Senior Manager, Launch, Global Value Stream (US)
HelloFresh · Aurora, Illinois · Irving, Texas · Newark, New Jersey
SENIOR MANAGER, LAUNCH, GLOBAL VALUE STREAM (US)
ABOUT THE ROLE: WHAT’S IN THE BOX
The Senior Manager, Launch is a highly collaborative leadership role responsible for planning and delivering complex facility launches, expansions, network changes, and operational transitions across our North American network.
As the central point of coordination for launch activities, you will bring together cross-functional teams to translate business objectives into clear plans, align stakeholders around key milestones and dependencies, anticipate risks, and ensure teams are prepared for a successful Day 1 and beyond.
This role sits at the intersection of Operations, Engineering, Facilities, Safety, Quality, Procurement, Finance, People, and other business functions. You will create structure around complex initiatives, establish clear ownership and accountability, facilitate decision-making, and keep multiple workstreams moving toward a common goal.
Success in this role requires strong program leadership, planning, stakeholder management, communication, and operational problem-solving skills. You should be comfortable working in physical operating environments and partnering with technical and facilities teams, but you do not need to be a construction specialist.
The ideal candidate has experience leading complex, cross-functional programs in manufacturing, fulfillment, distribution, supply chain, operations, engineering, or similarly fast-paced environments and knows how to move teams from strategy and planning through execution, readiness, stabilization, and handoff.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
- Lead end-to-end planning and execution of facility launches, expansions, operational transitions, network changes, and other complex initiatives across North America.
- Develop integrated launch plans that connect individual functional workstreams into a clear roadmap with defined milestones, dependencies, ownership, and decision points.
- Serve as the central point of coordination across Operations, Engineering, Facilities, Safety, Quality, Procurement, Finance, People, Technology, and other functional partners.
- Establish launch governance and operating rhythms that create visibility, accountability, timely decision-making, and alignment across teams.
- Facilitate cross-functional planning sessions, launch reviews, working meetings, and executive updates, ensuring teams remain aligned on priorities, risks, decisions, and next steps.
- Translate strategic objectives into actionable plans and help functional teams understand how their individual deliverables contribute to overall launch success.
- Identify cross-functional dependencies and potential risks early, partnering with workstream owners to develop practical mitigation and contingency plans.
- Track key milestones, deliverables, budgets, risks, decisions, and readiness indicators throughout the project lifecycle.
- Partner with Facilities, Engineering, Construction, vendors, and other technical stakeholders to ensure physical infrastructure and equipment workstreams remain aligned with the broader launch plan.
- Coordinate operational readiness across processes, systems, equipment, staffing, training, documentation, safety, quality, and facility requirements.
- Develop clear, concise, data-driven communications for senior leadership that highlight progress, decisions required, risks, and overall launch health.
- Create clarity in ambiguous or rapidly changing situations by establishing priorities, defining ownership, and helping teams move from problem identification to resolution.
- Lead readiness assessments prior to launch and ensure critical gaps are identified, assigned, and resolved.
- Support launch execution and post-launch stabilization, coordinating issue resolution and ensuring successful transition of ownership to Operations and functional teams.
- Develop and continuously improve standardized launch playbooks, planning tools, governance models, templates, and best practices that can be scaled across future initiatives.
- Capture lessons learned and incorporate them into future launch strategies and processes.
- Manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously while balancing competing priorities and maintaining focus on safety, quality, cost, schedule, and operational readiness.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
- 8+ years of experience in program management, operations, supply chain, engineering, operational excellence, facility launches, business transformation, or a related field.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple teams, stakeholders, workstreams, and competing priorities.
- Experience supporting facility launches, operational expansions, network changes, major implementations, or other large-scale business initiatives strongly preferred.
- Strong program and project management capabilities, including integrated planning, dependency management, risk mitigation, budgeting, change management, and stakeholder alignment.
- Demonstrated ability to build structure around ambiguous problems and translate broad business objectives into executable plans.
- Strong facilitation skills with the ability to bring diverse stakeholders together, drive decisions, establish accountability, and maintain momentum.
- Experience partnering with technical teams such as Engineering, Facilities, Construction, Automation, Technology, or Equipment teams without needing to be the technical subject-matter expert.
- Experience in manufacturing, food production, fulfillment, logistics, distribution, supply chain, or other complex physical operating environments strongly preferred.
- Strong executive communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear updates, recommendations, and decisions.
- Ability to influence across functions and levels of an organization, including teams and stakeholders who do not directly report to you.
- Strong business judgment and the ability to balance operational requirements, cost, timing, risk, and stakeholder needs.
- Highly organized and comfortable managing multiple projects, priorities, deadlines, and changing business requirements simultaneously.
- Data-driven, curious, collaborative, and comfortable challenging assumptions when needed to achieve the best business outcome.
- Comfortable spending time in active operational environments and traveling to sites across North America.
- Bachelor’s degree in Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, Business, Project Management, or a related discipline preferred.
WHAT WE OFFER
- The opportunity to lead highly visible, business-critical launches and operational initiatives across North America.
- A collaborative role with exposure to a broad range of functions and senior leaders across the organization.
- Significant ownership and autonomy in shaping how complex launches are planned, governed, and executed.
- The opportunity to develop scalable launch methodologies, tools, and best practices that improve execution across the network.
- A role with direct impact on the growth, evolution, and operational performance of HelloFresh’s physical network.
LOCATION & TRAVEL
This role is based in the United States and requires regular travel to operational and project sites across North America. Travel will vary based on the project lifecycle, with greater onsite presence during key planning, readiness, launch, and stabilization periods.
Travel Requirement: 50–75%
It is the policy of HelloFresh not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.
Texas Pay Range
$119,700 — $137,700 USD
Newark, NJ Pay Range
$136,710 — $158,100 USD
Illinois Pay Range
$127,890 — $147,900 USD