Project Manager (Experience with New Product Introduction / Manufacturing)

Overview
The Project Manager (Cross-Functional Initiatives) is the company's execution engine for strategic projects that span multiple departments. This role exists because important work stalls when there is no one accountable for keeping it moving. NPI launches miss deadlines, marketplace expansion timelines slip, and operational improvement initiatives lose ---------- ntum when departments coordinate informally and no one owns the timeline. This role fixes that.

The scope is deliberately broad. Any initiative that requires synchronized action across Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Finance, IT, Customer Service, or Leadership is in scope. The PM is not a participant in these projects — they are the driver. They build the plan, assign the owners, track the commitments, surface the risks, and keep leadership informed at every stage.



This role reports directly to the CEO and carries executive-level visibility into every active initiative. That proximity requires a high standard of communication, judgment, and professional maturity. The PM operates with access to the full breadth of the organization and is expected to use that access to keep projects on track — not to expand authority beyond project scope.



Starbond is actively launching new products, expanding into new retail channels, and building the internal management infrastructure needed to scale. The Project Manager is the function that ensures those initiatives land.



Core Responsibilities

This role owns five interconnected responsibility areas. They are not sequential — they run in parallel across the project portfolio at all times.

Project Planning & Execution

Build plans that can be held accountable.

For every project in scope, develop a project charter that defines the objective, the scope boundaries, the named owner for each deliverable, the timeline with milestones, and the success metrics. A plan without named owners and specific dates is not a plan — it is a wish list. The PM builds plans that can be tracked and enforced.

Drive end-to-end delivery.

Own the project from kickoff through post-launch review. That means running the planning sessions, maintaining the ClickUp workspace for each initiative, tracking progress daily, flagging risks before they become failures, and closing the project with a documented outcome and lessons learned.

Maintain schedule integrity.

Projects at Starbond fail at the handoff between departments. The PM's job is to make those handoffs visible, tracked, and enforced. When a deliverable is due from Supply Chain to Marketing, both parties know the date, both parties know what they owe each other, and the PM knows the status — before the due date arrives.



Cross-Functional Coordination

Serve as the central coordination point.

For every active initiative, the PM is the person who understands the full picture — what every department owes, what every department is waiting on, and where the critical path runs. Departments should never have to coordinate directly on project logistics when a PM is assigned. That friction is the PM's job to absorb.

Drive accountability across department lines.

Track every commitment made in project meetings. Follow up before deadlines arrive, not after they pass. When a department falls behind, the PM addresses it directly — first with the responsible team lead, then with escalation to the CEO if the block cannot be resolved at the working level. Accountability is not enforced through pressure; it is enforced through visibility and structured follow-through.



New Product Introduction (NPI) & Launch Management

Own the NPI project lifecycle.

NPI launches are the highest-stakes recurring projects in the organization. The PM owns the cross-functional timeline for every active launch — coordinating between Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, and Leadership to ensure that launch readiness milestones are hit and that no stakeholder is caught off guard at go-live.

Track dependencies, not just tasks.

NPI failures are almost never caused by a one missed task — they are caused by a missed dependency that cascades into three others. The PM maps the dependency chain at the start of every NPI project and tracks it throughout. When a supplier delay is going to push a Marketing readiness date, the PM surfaces that connection immediately.



Risk Management & Reporting

Identify risks before they become failures.

The PM is responsible for maintaining a live risk log for every active project. Risks are documented, assigned a likelihood and impact rating, and given a named mitigation owner. A risk that appears in a post-mortem without appearing in the risk log first is a PM oversight.

Prepare leadership-ready reporting.

Executive project updates are concise, accurate, and structured around decisions — not descriptions. When the PM presents a project status to the CEO, leadership should leave the meeting knowing exactly where each project stands, what is at risk, and what they need to do. The PM prepares that briefing, not the department leads.



Process & Systems Ownership

Build the project infrastructure, not just the projects.

Over time, the PM develops standardized templates, workflows, and ClickUp structures that make project startup faster and execution more consistent. Each project the PM runs should be slightly more structured than the last — feeding back improvements into the system rather than reinventing from scratch.

Conduct post-project reviews.

Every completed project closes with a documented review: what was delivered, what was late, what caused the variance, and what should be done differently next time. These reviews are submitted to the CEO and become the input for continuous improvement of the PM function.



Candidate Profile

1. Proven cross-functional PM execution: 3+ years managing projects that required synchronized delivery across multiple departments — not just task coordination within a single team. Has owned timelines, milestone accountability, and leadership reporting on initiatives of genuine organizational consequence. Can produce examples of projects managed end-to-end with measurable outcomes.

2. NPI or operational launch experience: Has managed at least one New Product Introduction, marketplace expansion, or operational implementation project. Understands the dependency chain between Supply Chain, Operations, and Marketing in a product launch context — and has navigated it under real deadline pressure.

3. ClickUp or equivalent platform fluency: Hands-on experience building and managing project workspaces in ClickUp, Asana, ---------- , or a comparable platform. Can build a project architecture from scratch — not just update tasks in an existing system someone else configured.

4. Executive-level communication: Written and verbal communication at a standard suitable for direct interaction with a CEO. Delivers crisp status updates, structured escalations, and concise recommendations. Does not bury risk in dense narrative. Has worked in an environment where leadership expected proactive, clear reporting — not just responsive answers to questions.

5. Judgment and operational independence: Can operate without a project management playbook handed to them. Knows when to push through a decision independently and when to escalate. Understands the difference between a problem that needs solving and a decision that needs an executive. Does not require daily direction to maintain project ---------- ntum.