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Time Type: Full time

Employee Group: Staff

Job Category: Project and Program Management

Employment Type: Permanent

Department: Print and Retail Solutions - Purchasing and Merchandising

Hiring Range: $67,688.63 - $84,610.79

Primary Purpose

The Project Manager, Commercial Projects is primarily responsible for the direction, coordination and implementation of various projects across Print + Retail Solutions' (P+RS) and UW Food Services (UWFS). The incumbent will lead various projects in P+RS and UWFS. This role will make a meaningful impact in ensuring projects are completed on time and to the benefit of both departments. In addition to project management, the role is responsible for the planning, purchasing, merchandising, and performance of apparel and technology categories for the W Store campus store. Due to the cyclical nature of apparel purchasing and seasonal retail peaks in a university workplace, the majority of this role's focus is on project management, with merchandising responsibilities concentrated during key buying periods.

Key Accountabilities

Project Management

- Establishes objectives, timelines, KPIs, and required participants for P+RS and UWFS projects, ensuring alignment with University strategic plans.




- Implements and maintains best practices and principles for project management processes.
- Develops project plans including, but not limited to, project scope and deliverables, clear outlines of roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders (internal and external to P+RS and UWFS), deadlines, and the process for moving the work forward to ensure all project deliverables are completed on time.
- Reports on project progress and offers viable solutions to issues as they arise
- Leads meetings and sets expectations for the project team.
- Develops and leads a communications strategy among all project stakeholders, ensuring that key information is shared well in advance of deadlines and that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of their roles and expectations relating to the overall project.
- Solves complex and ambiguous problems by leveraging quantitative and qualitative analyses, driving large cross-functional initiatives to their conclusion, and developing new practices as needed.

Research and Business Insights

- Provides data-driven recommendations on assortment, pricing, and category strategy based on customer behaviour, market trends, KPIs, and performance analytics relevant to Print + Retail Solutions' (P+RS) and Food Services (UWFS) customers
- Designs and maintains performance dashboards to analyze product, category,



and customer trends; translates insights into strategic recommendations for business growth and optimization
- Leads research initiatives to establish and prioritize requirements project and business requirements, including survey development, interviews, store intercept surveys, focus groups, environmental scans, data collection).
- Liaises with peer institutions and associations to discover and implement existing solutions in P+RS and UWFS.

Purchasing & Vendor Management

- - Makes purchasing decisions by assessing assortment, pricing, and presentation, while negotiating vendor terms to maximize value and enable cross-merchandising aligned with established customer profiles for the apparel and technology categories in P+RS, .
- - Monitors performance of both individual products and overall categories regularly by utilizing data to determine the best and worst performing products, with the goal of meeting category goals and objectives, as well as financial targets.
- - Monitors and enforces the appropriate use of University of Waterloo registered trade-marks.
- - Researches, develops, and maintains a database of vendors for sourcing products and for the development of University of Waterloo brand‑specific merchandise, and ensures that all vendors comply with established P+RS and University of Waterloo ethical business practices and guidelines.
- - Maintains a deep understanding of evolving apparel and technology vendor offerings, production timelines, turnaround times, product knowledge, limitations, and abilities, and coordinates timely arrivals for time‑sensitive goods.
- - Monitors and evaluates apparel and technology vendor performance, manages conflicts and disagre

📌 Project Manager, Commercial Projects (London)
🏢 Uwaterloo
📍 London