Job Overview: 
The Marketing & Brand Project Manager coordinates, prioritizes, and drives marketing and creative work across UNFI’s enterprise — ensuring a seamless, efficient, and transparent process from intake through delivery. This role serves as the central point of contact for all project workflow, providing structure and governance for planning, scoping, resourcing, scheduling, status reporting, and post-project evaluation. The Project Manager works closely with cross-functional partners and creative teams to balance capacity with strategic priorities, reduce bottlenecks, and elevate execution quality.

Job Responsibilities: 
Core Responsibilities 

• Manage all inbound requests into the marketing/design pipeline, including intake capture, qualification, prioritization, and routing. Ensure clarity in deliverables, timelines, and impact relative to business goals.
• Translate briefs into detailed project plans, including scope, milestones, resource requirements, risk assessments, budgets, and acceptance criteria. Partner with requestors and stakeholders to refine requirements where needed.
• Serve as the primary liaison between marketing strategy, creative production, digital, communications, and business partners to keep initiatives moving and aligned to objectives. Proactively identify dependencies and manage handoffs to eliminate blockers.
• Maintain enterprise-level project calendars and resource forecasts. Make real-time adjustments to schedules and staffing to meet deadlines and capacity constraints. Escalate conflicts and recommend solutions.
• Provide regular visibility into pipeline status, project health, risks, and performance against commitments to leadership (Director / VP). Convene recurring planning, stand-ups, and escalation meetings as needed.
• Ensure deliverables meet defined success criteria (brand standards, technical requirements, stakeholder expectations) prior to release. Facilitate reviews, approvals, and sign-off processes.

Additional Responsibilities 

• Strengthen project management frameworks, templates, governance rules, scoring models, and workflow automation to increase throughput and consistency.
• Track operational performance KPIs (cycle times, delivery adherence, backlog aging, resource utilization). Translate data into actionable insights and optimization recommendations.
• Clearly communicate project status, changes, and impacts to stakeholders. Educate partner teams on processes, policies, and service delivery expectations.
• Anticipate risks, document mitigation plans, and proactively resolve issues in partnership with team leaders and stakeholders.

Performs other duties as assigned.
 

Job Requirements: 
Education/ Certifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, communications, project management, or related field.
• Project Management certification preferred (PMP, PMI-ACP, Scrum Master, or similar).

Experience: 

• 3+ years of project/program management in a corporate marketing, creative services, agency, or enterprise environment.
• Proven experience managing cross-disciplinary teams and complex project pipelines.
• Demonstrated success working with creative teams, production schedules, and senior stakeholders.

Knowledge/Skills/ Abilities:

• Deep understanding of project management best practices, tools (Asana, JIRA, Smartsheet, Monday, or equivalent), and resource planning concepts.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and prioritization skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication, with the ability to clearly articulate status, risk, and decision points.
• Ability to manage ambiguity and drive clarity with stakeholders.
• Comfortable with data and dashboards; ability to interpret and present metrics.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to influence, negotiate, and facilitate problem resolution.
• Detail-oriented with a bias for efficient, thoughtful execution.
• Ability to work under pressure and handle competing priorities.
• Good judgment is required for this position as there may be times when direct supervision may not be immediately available.

Work Environment: 
Remote Role: 

• This position is classified as remote where the associate will perform remote work from their primary residence. Remote associates are welcome to work from the office but are not required to do so. While remote associates are not required to work from an office on a regular basis, they may be required to come to the office or other UNFI locations for necessary business reasons or if directed to do so by their manager.

Travel (minor): 

• This position may require the associate to travel to company offices, distribution centers, or other locations for specific meetings or other business reasons.

Physical Environment/Demands: 
Office Roles:

• Most work is performed in a temperature-controlled office environment. 
• Incumbent may sit for long periods of time at a desk or computer terminal. 
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.   
• Incumbent may use calculators, keyboards, telephones, and other office equipment in the course of a normal workday. 
• Stooping, bending, twisting, and reaching may be required in the completion of job duties.

About UNFI: We are North America’s premier grocery wholesaler, delivering the widest variety of fresh, branded, and owned brand products to community grocers and retail chains alike. A pioneer in natural and organic foods, we are growing and transforming to meet the needs of an evolving workplace. Our 29,000+ employees work across America in our 50 Distribution Centers and corporate offices. Learn more: Organic, Natural and Conventional Food | Wholesale Food Distributors | UNFI

Benefits: Competitive 401k, Flexible PTO plan, Remote, Health benefits – first of the month following 30 days of employment, mentorship program/developmental opportunities.