ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THE POSITION

The Associate Project Manager (APM) is an early-career role on the Pharma Business Unit at Anderson Dahlen Inc. (ADI). The APM supports the Pharma Business Unit on active pharma and bioprocessing orders and manages the order stack from initiation through on-time completion.

A core part of the role is operationalizing ADI's customer rules of engagement with strategic enterprise accounts. The APM partners with the Pharma Account Manager to enforce disciplined intake, classify new requests and change orders into the agreed demand buckets, maintain the operating cadence (scorecards, status reports, change order logs), and protect on-time delivery and lead time commitments. The APM coordinates job flow across Sales, Engineering, Procurement, and Operations, and with external customers, consistent with ADI goals, budget, and customer satisfaction.

MAJOR AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

• Supports the business unit on coordinating and managing the customer order stack, including scheduling and tracking deliverables across engineering, procurement, manufacturing, and delivery.
• Buils and maintains project trackers, schedules, and dashboards in Microsoft Excel and the ERP system. Surfaces risks, bottlenecks, and schedule slippage early.
• Coodinates with Engineering, Procurement, and Operations to acquire materials, expedite items, and arrange subcontracting when needed.
• Communicates project status, milestones, scope alignment, and change orders to internal and external stakeholders.
• Executes ADI's customer rules of engagement for strategic enterprise accounts, including governance, escalation paths, and service-level commitments.
• Owns the intake discipline for new requests and change orders. Classifies into the agreed demand buckets and confirms lead times and commitments against the firm platform (the locked production schedule).
• Maintains the change order log, tracks variance against plan, and surfaces patterns that drive rework, indirect cost, or on-time delivery risk.
• Suports project financial tracking, surfaces budget variance early, and partners with the Pharma Account Manager on commercial implications of scope and schedule changes.
• Buidls and runs the operational cadence with strategic customers, including weekly and monthly scorecards, status reports, and review packs, in partnership with the Pharma Account Manager.
• Partners with the Pharma Account Manager on customer-facing touchpoints, escalations, and continuous improvement actions that support predictability, lead time reduction, and time-to-market.
• Suports customer interactions, including drawing approvals, change orders, FAT, and SAT coordination under the guidance of the Pharma Account Manager.
• Represents ADI to customers with honesty, integrity, and a professional demeanor.
• Maintains a positive attitude, asks questions, demonstrates curiosity, and has a strong desire to learn.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR ENTRY

• BS degree required in one of the following: Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Manufacturing Engineering, Business, or a closely related technical or business discipline.
• 0-2 years of experience. Recent graduates are strongly encouraged to apply. Internship or co-op experience in manufacturing, supply chain, operations, or project management preferred.
• Coursework, certifications, or demonstrated exposure to project management (e.g., CAPM, PMI coursework, CPIM/CSCP, capstone projects, or relevant academic work) preferred.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills required, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and basic data analysis. Will be evaluated as part of the interview.
• Basic ability to read engineering drawings.
• Exposure to ERP systems is a plus.
• Exposure to a manufacturing environment (welding, fabrication, or control panel manufacturing) is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including client-facing situations.
• Detail-oriented, organized, fast learner, and self-motivated. Comfortable juggling multiple priorities.
• Comfortable working onsite full-time in a manufacturing environment in Ramsey, MN.