Project Manager (24-month contract)
Champion PetfoodsJob Description: Champion Petfoods is expanding! We are excited to announce we are looking for a Project Manager (24-month contract) to join our rapidly growing company. Champion Petfoods is an award-winning pet food maker with a reputation of trust spanning 35+ years. Founded in a small town in Alberta, Canada, Champion – with its ORIJEN® and ACANA® brands – is a key player in the global premium pet food industry across three major geographic regions. We would love to hear from you if you are passionate about personal and professional growth and see yourself as a key player contributing to our continued success as an award-winning company. Here's the Scoop – Summary The Project Manager (24-month contract) for Brand Refresh on Packaging will support the end-to-end creative process and spearhead commercial execution of our global brand packaging refresh. This role is central to our brand’s evolution, leading the functional transformation of our packaging across our premium product portfolio. The successful candidate will be responsible for managing the entire workflow, from design to execution, ensuring our new packaging amplifies our brand equity, shelf presence, and the premium performance our customers expect. As a critical part of this brand-led initiative, this role will also guide the integration of our sustainability goals into the new packaging. This includes managing the transition to more sustainable materials and ensuring the refreshed packaging complies with key environmental regulations, such as the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and California’s Senate Bill 54 (SB 54). This position requires a highly organized, cross-functional leader who can coordinate creative agencies, marketing brand managers, technical packaging engineers, and supply chain partners to deliver a commercially successful and visually stunning brand refresh. The Project Manager (24-month contract) works out of our Corporate office in Louisville (CO), Nashville (TN) or Edmonton (AB) and works a hybrid schedule with 3 days in-person. What a typical day looks like: Brand Packaging Refresh & Creative Execution Creative & Artwork Workflow Management Support: Work closely with the Marketing Operations Manager for the operational workflow for a major brand packaging refresh, working to overlie timelines and action items acting as the bridge between designs, prepress, and final technical execution. SKU Portfolio Architecture: Manage the complexity of updating artwork and structural designs across an extensive SKU catalog, ensuring flawless consistency with new brand guidelines and regulatory labeling across all international markets. Material-to-Design Qualification: Ensure that new packaging materials, including sustainable options, successfully support the premium printing, finishing, and structural aesthetics required by the brand refresh. Cross-Functional Project Management Stage-Gate Governance: Lead cross-functional project teams through the complete product commercialization process, ensuring on-time delivery from concept validation and trial runs through to a successful commercial launch. Timeline & Risk Management: Author and manage comprehensive project timelines (e.g., Gantt charts), proactively identifying potential bottlenecks, supply chain risks, or design challenges, and developing robust mitigation plans to keep the brand refresh on track. Research and Innovation: Act as the primary project management link with Kitchen, Ingredient supply, Regulatory, and material suppliers to ensure quality, specifications, and timelines meet project milestones. Sustainable Packaging Integration Regulatory Roadmap Execution: As part of the packaging redesign, projectmanage the transition of our portfolio to meet the mandates of EU PPWR and California’s SB 54, ensuring all new packaging is recyclable, compostable, or reusable by the required deadlines. Material Circularity & Recycled Content: …