Principal IT Project Manager

Position Summary

The Principal Project Manager is the senior‑most individual contributor in U.S. Venture's project management practice. This role leads the organization's most strategic, complex, and visible initiatives while serving as a thought leader and informal practice authority for the broader project management team. This is a builder role. U.S. Venture is establishing a Project Management Center of Excellence — beginning within IT and intended to scale into an enterprise‑wide capability — and the Principal Project Manager will play a central role in shaping the standards, methodologies, and disciplines that define how project work is delivered across the organization.

The role drives outcomes through expertise, influence, mentorship, and example rather than through formal supervisory authority.

The Principal Project Manager role is a senior individual contributor position with significant strategic visibility. As U.S. Venture's Project Management Center of Excellence matures and grows into an enterprise capability, the organization anticipates establishing a formal people‑leadership role to lead the practice. The Principal Project Manager will have meaningful opportunity to develop the experience, relationships, and demonstrated impact that would position them as a competitive candidate for that future role.

Selection for any future leadership position will be based on demonstrated performance, organizational readiness, and a competitive selection process at the time the role is established.

This position is based at U.S. Venture's corporate headquarters in the Appleton, Wisconsin. The role follows U.S. Venture's hybrid work model with regular on‑site presence expected for team collaboration, executive engagement, and key stakeholder interactions (currently on‑site Monday – Thursday). Occasional travel to subsidiary and field locations may be required.

Strategic Project Delivery

• Lead end‑to‑end delivery of the organization's most complex, high‑visibility, and strategically important initiatives, applying the right methodology — Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid — to fit each engagement.
• Own project planning, execution, financial management, risk management, and stakeholder communication for assigned initiatives, with accountability for on‑time, on‑budget, on‑quality outcomes.
• Serve as the delivery lead on enterprise‑level programs that span multiple work streams, vendors, divisions, or business functions.
• Prepare and deliver executive‑level reporting, including status briefings, decision memos, and steering committee materials for the CIO and other senior stakeholders.

Practice Development and Standards

• Lead the design and continuous improvement of project management standards, templates, methodologies, and tooling for the Center of Excellence.
• Define and document the intake, prioritization, stage‑gate, and governance processes that will scale from IT into the broader enterprise.
• Establish portfolio reporting standards, project health metrics, and benefits realization frameworks that provide executive leadership with consistent, transparent visibility into project performance.
• Partner with IT leadership to define the future‑state operating model for the Center of Excellence, including the introduction of business analysis as a formal discipline.
• Evaluate and recommend project portfolio management (PPM) tooling, integration with Fresh Service and other enterprise platforms, and the broader technology stack that supports the practice.

Influence, Mentorship, and Team Enablement

• Serve as the senior technical authority and practice leader for the project management team, providing coaching, peer review, and escalation support to fellow Project Managers without holding formal supervisory authority.
• Mentor Project Managers across all experience levels, sharing methodology guidance, lessons learned, and best practices that elevate the team's overall delivery capability.
• Lead community‑of‑practice activities, including standards reviews, lessons‑learned retrospectives, methodology training, and capability‑building sessions.
• Model the behaviors, disciplines, and professional standards expected…