Technical Project Manager - AI Agents & Automation
Software Engineering, IT, Operations, Data Science
Collegedale, TN, USA
USD 85,400-123,600 / year
Join America’s favorite family bakery since 1934—home of Little Debbie®, Drake’s® Cakes, and Sunbelt Bakery® Granola Bars. Work with legacy brands that bring smiles to faces nationwide, including yours. You’ll experience a culture committed to work-life balance, guaranteed time off, and supportive health and wellness offerings. Enjoy profit sharing, long-term job security, and a range of exciting career paths. When you join McKee Foods, you’ll discover a better way to live and work.
Pay
Salaried grade 9, 11 or 12
$85,400 - $123,600 / year, depending on experience and qualifications.
Actual salaries may vary and in some cases may be higher with extensive experience and strong performance.
Exempt
Schedule
1st Shift (Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.), other hours as needed
Hybrid with minimum three days on-site per week
Location
10260 McKee Road, Collegedale TN 37315
Job Summary
McKee Foods is seeking a Project Manager to join our Agile Information Services team. Sitting within the IT organization and reporting to IT Project Management, the Technical Project Manager will lead a strategic portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation initiatives. You will partner closely with our internal IT development team to drive cutting-edge agentic AI use cases, while also providing oversight and delivery management for external consultants specializing in automation.
We are looking for an exceptional, adaptable leader with a solid technical foundation, strong financial acumen, and a tremendous ability to learn, grow, and adapt in a rapidly changing technology landscape. You must be driven by continuous value delivery. A critical mandate of this role is value realization: you will track project costs, measure performance, and ensure a transparent, consistent Return on Investment (ROI) across the entire automation and AI portfolio.
Project Leadership & IT Partnership
- Includes the end-to-end Agile delivery of a designated portfolio of AI and automation projects, providing regular reporting on progress, risks, ROI, and milestones to the IT Leadership Team
- Partner seamlessly with the internal IT development team to scope, build, and deploy agentic AI and cognitive workflows
- Manage the project deliverables of external automation consultants, ensuring their work aligns with IT standards, architectural guidelines, and business timelines
- Act as a catalyst for innovation, continuously learning and adapting to rapidly evolving AI trends to identify new, value-driving use cases
Value Realization & Financial Tracking
- Design and execute a practical value realization framework to measure the business impact of all AI and automation deployments
- Maintain solid financial tracking mechanisms to accurately monitor project costs, including infrastructure, licensing, vendor billable hours, and internal IT resource allocation
- Perform solid financial analysis to calculate and present ROI to executive leadership, ensuring all initiatives consistently deliver tangible business value
- Transition successful deployments from project phases into measured, value-generating operational assets
Strategy & Execution
- Apply a deep understanding of Agile/Scrum principles to manage highly iterative AI development and structured automation deployments
- Act as the strategic liaison between business stakeholders, external vendor consultants, and internal IT engineering functions
- Maintain rigorous documentation and reporting standards to support data analytics and continuous improvement initiatives
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business Analytics or related field
- 3 years in Technical Project Management, with a proven track record of successfully leading software development, IT, or AI-focused initiatives using Agile or similar methodologies
- A tremendous ability to learn, grow, and adapt to new technologies (e.g., GenAI, LLMs, agentic frameworks) while maintaining a relentless focus on delivering business value
- Strong capability in financial tracking, cost management, and ROI calculation
- A balance of technical literacy and business strategy is required
- Experience partnering cross-functionally with internal IT development teams while successfully managing the delivery of external vendors and consultants and presenting to senior leadership teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Business Analytics or related field
- PMP Certification
- 5+ years in Technical Project Management, with a proven track record of successfully leading software development, IT, or AI-focused initiatives using Agile methodologies
- Familiarity with the UiPath ecosystem or traditional RPA
Please note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.
Benefits
· Competitive weekly pay
· Profit-sharing cash bonus program
· 401(k) with matching contributions
· 25 days Paid Time Off (for vacation, holidays, sick time, personal time, etc.)
· Medical insurance, including health, dental, vision and prescription drug plan
· Supplemental plans, including life insurance
· Fully-paid parental leave
· Health Center and Pharmacy
· Mental wellness counseling (on-site in TN, virtual elsewhere)
· Tuition reimbursement
· Credit Union
· Exercise and recreation facility
· Wellness programs with incentives
· Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
· Short-term and long-term disability benefits (company-paid)
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer