Director Of Strategic Initiatives Jobs in Lancaster, PA

The Strategic Projects Manager leads CommunityAid’s most important strategic initiatives and ensures they move from concept to successful execution. This role manages a small number of high impact, mission critical projects while coordinating a broader portfolio of strategic initiatives across departments including IT, Innovation, Retail Operations, and organizational strategy.

This highly motivated, result driven individual collaborates closely with the CommunityAid Leadership Team (CLT), IT, and operations leaders to help translate strategic priorities into actionable initiatives that improve operational efficiency and support responsible growth across CommunityAid’s markets. The ultimate goal of this work is to increase CommunityAid’s ability to serve the community and expand its mission impact.

The Strategic Projects Manager is responsible for delivering strategic projects on time and within budget, ensuring initiatives produce measurable operational improvements, and aligning project execution with CommunityAid’s long term strategic objectives. The role also lays the groundwork for a lightweight Project Management Office (PMO) by developing standards, templates, and reporting structures that improve how projects are defined, prioritized, and executed.

The role also supports strategic deployment by developing portfolio and capacity planning tools that align initiatives with organizational resources. In collaboration with internal communications, this role ensures the strategic plan is communicated and executed effectively across the organization.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: 

1. Strategic Project Leadership 

Lead the planning and execution of CommunityAid’s most important strategic initiatives. These projects are often complex, highly visible, and critical to the organization’s long term growth and operational capabilities. Success in this role requires navigating ambiguity, aligning diverse stakeholders, and building clarity and momentum as projects evolve. This involves moving from concept to successful implementation while maintaining strong alignment with leadership priorities, operational capacity, and organizational impact.

• Lead 2–4 major strategic initiatives from concept through execution and adoption
• Bring structure to ambiguous work by defining scope, milestones, and accountability
• Align senior leaders and cross functional teams to maintain focus and momentum
• Identify and resolve risks, barriers, and competing priorities
• Manage vendors and external partners as needed
• Provide clear, concise executive updates on progress, risks, and key decisions
• Ensure initiatives deliver measurable operational, growth, or mission impact

1. Portfolio Coordination

Support visibility and coordination across CommunityAid’s broader project portfolio.

• Track progress across strategic initiatives and annual objectives
• Create portfolio dashboards and reporting for leadership
• Identify resource conflicts across departments
• Support prioritization discussions with leadership
• Maintain visibility into key milestones across the strategic plan

1. PMO Development

Establish foundational project management practices that improve organizational execution. 

• Develop standardized project charters, templates, and planning tools
• Improve consistency in how projects are defined and launched
• Manage and refine project workflows within Monday.com
• Build simple reporting frameworks for project status and risk management
• Introduce practical tools that make project execution easier for teams
• Serve as an organizational resource for project management best practices
• Coach and support team members across the organization who are leading projects, helping them plan, structure, and execute initiatives effectively

1. Strategic Deployment Support

Help translate strategy into coordinated execution.

• Support the annual strategic planning process
• Assist in translating strategic priorities into project roadmaps
• Help develop capacity planning and initiative tracking frameworks
• Coordinate communication of strategic initiatives across teams
• Support the strategic catch ball process used to refine initiatives

CORE COMPETENCIES:

• Embraces, exemplifies, and endorses CommunityAid’s 12 Core Behaviors
• Embraces CommunityAid’s Mission
• Thorough understanding of project management
• Strong business acumen
• Excellent data analysis capabilities
• Excellent organizational skills; attention to accuracy and detail
• Excellent decision making and problem solving skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strategically minded, open to new ideas on how to run and manage a complex, retail environment

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in business, analytics, or a related field preferred
• 5–7 years of direct project management experience, ideally including largescale, cross functional, multistakeholder initiatives
• 2–3 years in a senior project manager or lead capacity with experience managing stakeholders at the Director/VP level
• Exposure to PMO design or process building strongly preferred
• PMP certification preferred
• Lean or Six Sigma certificate preferred
• Experience implementing operational or technology projects preferred
• Strong ability to organize complex work, bring structure to ambiguity, and drive initiatives to completion across multiple departments
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to synthesize information and communicate clearly with executive leadership
• Comfortable working across multiple technologies with strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office (especially Excel) and project management tools
• Familiarity with business operations, including exposure to supply chain or financial planning concepts

Work Environment

• Hybrid work environment
• Work from home with 1–3 days per week in office
• Occasional travel to CommunityAid locations as needed