Program Manager - NTW

Build your career at Sazerac! With almost 400 years of rich history, Sazerac Company has thrived as an independent, American family-owned company with operations in the United States and around the world. Since the 2000s, Sazerac has averaged double digit growth every year! Sazerac Company produces and markets the most award-winning bourbons and whiskeys in the world, including Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle, Eagle Rare, Blanton’s, and Sazerac Rye. Additionally, Sazerac owns many popular brands across a range of spirits, including Fireball, Southern Comfort, Seagram’s V.O., Myers’s, Goldschläger, Parrot Bay, 99 Brand, and Platinum Vodka. 

We’re proud of our award-winning culture and distilleries. Our Louisville office has been named one of the “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” four times, and our Buffalo Trace Distillery has earned the title of “world’s most award-winning distillery” through the dedication of our craftsmen for well over 200 years. Whether you’re a recent graduate or an experienced professional, Sazerac provides extraordinary opportunities for growth with competitive salaries and benefits in an exciting, entrepreneurial industry.

The NTW Program Manager will be responsible for ensuring that all G&I projects are on track, well-coordinated, and executed with excellence. Acting as the connective tissue between The Shop, Marketing, Sales, Operations, and PMO, this role ensures that innovation initiatives move seamlessly from idea to execution — on time, on budget, and with impact.​ This individual is a highly organized operator who thrives in complex environments, balancing multiple workstreams while enabling cross-functional collaboration.​

• Provide mentorship, training and opportunity for the individuals in the department to grow within Sazerac based on their career development plan. Knows the career goals and plans for the team and works to develop and retain key successors in the organization.
• Maintain a master view of the innovation pipeline, ensuring milestones, deliverables, and KPIs are on track. ​Identify risks, blockers, and interdependencies early and communicate + proactively problem-solve with teams.​
• Ensure all launches are executed with the highest level of readiness — from sell-in materials to retail execution. Act as the central point of contact for innovation progress updates.
• Establish well organized priorities for yourself. For projects and tasks this role manages, ensure the project team is comprised of the right team members, they understand their roles, updates are posted, and priorities are successfully completed. Ensure that progress is made on priorities and projects and that the level of informing is appropriate.
• Build clear, repeatable processes for tracking innovation & version control from concept through commercialization.​ Own the cadence of meetings, reports, and reviews related to innovation progress.​
• Develop dashboards, scorecards, or trackers that give leadership visibility into progress and gaps.​Act as the central point of contact for innovation progress updates.​ Support integration of innovation priorities into channel and customer planning.
• Work cross-functionally to identify, prioritize and execute cost savings projects that will not impact the quality of our products or service.
• Identify risks, blockers, and interdependencies early and communicate and proactively problem-solve with teams.​ Drive accountability across functions to ensure commitments are met.​
• Partner with The Shop, Brand, Shopper Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain & Legal to ensure alignment and smooth execution of innovation projects.​
• Utilize PDS system and available resources to identify areas for continuous self-improvement. Regularly dedicate time to growing the skills outlined in the Development Plan. For direct reports, conduct optimal performance discussions, articulate consistent skill evaluations, recommend actions and tactics, and measure progress.

MUST

• Bachelor's Degree
• Ability to communicate with all levels of an org
• Ability to drive results in a complex, high-growth company
• Experience in process design, implementation and improvement
• Expert ability to operate at both strategic and executional levels
• Proven team building capabilities/strong cross-functional teammate, strong organizational skills, and ability to manage multiple projects at one time
• Proven track record of developing strategic partnerships with various client groups, including internal and external groups.
• Experience in Agile Methodologies SCRUM
• 3 years relevant experience (minimum)
• Experience with jira, confluence, slack, microsoft teams, excel, power point.

PREFERRED

• Certification/Qualification in Project Management
• Familiar with beverage processing and its associated equipment
• Relevant agile certifications preferred, such as: certified scrum master (csm), safe scrum master (ssm)
• Experience adapting newly formed teams to scrum and leading their journey through the stages of storming, forming, and norming.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to travel (up to 25%)

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