Position Overview

The Project Manager is responsible for leading the planning, execution, and delivery of educational content (digital and print) and technology projects. The Project Manager owns project execution and ensures that all aspects of the project are delivered on time, on budget, and to the highest standard of quality. They are responsible for managing and collaborating with project team members (Six Red Marbles employees, contractors, and vendors) to develop project workflows, schedules, and resource plans; planning and allocating resources in Smartsheet; and maintaining a cooperative, motivated, and successful team. The Project Manager will also act as the main point of contact for the client’s project team, ensuring that communications are clear, timely, and diplomatic and that all aspects of the project are delivered on schedule, on budget, and to the client’s satisfaction.

Specific Duties, Activities, and Responsibilities:

Project Planning

• Lead the design, planning, and implementation of detailed project plans throughout the project life cycle, both with the internal SRM team and with the client’s project team
• Drive resource planning for internal staff and freelancers as part of project plan creation by utilizing Smartsheet to model workflows that balance client schedule needs with staff and freelancer capacity
• With adherence to the statement of work, collaborate with the functional area leads from learning experience design, editorial, digital development, and production to facilitate adherence to project scope, project goals, deliverables, level of effort, risk assessment, scheduling strategies, resource and staffing, budgeting, change management, communication, and acceptance criteria, both internally and with clients
• Follow defined project management methodology for planning, tracking, quality management, and communication
• Utilize defined project management tools to set up and manage the project (Smartsheet, Sharepoint, etc.)

Resource Management

• Collaborate with the Project Director and functional leads to assemble and coordinate internal staff and to manage freelancers, consultants, or vendors
• In collaboration with the Project Director and relevant functional leads, confirm effort and time required to complete project tasks and ensure accurate LOE is maintained in Smartsheet project plans; communicate project utilization metrics to project team members and track and report hours and expenses charged against the project budget
• Actively manage project resources, including giving and tracking delivery of assignments, mitigating late deliveries, and managing resource communication
• Provide real-time tracking of freelancer, consultant, and vendor assignments via Smartsheet; work with procurement and finance to maintain external contracts and purchase orders; monitor and track freelance/vendor resource costs against purchase orders

Budgeting, Forecasting, and Reporting

• Maintain the project budget, including estimated and actual hours and expenses and estimated and actual deliverables, using SRM’s project management tools
• Regularly review, update, and validate data in SRM’s financial system of record (Sage Intacct)
• Track project hours and expenses against project budget, including forecasting remaining project hours and expenses, to identify and mitigate potential overages; collaborate with functional leads to strategize prevention and mitigation of overages
• Develop and report on operational excellence and effectiveness through KPIs on budget, scope management, quality, resources, etc.
• Actively manage project scope through ongoing comparison of contractual agreement with realized delivery of project, including client feedback, timeliness of deliverables, adherence to acceptance criteria, etc.; escalate to appropriate stakeholders and document scope changes, risks, or issues through the change management process

Leadership and Communication

• Serve as the primary contact for day-to-day project communication for all involved in the project, including clients, the internal SRM team, and outside contractors and vendors
• Anticipate, identify, and document risks, scope changes, and issues on the project; collaborate with the team to troubleshoot and resolve issues throughout the project life cycle; document and escalate issues as appropriate
• Proactively lead project team members across all functional areas
• Provide regular, detailed reporting to key stakeholders on project metrics and KPIs
• Communicate project status to the client and internal stakeholders on a regular basis at intervals defined during project planning stage and as needed to meet client requests.
• Hold regular internal and client status meetings; set meeting agenda with input from the team; document and distribute minutes/notes following every meeting; keep all meeting participants focused and on task to maximize efficiency
• Keep internal stakeholders apprised of any risks to the project schedule, budget, or deliverables as soon as they become apparent through project tracking and reporting; collaborate with the Project Director and functional leads to communicate risks and/or issues and their resulting solution to the client