Commercial Operations Project Manager

About - Labomar Canada

Labomar Canada is part of Labomar Group, an international group whose acquisition of the Montréal-based business marked its first step into the North American market. As a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), Labomar Canada serves the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and natural health product markets, supporting customers from product development through manufacturing and market launch.

Job Description

Department: Commercial Operations

Job Title: Commercial Operations Project Manager

Reports To: Commercial Operations Director   

Location: Labomar Canada, Pointe-Claire

Subordinates: Not applicable

Job Purpose: Why this role

Combine customer relationship management with hands-on project leadership. As Commercial Operations Project Manager, you will be the primary customer point of contact for new product introductions from commercial handover through production launch and for existing-product change projects through implementation. You will translate agreed customer requirements and objectives into cross-functional plans with clear priorities, responsibilities, milestones and deadlines.

You will coordinate Commercial, Development, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Quality and Regulatory teams, lead internal and customer meetings, and track actions, dependencies, risks and decisions to support launch and implementation readiness. You will maintain and improve shared project tools and provide senior management with clear progress updates. Functional teams retain responsibility for technical execution and quality and regulatory approvals.

Main Responsibilities

Commercial Project Leadership and Customer Coordination

• Lead multidisciplinary project teams for new product launches and existing-product change projects. Act as the primary customer point of contact from commercial handover through production launch for new products, and through implementation for existing-product changes.
• Agree project scope, customer requirements, deliverables and target launch dates, and develop integrated project plans with clear milestones, owners and dependencies.
• Align customer expectations and commercial priorities with development, manufacturing, supply chain, quality and regulatory requirements and available capacity.
• Give customers and internal leadership a clear view of delivery against commitments by tracking project progress and budget impacts, and communicating status updates that identify progress, changes and their implications for the project.

Launch Planning and Project Management Tools

• Maintain and improve shared project management tools and an up-to-date launch plan covering:

-Key milestones, activity owners and agreed deadlines

-Cross-functional dependencies and launch readiness checkpoints

-Raw material, component and packaging availability

-Production planning, manufacturing and filling readiness

• Keep action, decision, risk and issue logs current; follow up with activity owners and adjust priorities and timelines when changes are agreed.

Cross -Functional Coordination and Production Readiness

• Bring together Development, Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain to coordinate industrialization and production-launch activities. Track technology transfer, scale-up and validation milestones with the responsible technical teams, which retain ownership of technical execution.

Quality and Regulatory Coordination

• For new product launches, coordinate with Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Regulatory teams to track:

-Completion of required quality and regulatory activities by the responsible functions

-Required reviews, approvals and readiness milestones before production launch

-Availability of agreed product documentation, specifications and technical reportsà

• For commercial products, coordinate customer change requests and issues affecting supply with the relevant functional teams, communicating impacts, agreed actions and timelines to customers. Quality and regulatory decisions remain with the authorized functions.

Internal and Customer Meeting Management

• Organize and lead recurring internal project meetings and customer update meetings throughout the pre-launch period. Prepare agendas, confirm priorities, document decisions and assign actions with owners and due dates.
• Follow up on open actions between meetings and facilitate alignment across:

-Commercial and customer-facing teams

-Development, Engineering and Manufacturing

-Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Regulatory

-Supply Chain, Purchasing and Production Planning

-Customers, suppliers and external partners

Priorities, Risks and Escalation

• Identify delays, resource conflicts, scope changes and technical, quality or supply issues that may affect launch commitments. Coordinate resolution with functional owners and escalate decisions requiring management support.
• Provide upper management with weekly reporting on launch progress, key milestones, risks, delays, mitigation actions and decisions requiring management support. Maintain mitigation and contingency actions, agree revised priorities and deadlines with stakeholders, and promptly communicate changes and launch impacts to customers and internal teams.

Existing Product Change Project Management

• Manage changes to existing products, including product components, raw materials, packaging, formulations and manufacturing processes, using the same structured project management approach as for new product introductions.
• Define the change scope, required activities, milestones, owners and deadlines with the multidisciplinary team. Coordinate impact assessments, technical activities, documentation, reviews and approvals by the responsible functions before implementation.
• Align existing-product change implementation with production and supply requirements, and confirm completion of required approvals with the authorized functions. As the customer point of contact, maintain project tools, lead recurring internal and customer meetings, and track actions, dependencies and risks. Include change-project status in weekly reporting to upper management.

Success Outcomes

• For both new product launches and existing-product changes, customers and internal stakeholders share a clear understanding of project scope, milestones and agreed commitments for launch or implementation.
• Customers receive proactive updates on project progress, risks, changes and agreed actions, with expectations kept aligned with agreed scope, timelines and launch or implementation commitments.
• Project plans and action, decision, risk and issue logs remain current.
• Delays and decisions requiring support are escalated promptly.
• Weekly management reporting provides clear launch and change-project visibility.
• Implementation readiness is confirmed with the functions responsible for technical execution and approvals.

Skills/Experience/Qualifications/Knowledge

Skills:

• Cross-functional leadership and ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams without direct reporting authority
• Strong project planning, organizational and prioritization skills, with consistent follow-through on deadlines
• Ability to use, develop and maintain project management tools, launch trackers and action logs
• Clear customer communication, meeting facilitation, negotiation and stakeholder alignment skills
• Commercial mindset and strong customer service orientation
• Ability to translate customer expectations into practical plans and balance competing launch priorities

Experience/Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Life Sciences, Engineering or a related field
• Minimum 3 years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical or cosmetics industry, and at least other 3 years of experience in customer-facing project management, commercial operations or new product launch coordination
• Proven experience coordinating cross-functional projects from customer requirements through production launch
• Working understanding of quality and regulatory requirements relevant to the products managed, enabling you to coordinate activities with specialist teams while those teams retain responsibility for technical decisions and approvals.
• Strong attention to detail, accurate project documentation and disciplined action follow-up
• Ability to work independently, manage multiple concurrent launches and escalate issues appropriately

Knowledge:

• New product introduction and launch planning in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical or cosmetics environments
• Manufacturing workflows, production planning and supply chain dependencies
• General understanding of industrialization, technology transfer and validation milestones
• Commercial product lifecycle management and customer change coordination
• Project governance, risk management, prioritization and escalation
• Knowledge of project management and reporting tools, ERP systems and the Microsoft Office suite, with the ability to use them to maintain project plans, track dependencies and actions, and communicate clear project status.

Interested in combining customer relationships with cross-functional product-launch leadership?

Apply through this LinkedIn posting and tell us about your experience bringing products from customer requirements to production launch or coordinating changes to existing products.