Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Paleovalley and Wild Pastures are mission-driven food companies focused on nourishing products, regenerative practices, and improving the food system. The Senior Commercialization Project Manager leads cross-functional initiatives that turn approved product ideas into launch-ready products, owning commercialization plans, StageGate governance, portfolio visibility, risk management, and process improvements.
Responsibilities
- Lead complex, cross-functional commercialization initiatives for new products, product updates, packaging changes, and other innovation projects from approved concept through launch and closeout
- Own integrated commercialization plans for each project, including master timelines, milestones, critical paths, dependencies, owners, risk profiles, and launch-readiness requirements
- Own and continuously strengthen StageGate governance and cadence across the commercialization portfolio, ensuring required information, milestones, functional approvals, and decisions are in place before projects advance
- Serve as a commercialization subject-matter resource and trusted partner to functional leaders, providing structure, guidance, and recommendations on complex project and process challenges
- Facilitate commercialization and StageGate meetings, driving clear decisions, accountability, follow-through, and timely escalation across cross-functional stakeholders
- Coordinate launch readiness across Product Development, manufacturing, inventory, packaging procurement, Quality & Regulatory, eCommerce, Customer Service, Marketing, Finance, and other functions while teams retain ownership of their respective work
- Partner closely with Marketing Operations to align commercialization plans with the marketing launch plan, calendar, inventory readiness, creative dependencies, and launch timing
- Maintain project risk registers and proactively assess complex risks, blockers, resource constraints, and trade-offs, independently driving resolution where appropriate and escalating material business decisions when needed
- Evaluate cross-functional inputs and recommend whether projects should continue, pause, be re-scoped, postponed, accelerated, or reconsidered based on commercialization viability and business impact
- Maintain portfolio-level visibility across commercialization initiatives, providing leadership with clear, decision-ready insights into project health, progress, risks, resource constraints, dependencies, and opportunities to reprioritize work
- Drive go/no-go readiness by ensuring leaders and functional owners have the appropriate information, recommendations, approvals, and risk visibility required to make sound decisions
- Identify and implement improvements to commercialization systems, workflows, StageGate criteria, templates, governance practices, and cross-functional ways of working to improve speed, clarity, and execution reliability
- Lead commercialization retrospectives and translate lessons learned into scalable process improvements across future projects and the broader innovation portfolio
Skills
- 6+ years of progressive experience in project management, commercialization, new product development, product launch, or a related function, including independently leading complex cross-functional initiatives
- Demonstrated experience leading significant projects or programs with multiple functions, senior stakeholders, concurrent workstreams, competing priorities, and substantial business impact
- Strong experience building and managing integrated project plans, critical paths, risk registers, dependencies, decision points, and executive-level status reporting
- Experience owning or significantly contributing to structured commercialization, new product development, or StageGate processes
- Demonstrated ability to operate with substantial autonomy, navigate ambiguity, and independently resolve complex project and cross-functional challenges
- Strong business judgment and analytical thinking, with the ability to evaluate cross-functional inputs, assess implications and trade-offs, and provide clear recommendations to leadership
- Strong ability to influence decisions, create accountability, challenge assumptions, and move work forward across teams and senior stakeholders without direct reporting authority
- Excellent facilitation and communication skills, with the ability to distill complex information into clear risks, options, recommendations, and decisions for leaders and cross-functional teams
- Demonstrated ability to identify and implement process improvements that strengthen project execution, governance, and organizational effectiveness
- Proficiency with project management and collaboration tools such as Monday.com, Google Workspace, or similar platforms
- All applicants must be authorized to work in the United States
- Candidates must reside and work in one of the following states due to tax and compliance requirements: AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, LA, MD, MO, NC, NJ, NV, NY, OH, TX, VA, WA, WI, or WY
- Bachelor's degree in business, project management, operations, supply chain, or a related field preferred
- Additional relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a degree
- Experience leading commercialization or new product launches within CPG, food and beverage, supplements, natural products, or another regulated consumer-products environment
- Experience serving as a commercialization, StageGate, PMO, or project-management subject-matter resource
- Familiarity with product development, packaging, manufacturing, supply chain, Quality & Regulatory, eCommerce, and consumer product launch processes
- Experience designing or significantly improving StageGate, commercialization governance, portfolio-management, or cross-functional project-management processes
- PMP or other relevant project/program management certification
- A passion for real food, wellness, sustainability, regenerative agriculture, or nutrient-dense nutrition
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage with 100% employer-paid dental/vision and a small monthly medical premium for employees; dependents may be added at employee cost
- Generous Paid time off to support balance and rest
- Paid sick time for when you need it
- Six (6) paid holidays each year
- Paid parental leave for growing families
- 100% company-paid Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, and Life Insurance
- 401(k) with up to a 4% company match after one year of service
- Monthly product stipend or access to perfectly imperfect damaged product so you can enjoy the nutrient-dense foods you help bring to others
Company Overview