The Role
The Project Manager leads the planning, coordination, and follow through of priority projects assigned by the CEO across American Trade Group businesses. This person turns decisions into clear plans, keeps owners and deadlines visible, identifies obstacles early, and drives work to completion. The role works closely with leaders in manufacturing, operations, finance, sales, HR, IT, and other functions. It requires sound judgment, direct communication, and the ability to maintain momentum in a fast-moving environment. This full-time position reports to the Chief Executive Officer and is based in the Bryan / College Station area, Texas, with travel to company locations as needed.
What You'll Do
- Build and maintain a companywide view of CEO sponsored projects, including scope, priorities, owners, milestones, dependencies, budgets when applicable, decisions, and due dates.
- Lead priority projects from initiation through implementation and closeout, including capital, operational improvement, systems, process, and strategic initiatives.
- Create practical project plans with measurable deliverables; clarify who is responsible for each step and confirm realistic timelines with the people doing the work.
- Partner with the CEO and functional leaders to define project goals, scope, success measures, budgets, and implementation readiness.
- Lead project meetings, document decisions and action items, follow up with owners, and hold stakeholders accountable for commitments and timely updates.
- Monitor progress and project risks; resolve routine obstacles with the appropriate leaders and promptly elevate decisions, resource constraints, or missed commitments to the CEO.
- Track progress against scope, schedule, budget, and expected business outcomes, with clear visibility into resource needs and dependencies.
- Provide concise, accurate updates to the CEO that show status, upcoming milestones, decisions needed, and the impact of delays.
- Coordinate work across departments and company entities while keeping project goals aligned with operational capacity, customer needs, and business priorities.
- Coordinate vendors and contractors for project-related work, including equipment installations, system implementations, and process changes.
- Ensure project plans account for safety, regulatory, environmental, operational continuity, and customer commitments.
- Support project selection and prioritization by helping leadership evaluate business value, urgency, resource needs, and readiness to execute.
- Help leaders establish repeatable project tracking and communication practices; close projects with documented outcomes and lessons learned.
- CEO priorities are translated into clear projects with agreed owners, deliverables, and achievable dates.
- Leadership has clear visibility into active and proposed projects, including status, risks, resource needs, and decisions required.
- Leaders receive timely follow up, and risks or missed deadlines are surfaced early with options for resolution.
- Projects move forward across teams, decisions are documented, and completed work delivers the intended business outcome.
- Priority projects are delivered on time and within approved budgets, with operational or financial benefits realized.
- Simple, repeatable project management practices are adopted across the company, making execution more predictable and less disruptive to operations.
Who You Are
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, operations, project management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
- At least 3 years of progressively responsible experience managing complex projects involving multiple departments; experience in manufacturing, distribution, construction, transportation, or a related environment preferred.
- Experience with capital projects, plant improvements, ERP or systems implementations, continuous improvement, or operations transformation preferred.
- PMP or comparable project management certification preferred, or commitment to pursue certification after hire.
- Experience building practical project management practices in an organization without a formal PMO is a plus.
Skills & Competencies
- Demonstrated ability to build project plans, manage competing priorities, track milestones and risks, and deliver results through people who do not report directly to the position.
- Strong working knowledge of project planning, scheduling, budgeting, risk management, status reporting, and practical project management methods.
- Strong written and verbal communication, business judgment, organization, and confidence working directly with senior leaders.
- Proficiency with spreadsheets, presentation tools, and project tracking software; ability to present clear status reporting and meaningful project measures.
