Junior Project Manager
Illinois Tool Works · Houston
Job Description:
ABOUT THE ROLE
ITW Car Care is looking for a Junior Project Manager who is early in their career and eager to build it fast. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to learn how products actually get made and launched — working shoulder to shoulder with R&D, marketing, supply chain, operations, and our strategic suppliers to move projects from concept to shelf.
You will own real project work from day one: timelines, milestones, action items, and the follow-through that keeps a cross-functional team honest about its commitments. We are looking for someone who will drive the schedule, chase the gaps, and bring the team with them.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Own project schedules and Project Charters. Build, maintain, and communicate detailed project plans — milestones, dependencies, owners, and due dates — and keep them current as reality changes. Transfer the technical requirements, business value propositions, targets and constraints to the project charter. Balance priorities and managing stakeholder (leadership team) expectations while ensuring alignment with overall business strategy
Drive execution. Track deliverables against commitments, flag slippage early, escalate when needed, and close open items , identify the upcoming risk, cross functionally work with teams to find possible solutions.
Lead cross-functional coordination. Serve as the connective tissue between R&D, marketing, supply chain, procurement, quality, regulatory, manufacturing, and sales. Run the meeting, set the agenda, publish the actions, follow up.
Manage stakeholder communication. Deliver clear, concise status updates and dashboards to project teams and leadership. Make the status obvious — green, yellow, red, and why.
Identify and mitigate risk. Anticipate what could derail a launch — supplier lead times, testing delays, artwork approvals, capacity — and get ahead of it with a plan, not an excuse.
Support new product development and commercialization. Help shepherd projects through stage-gate reviews, ensuring deliverables and documentation are complete at each gate.
Improve how we work. Contribute to standardizing project templates, trackers, and processes. Apply ITW's 80/20 mindset to focus effort where it drives the most impact.
Learn the business. Spend time on the plant floor, with our brands, and with customers to understand how decisions land downstream.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor's degree in Project Management, Business, or a related field.
0–2 years of experience; internships, co-ops, or academic capstone project leadership count.
Working knowledge of core project management fundamentals — scope, schedule, budget, risk, stakeholder management, and the critical path.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office; comfort with Excel and PowerPoint at a level that lets you build a tracker and present a status deck without help.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to hold peers and senior stakeholders to commitments.
Legally authorized to work in the United States; able to work onsite in Houston, TX.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
Exposure to CAPM, PMP coursework, Agile/Scrum, or Lean Six Sigma concepts.
Familiarity with project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, Asana, Monday.com) and ERP systems (SAP, Oracle).
Internship or co-op experience in consumer products, chemicals, automotive aftermarket, or manufacturing.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
The degree gets you in the room. These traits are what will make you successful here:
Aggressive growth mindset. You want more responsibility than your title suggests. You seek feedback, act on it, and are visibly better six months from now than you are today.
Bias for results. You measure yourself by what shipped, not by what was discussed. You close loops.
Cross-functional credibility. You build trust quickly with people who don't report to you, and you can influence without authority.
Ownership and accountability. You hold yourself — and the team — to the date that was committed, and you raise your hand early when it's at risk.
Comfort with ambiguity. You can make progress with incomplete information and ask the right questions to fill the gaps.
Composure under pressure. You stay steady, direct, and solution-oriented when a project goes sideways.
ITW is an equal opportunity employer. We value our colleagues’ unique perspectives, experiences and ideas and create workplaces where everyone can develop their careers and perform to their full potential.
As an equal employment opportunity employer, ITW is committed to equal employment opportunity and fair treatment for employees, beginning with the hiring process and continuing through all aspects of the employment relationship.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected Veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.