Company Background

Humans waste an unthinkable amount of food. In fact, nearly half of all of the food we grow in the U.S. never reaches a plate. It's not just the food that we're wasting—we’re throwing away all of the natural resources that went into growing it, too. At Apeel Sciences, we look to nature to derive sustainable solutions to our global food challenges so we can all eat better and waste less. We're pioneering plant-derived technologies to help fresh food providers improve food quality, reduce waste, and ensure an abundant future for our planet. We are committed to being a technological and environmental trailblazer at the intersection of the agricultural, materials science, chemistry, biotechnology, and engineering industries, and we’re looking for brilliant, passionate problem-solvers to join us.

Company Culture

Apeel is comprised of highly talented, deeply passionate, and strongly tight-knit team members who are excited by the opportunity to challenge the status quo, are obsessed with solving problems, and truly seek to positively change how we feed the world.

Our people are core and absolutely fundamental to our company’s success and continued growth. Look around and what do you see? Team members who are working tirelessly and selflessly—not to serve themselves—but to help the team as a whole strategically, aggressively, and collectively realize a shared mission and vision. If you are ready for an opportunity to jump in, tackle challenges (and opportunities!) head-on, take ownership, and drive meaningful outcomes in a highly collaborative, communicative, and dynamic environment, we would love to connect with you!

About This Role

We are looking for a technology-savvy, business-minded, process-driven, and service-oriented leader to establish a new Project Management Office and grow, motivate, and lead our Project Management teams that would serve the entire organization (including technical (i.e., R&D and engineering) project management, and integrations / construction project management). As a senior leader on the Operations team, you will provide leadership and strategic direction for all project management activities across the company. You will be responsible for establishing relevant best project management practices and planning and executing strategic initiatives to advance new product development and launches, and enable rapid commercial growth and scale by ensuring on-time and efficient integrations of Apeel’s products and services into our customers’ operations.

What You’ll Do

• Establish a Project Management Office from the ground–up, taking into consideration the appropriate near-, medium-, and long-term team structure that supports the business and the management of communication and information sharing across project managers to build a project management “center of excellence”
• Oversee and manage our full portfolio of integrations to ensure on-time launches with our customers
• Lead and oversee cross-functional projects to include members in R&D, Engineering, Product, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Legal, and People & Culture (as well as external partners) to develop plans and drive priorities and timelines, tackling issues as they arise
• Collaborate with functional and business stakeholders, as well as other peers (global and regional) to ensure delivery of both the business operations and support as well as strategic corporate initiatives and projects and provide a rugged system and robust work process support relative to local/regional needs, including training and change management requirements
• Work with internal teams and external vendors to ensure we are meeting the company’s and our customers’ business and service objectives within set project timelines and response times
• Implement and manage software platforms (off-the-shelf or custom-tailored / built) for resource allocation and project status monitoring and sharing—driving accurate, real-time, and transparent communication as well as process automation and efficiency
• Evolve the project management function, to enable rapid and sustained growth of the business
• Build and develop a world-class team

 What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor’s degree in a Business or STEM field required (MBA or equivalent a plus)
• 10+ years of experience in project management, with at least 5 years of experience rapidly building, scaling, and leading global, distributed project management teams
• Experience in heavy industrial equipment and/or power electronics industries preferred
• Experience working in a multi-national, matrixed organization ideal
• Demonstrated ability to plan, implement, and manage a variety of long- and short-term projects at the strategic and operational levels with a “systems mindset”
• Strong, innovative, and decisive; quickly earning the respect of internal customers and all levels of management by demonstrating knowledge and expertise
• Proven ability to prioritize multiple demands and understand when to take necessary risks for appropriate rewards
• Exceptional oral, written, and presentation communication skills
• Customer management skills to build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external partners and customers, resolving customer issues to a high degree of satisfaction
• Total commitment to continuous improvement, driving leaders and team members to adapt and implement critical improvement processes across the enterprise at all levels
• Able to travel domestically and internationally (up to ~ 30%)
• Spanish language proficiency is plus

Apeel believes that the scale of our impact is determined by the teams that work with us. As such, we seek to build high-performing teams of people from various experiences and backgrounds who can collectively push our company into new realms. We seek a diverse pool of applicants and consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, citizenship, disability, Veteran status, marital status, or any other protected status. If you have a special need or disability that requires accommodation, please let us know.

 Please note that Apeel Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the event of a recruiter or agency submitting a resume or candidate without a signed agreement being in place, we explicitly reserve the right to pursue and hire such candidates without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted directly to hiring managers, are deemed to be the property of Apeel Sciences.