Commercialization Project Manager

Job Title: Commercialization Project Manager

Location: Corporate – Tyler, TX and Gainesville, GA

Reports To: Sr. Commercialization Strategy Manager

Direct Reports: None

Travel: 10-15% (Occasional for start-ups and onsite plant visits)

John Soules Foods is a thriving family-owned food company that has made a positive difference for its customers and consumers for nearly 50 years. Our purpose and promise of Great Food, Made Simple® drives us. Based in Tyler, Texas, the company is a leading national producer of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook chicken and beef products and is the number one producer of chicken and beef fajitas in the USA.

We proudly serve a broad portfolio of great-tasting, high-quality grilled and breaded products sold throughout the US via retail, food service distributors, and restaurants. Our wide array of national customers includes prominent organizations such as Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, Sysco, and HEB. The company was established in 1975 by John Soules Sr., and the business is now in the second generation of family leadership.

The organization has expanded dramatically over the past decade, and with its continued growth, it now has annual sales of approximately $1 billion. The company employs over 2,000 individuals and has three manufacturing facilities in Gainesville, Georgia;
Valley, Alabama; and its headquarters in Tyler, Texas.

The Commercialization Manager is responsible for leading cross-functional projects from product development through launch while owning and improving the processes that enable successful commercialization. This role drives alignment across R&D, FSQA, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, and Sales, ensuring projects are executed efficiently and consistently. The position also leads SOP development, process standardization, and continuous improvement initiatives to build a scalable, repeatable commercialization model.

This is a high-visibility, hands‑on role suited for a highly organized, process-driven individual who thrives in a fast-paced and high-project volume environment and is passionate about improving how teams work together to bring products to market.

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Project Management, Supply Chain, or related field required

• 5+ years of experience in product management, project management, or commercialization
• Experience in food manufacturing or CPG preferred
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional projects
• Experience with SOP development or process improvement initiatives preferred

• Lead end‑to‑end commercialization projects from concept approval through plant trials, scale‑up, validation, and launch
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously across retail, industrial, and food service channels
• Develop and maintain integrated project plans, including timelines, risk registers, budgets, and launch readiness criteria
• Identify and resolve risks, bottlenecks, and dependencies
• Drive stage‑gate execution and ensure decision readiness at each milestone
• Support prioritization with data‑driven insights

• Ensure new products are commercialized with documented, repeatable, and capable processes
• Support identification of equipment needs, line modifications, or capital improvements required for commercialization
• Facilitate focused project check‑ins to drive execution and accountability
• Own and maintain SOPs across the commercialization lifecycle
• Ensure alignment with approved business cases and operational assumptions
• Drive adoption and consistency of processes across teams
• Support and improve use of tools such as Teams, Planner, SharePoint, and M3

• Serve as the central point of contact across R&D, FSQA, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Data/Specifications teams for assigned projects
• Coordinate closely with Product Development to ensure product concepts, formulations, specifications, and customer expectations are aligned through development and commercialization.
• Coordinate closely with Operations to ensure production readiness, manufacturing…