Your Opportunity as the Project Lead, Marketing Operations and Information Services
The Project Lead for Marketing Operations & Information Systems plays a critical role in keeping the work of the Marketing Operations (MOPS) team moving forward. This role is responsible for leading medium and large initiatives while also overseeing the day‑to‑day operational flow of work across the team.
This person acts as the connective tissue across workstreams—making sure priorities are clear, progress is visible, issues are surfaced early, and commitments turn into follow‑through. They keep the Senior Manager, Marketing Operations & IS informed of what’s happening across the portfolio, escalate risks and blockers when needed, and help hold the team accountable to forward momentum.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys running the “engine” of a team: coordinating work, anticipating friction, bringing structure to complexity, and helping others do their best work—so leadership can stay focused on strategy and long‑term direction.
The Project Lead reports directly to the Senior Manager, Marketing Operations & IS and partners closely with team members, business stakeholders, and external vendors.
Location: Orrville, OH (Close proximity to Cleveland/Akron)
Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires
In this role you will:
Manage MOPs Program
Help manage the full body of work across Marketing Operations & IS, not just individual projects
Maintain visibility into what’s happening across initiatives, workstreams, and priorities
Identify cross‑project dependencies, risks, and capacity constraints and surface them early
Keep the Senior Manager informed of progress, risks, and tradeoffs; escalate issues when decisions or intervention are needed
Help create clarity when priorities compete and work becomes complex
Reinforce accountability for commitments, timelines, and next steps across the team
Lead medium and large projects
Own end‑to‑end delivery of assigned projects, from planning through execution and close‑out
Define scope, milestones, timelines, roles, and dependencies in partnership with stakeholders
Manage project execution across people, process, and technology, including managing budget and costs
Track and actively manage risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies (RAID)
Ensure projects deliver agreed‑upon outcomes on time and within scope and budget, following change control where appropriate
Facilitate productive project meetings and decision‑making forums
Work effectively with external vendors and partners when needed
Communicate, align, and escalate
Translate both complex technical and business-focused project details into clear, actionable updates for both leadership and delivery teams
Set and manage expectations with stakeholders across Marketing, IS, and partner teams
Appropriately engage cross-functional leadership
Identify when work is at risk and escalate appropriately—before issues become failures
Support decision‑making by clearly framing options, tradeoffs, and recommendations
Enable strong execution and continuous improvement
Model high standards of execution, clarity, and follow‑through
Coach and mentor team members
Encourage consistent use of agreed‑upon project management and delivery practices (includes waterfall, agile and hybrid)
Capture learnings from projects and help apply them to future work
Support change management, communications, or training activities as needed to ensure successful adoption
Look for opportunities to improve how the team plans, tracks, and executes work over time
What we are looking for:
Minimum Requirements:
5+ years of experience leading or coordinating complex projects, ideally in technology‑enabled or marketing‑adjacent environments
Experience managing medium to large initiatives with multiple stakeholders and dependencies
Comfort working across both business and technical teams
Experience partnering with vendors or external delivery teams
Strong organizational skills and the ability to keep multiple workstreams moving at once
Clear, confident communicator—able to tailor messages up, down, and across the organization
Practical problem solver who can navigate ambiguity and make progress without perfect information
Ability to influence and work through others and help teams stay aligned and accountable
Solid understanding of project management fundamentals and delivery disciplines (Waterfall, Agile, or hybrid)
Comfortable using structure and process as tools—not bureaucracy
Proactive, self‑directed, and comfortable taking ownership
Calm and steady under pressure; able to spot risk early and act on it
Curious about the business and motivated to understand how work connects to outcomes
Collaborative, respectful, and inclusive in how you work with others
Willing to challenge when needed—and open to being challenged in return
Looks for the good in others and listens with full attention
Brings a sense of humor and a healthy work-life balance
Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role (not required):
Experience supporting Marketing, Commercial, or Digital teams
Familiarity with enterprise platforms, integrations, or data‑enabled initiatives
Exposure to change management, training, or enablement work
Consumer Packaged Goods experience
The Right Place for You
We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.
Stay connected with us on LinkedIn®
We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, age, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of experience leading or coordinating complex projects
- Experience managing medium to large initiatives with multiple stakeholders and dependencies
- Strong organizational skills
- Clear, confident communicator
- Solid understanding of project management fundamentals
The J.M. Smucker Co. Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about The J.M. Smucker Co. and has not been reviewed or approved by The J.M. Smucker Co..
-
Retirement Support — Retirement programs are described as strong, with a company 401(k) match, immediate vesting in some materials, and access to an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. These elements contribute to a favorable view of total compensation value.
-
Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave for all parents and on-site childcare at key locations signal a family-forward approach. Additional supports such as adoption assistance and pet-related leave reinforce this emphasis.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid time off, seasonal compressed schedules, and flexibility options are highlighted across materials. The ability to start with substantial PTO and buy additional time enhances perceived time-off breadth.
The J.M. Smucker Co. Insights
What We Do
Each generation of consumers leaves their mark on culture by establishing new expectations for food and the companies that make it. At The J.M. Smucker Co., it is our privilege to be at the heart of this dynamic with a portfolio that appeals to each generation of people and pets with products found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless restaurants. This includes a mix of iconic brands consumers have always loved such as Folgers®, Jif® and Milk-Bone® and new favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker’s® Uncrustables® and Rachael Ray® Nutrish®. By continuing to immerse ourselves in consumer and pet parent preferences for food, how it’s purchased and how the companies that make it should operate, we will maintain the important role we play in their lives. This will allow us to continue growing our business and the positive impact we have on all of those who count on us.
