Project Manager Startup Jobs in Chicago, IL (NOW HIRING)

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This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or support for work authorization. Now Hiring: Project Manager

CJ Logistics America is seeking a Project Manager to lead complex, cross‑functional projects that drive business growth and operational excellence. In this role, you will focus heavily on onboarding and integrating processes for new enterprise customers, managing the startup of new operations, and driving Continuous Improvement (CI) methodologies to optimize workflows. This role bridges the gap between engineering, technology, operations, and the customer to ensure flawless project execution on time and within budget.

Why You’ll Love This Role:

• Culture: You’ll work with a team that values collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Impact: Every day presents new opportunities to grow, lead, and make an impact.
• Salary: Your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The salary range is between $103,300 and $105,000.
• Schedule: Ability to work a flexible schedule to support deadlines or cross‑functional collaboration; typically your schedule will be 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
• Location: This position works a hybrid (in person 4 days a week and 1 day remote). You’ll also have the opportunity to travel throughout the country supporting our start‑ups and logistics centers.

What You’ll Do:

You will spend your time in a hybrid environment—balancing office tasks with active, hands‑on leadership directly out in our warehouses.

• End-to-End Project Management: Lead projects from scoping through execution, document customer business requirements, and complete comprehensive in/out-of-scope assessments.
• Project Governance: Coordinate meetings, critically evaluate operational solutions, and maintain project planning tools related to timelines, schedules, milestones, and action items.
• Executive Communications: Drive proactive communication of roadblocks, risks, and activities with a weekly executive summary and report outs on key metrics.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with cross‑functional corporate resources to ensure projects successfully meet internal and external customer expectations.
• Risk & Readiness Assessment: Continually perform risk assessments and lead operational readiness planning to validate protocols, identify gaps, and implement data‑driven solutions.
• Launch & Startup Metrics: Create and support the tracking of operational metrics and KPIs for startup success measures, supporting local operations to drive results.
• Continuous Improvement: Evaluate operational performance and execute basic CI/Lean projects to optimize facility processes, align to the company operation system, and eliminate waste.
• Process Enhancement: Partner with operations during critical phases and conduct post‑mortems to document lessons learned, continually enhancing project playbooks.

What You Bring to the Table:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in logistics, supply chain management, operations, project management, or another relevant degree.
• Experience: Minimum of 3 years of previous experience in Logistics, Warehousing, Transportation, Project Management, or implementation of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).
• Leadership & Interpersonal Savvy: Demonstrated project management skills, strong leadership ability, and excellent interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills.
• Customer Focus: Strong customer interaction capabilities with a customer‑focused mindset.
• Flexibility & Travel: Self‑directed capability to prioritize tasks, manage risks, and availability to travel up to 50% (with higher frequency during go‑live phases).
• WMS & Computer Literacy: Proficiency with computers and warehouse management systems (WMS); experience in food‑grade or healthcare environments is a plus.
• Physical Capability: Ability to sit for prolonged periods, use standard office equipment, and work within warehouse environments containing varying temperatures, loud noises, concrete floors, dust, and industrial vehicle traffic while wearing required PPE (steel‑toed shoes, safety glasses, high‑visibility vests).

What’s In It for You:

• Regional Impact: Drive the execution of enterprise customer integrations and operational excellence across multiple facilities.
• Stable Career: This is a Salary, Exempt corporate role within our PMO division.
• Inclusive Environment: Join an Equal Opportunity Employer that relies on diverse skills, backgrounds, and perspectives to drive innovation and growth.
• Supportive Culture: We are fully committed to providing reasonable accommodations to ensure all employees can perform their essential functions successfully.

Ready to lead our complex projects and drive operational excellence? Apply today!

At CJ Logistics America, we know that we do our best work when we have an inclusive and diverse team, where we can draw on our different life experiences to help us deliver innovative solutions for our customers. We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity, equity, and an inclusive workplace. We encourage applicants who might not meet every single requirement to apply.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are an Equal Employment Opportunity and affirmative action employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type unrelated to qualifications for the position. CJ Logistics participates in the E‑Verify program in certain locations.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.