to life - where we build confidence in whether an opportunity is worth pursuing, whether we can create a product that meets our high standards and consumers' expectations, and whether we have the capabilities to successfully bring it to market. This role requires a balance of structure and agility: applying rigor where it adds value, adapting as we learn, and
  • Guide Innovation Through Pre-Commercialization
  • Manage a portfolio of innovation projects through discovery, feasibility, validation, and development.
  • Bring cross-functional teams together to clarify

objectives

  • Proactively seek out information, surface gaps, and connect inputs across functions to develop a clear and cohesive picture of each opportunity.
  • Maintain momentum by driving actions, decisions, and accountability while adapting as
  • new information

You'll

high standards, delight our consumers, and can be successfully brought to market.

You'll

the questions maintaining a bias toward action.

You'll

own portfolio-level PMO analytics across all pre-commercialization projects, translating project data into clear insights that improve visibility, prioritization, resource planning, and decision-making.

You'll

partner closely with Culinary, Innovation, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance, and Commercialization to help turn promising ideas into products we're proud to put the Kinder's name on.

What You'll Be Doing

, answer critical questions, and determine what is needed to move opportunities forward.

and learnings

emerge

Guide Readiness and Feasibility

  • Guide cross-functional teams in evaluating the relevant feasibility considerations for each opportunity, including culinary, technical, operational, supply chain, financial, and commercial needs.
  • Ensure teams have the information needed to determine whether concepts can deliver against Kinder's standards and consumer expectations while being viable to commercialize.
  • Identify and clarify key risks, assumptions, dependencies, capabilities, and open questions that need to be addressed.
  • Help teams synthesize information and navigate trade-offs to support thoughtful, timely decisions.

Drive Project Planning and Cross-Functional Alignment

  • Develop and maintain clear project plans in Wrike, including key deliverables, milestones, decisions, risks, and ownership.
  • Lead project meetings, feasibility reviews, and cross-functional alignment sessions that drive decisions and action.
  • Communicate project status, decisions, risks, and next steps clearly across teams.
  • Proactively work through roadblocks and ensure stakeholders understand what's needed to keep projects moving.
  • Facilitate effective handoff to Commercialization Project Managers with clear alignment and documentation of key decisions, assumptions, and requirements.

Own Portfolio Analytics and PMO Reporting

Own and maintain PMO analytics across all pre-commercialization projects, providing a consistent and accurate view of portfolio health, stage, timelines, milestones, risks, dependencies, decisions, and resource needs.

Develop and maintain portfolio dashboards, reports, and key performance indicators in Wrike and related tools to identify trends, bottlenecks, capacity constraints, and opportunities for improvement.

Analyze project and portfolio data and translate it into actionable insights and recommendations that support leadership decisions, project prioritization, resource allocation, and timely escalation.

Establish clear data standards and reporting cadences, and partner with project owners to ensure portfolio information is complete, current, and reliable.