Senior Project and Portfolio Manager
Applegate, a division of Hormel Foods Corporation, is a global branded food company with approximately $12 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries. Its brands include Planters®, Skippy®, SPAM®, Hormel® Natural Choice®, Applegate®, Wholly®, Hormel® Black Label®, Columbus®, Jennie-O®, and more. The company is recognized for corporate responsibility, community service, and inclusion.
About the role
The Senior Project & Portfolio Manager leads the end-to-end delivery of all Emerging Brands (Applegate & Columbus) projects under the direction of the VP, Brand Equity & Innovation. This role oversees a team of project managers, ensuring strong execution, portfolio transparency, and cross-functional alignment. The Senior Manager also manages the Governance Committee (Stage Gate), maintains the Project Portfolio, tracks resourcing, and drives continuous improvement in project management processes and tools.
Responsibilities
- Ensure the PM team delivers consistent, high-quality project management execution across all Emerging Brands initiatives.
- Oversee project planning activities, including requirements gathering, stakeholder alignment, deliverable definition, timeline creation, and progress accountability.
- Ensure robust scoping, feasibility assessment, and documentation—including business requirements, project plans, risk assessments, communication plans, and performance metrics.
- Ensure PM teams proactively identify risks, resolve issues, and escalate appropriately to senior leadership.
- Maintain up-to-date and accurate project documentation, including timelines, scope documents, and notes.
- Drive continuous improvement by capturing and implementing lessons learned and new ways of working throughout project lifecycles.
- Establish, maintain, and improve project management systems, tools, and dashboards to enhance execution and reporting accuracy.
- Maintain an accurate and current Project Portfolio through Asana and Compass, including project status, financial data, and pipeline details.
- Coordinate with Brand Management Innovation lead and IBP lead to ensure 3-year pipelines are up-to-date and consistently represented across the organization.
- Prepare for and lead monthly Governance Committee meetings, including Business Case review, agenda preparation, approval facilitation, and communication of decisions and outcomes.
- Partner with Senior Leadership & IBP Lead to evaluate business priorities and short- and long-term initiatives, ensuring effective resource allocation across programs.
- Provide recommendations based on portfolio insights, capacity constraints, risk profiles, and organizational goals to support sound decision-making and sustained portfolio health.
- Input into the PMR step within the IBP process by coordinating information collection and organizing it into structured updates for leadership review.
- Support staff development by assessing skills and capabilities, building training and development plans, coaching and mentoring team members, and fostering a culture of excellence.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree.
- 10+ years of experience managing Product Development Projects in the CPG industry.
- Broad knowledge of the food industry; meat industry experience preferred.
- 5+ years of experience managing Project Portfolios.
- Demonstrated experience in process improvement and change management.
- Strong leadership presence; able to present complex or sensitive situations with credibility and clarity, and drive decisions.
- Ability to adjust content and messaging to audience (technical vs. executive).
- Team leadership experience.
- Excellent attention to detail, follow-through, and execution skills.
- Strong communication skills (both written and verbal), negotiating, and conflict resolution skills.
- Excellent organizational skills, ability to prioritize demands, and multitask to complete objectives.
- Ability to maintain professional, respectful relationships with external vendors, suppliers, and partners.
- Experience navigating government regulatory requirements.
- Solid technical knowledge; able to lead and direct others in solving complex technical problems.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook); experience with Asana a plus.
- Must be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship now or in the future.
Pay
The base hiring pay range for this role is between $113,500 - $158,900 per year. Actual base pay will depend on job-related knowledge, skill set, level of experience, and geographic market location.
Benefits
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Discretionary annual merit increases, bonuses, and profit sharing.
- 401(k) with employer match.
- Stock purchase plan.
- Paid time off.
- Free two-year community/technical college tuition for children of employees.
Schedule
Travel required 10% of the time.
A comprehensive relocation package to the Bedminster, NJ area will be offered, if required.