Career Opportunities: Project Manager (14420)

Project Manager

Field of Work: Marketing & Sales,
Location: [[location_obj]]
Legal Entity: KWS Cereals USA LLC. (0054)
Contract Type:
Is Full Time: Yes
Job ID: 14420

KWS is looking for a Project Manager who will execute and launch the new KWS Cover+TM Soil Protection Program into the cover crop market across the US and Canada. To ensure the success of this program, the Project Manager will work with key stakeholders internally as well as externally.

The Project Manager must understand the cover crop industry and identify and build opportunities for the KWS Cover+TM program within this industry. The Project Manager must work closely with sales and marketing teams to support company objectives that impact the cover crop market.  

Essential Job Functions:

• Achieve annual business and sales targets
• Act as the primary contact to the cover crop industry and network with Federal and State leaders and regulators; key industry influencers including researchers, extensionists, food processors, producer groups and farmers
• Monitor cover crop trends and activities, collect, and analyze various market data to identify opportunities and challenges impacting the KWS soil protection program
• Gather data and or research information to support the economic benefits of the soil protection program for participants in the soil sustainability value chain
• Coordinate soil protection research trials as needed within the regions of interest and communicate results throughout the industry and within the company
• Introduce new business by identifying and generating new collaborative accounts
• Collaborate with sales and marketing to develop and communicate messaging and materials to support the N/A soil protection business
  • Drive and create interest for farmers by demonstrate the benefits of using the KWS soil protection program in articles, testimonials, presentations, training sessions and special events
• Coordinate, and manage US KWS soil protection program partner contracts on behalf of Canada and USA colleagues to ensure:
  • Strong relationships between KWS and KWS Partners
  • Support of program objectives via training
  • Advertising and communication consistent with KWS message and word marks
  • Reconciliation of annual contract including purchases, sales, payments and customer data collection
  • Ensure Agreement compliance with random audits
• Coordinate and communicate regularly with both KWS North American businesses, Canada and USA, to ensure open knowledge of information and processes to maximize and streamline the KWS Cover+TM business
  • Regular communication with Canadian and US Business Managers
  • Annual business review with KWS Canadian soil protection License Partners selling to the USA
• Coordinate and manage North American Grower enforcement and audits with third party audit firm
• Manage, maintain and optimize customer/stakeholder data in a CRM database
• Support other company objectives that impact the KWS soil protection market including hybrid rye sales required to produce KWS Cover+TM product
• Effectively cooperate and positively integrate as a member of the team to achieve company objectives
• Prepare and manage a budget
• Ensure the Company handbook, Rules, Guidelines and Procedures and safety policies are followed, and personal protective equipment is used correctly
• Meet attendance requirements
• Travel and/or drive on behalf of the business 25-40% of the time, including to Canada a few weeks/year
• Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications:

• BA/BS or equivalent in Agriculture or related fields (i.e. Business, Agronomy, etc.) with professional experience; or minimum 3 years of relevant work experience in crop improvement and commercial practices |Ability to travel to Canada
• Strong computer, analytical and creative skills
• Valid driver’s license

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced Degree in related field with related experience
• Located in the Midwest with easy access to an international airport
• Experience in budget and leadership skills
• Project management experience
• Successful in working with diverse teams
• Exceptional organizational and time management skills
• Excellent communication skills, verbal, written and presentation skills
• Critical and logical thinking skills

• Ability to travel internationally

What We Offer:

• Health, dental, vision benefits

• Pension plan and 401(k) with employer match

• Flexible paid time off (PTO)

• Tuition reimbursement 

• Professional training and development opportunities

• An international and diverse team

Working Environment:

May work in varied and/or extreme weather conditions; travel required as necessary to meet business demands, including driving long distances.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle or feel and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and move objects up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

This employer participates in E-Verify and after acceptance of a job offer, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S.

About KWS

KWS is one of the world’s leading plant breeding companies. Over 5,000 employees in more than 70 countries generated net sales of around €1.8 billion in the fiscal year 2022/2023. A company with a tradition of family ownership, KWS has operated independently for 165 years. It focuses on plant breeding and the production and sale of seed for corn, sugar beet, cereals, vegetables, oilseed rape and sunflower. KWS uses leading-edge plant breeding methods to continuously improve yield for farmers and plants’ resistance to diseases, pests, and abiotic stress. To that end, the company invested more than €300 million last fiscal year in research and development. For more information: www.kws.com/career. Follow us on LinkedIn® at https://linkedin.com/company/kwsgroup/.

Our data privacy policy for candidates is available on www.kws.com/dataprotection. Please select the country where the job you applied for is posted in and, if applicable, the specific business unit.