Director, Project Management

Job Title: Director, Project Management

Team: Product

Location: In-Person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), or Newark (NJ)

Employment Type: Full-time

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs Report.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring a Director, Project Management who will serve as a project manager of multiple high impact, cross-functional projects at Braven. This person will also contribute to the development of our Project Management Office, that will pioneer codifying a standard project management methodology that will be critical in moving our program from its current state into our future state. As a member of the Project Management subteam, you will utilize the Agile methodology and Scrum framework to create and lead cross-functional project teams, which may also include complex technical projects, in order to reach key project milestones and ultimately, high impact deliverables that will allow Braven to meet its ambitious goals.

This role is on the Product team and reports directly to the Managing Director, Project Management.

What You’ll Do

Support, manage, and execute the life-cycle of a portfolio of multiple short- and long-term cross-functional projects, ensuring excellence in all aspects of service delivery (90%)

• Manage end-to-end operational and tactical aspects of cross-functional projects of varying size, scope, technical level, organizational impact, and risk.
• Create and maintain quality project documentation and other assets, including the project charter, project schedule and lessons learned.
• Evaluate assigned projects and plans utilizing the Agile methodology and Scrum framework. 
• Identify and gain agreement on project requirements, objectives, scope, timing, and resources with organizational stakeholders.
• Effectively communicate and consult with product owners, product managers, project sponsors and project contributors to ensure consistency and alignment on the project methodologies for successful project delivery. 
• Collaborate closely with product owners, Program Managers and other subteam leads to understand their needs, in order to prioritize work effectively and to evaluate and resolve conflicts to produce successful outcomes.
• Manage the project backlog and develop new user stories, in collaboration with the product owner.
• Facilitate project meetings and regularly communicate the status of projects to stakeholders within and beyond the project team.
• Collaborate with teammates within and across projects to identify project risks and develop mitigation strategies.
• Identify and manage project dependencies to ensure timely project completion.
• Develop, strengthen, and cultivate effective working relationships with project sponsors and teams to ensure cross-team communication, transparency, consistency, and successful achievement of project goals and outcomes.
• Communicate project status, risks, and issues to all stakeholders, including Braven leadership in a clear and concise manner.
• Ensure timely completion of project deliverables and milestones and overall project success in relation to stakeholder satisfaction and project quality.
• Contribute to tasks within the scope of the projects, as assigned.

Contribute to the development of the Braven Project Management Office and the Product Team  (10%)

• Collaborate with other members of the Project Management Team, in order to share and further codify Braven’s project management best practices. 
• Commit to utilizing the standard project management methodologies of the growing Braven Project Management Office, while simultaneously offering feedback and new learnings for continuous improvement. 
• Other duties to support the vision and direction of the Product Team, as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

• At least 5 years of work experience
• At least 3 years of experience with highly cross-functional project management (formal or informal)
• Experience with project management tools such as Asana, Jira or Smartsheet
• Experience with agile methodologies and specifically, scrum and kanba

Preferred Qualifications 

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree
• Work Experience: 5+ years of demonstrated excellence in cross-functional project management or complex program management and demonstrated success in managing people directly and laterally, ideally with some experience in a non-profit setting
• Certifications: Certified Scrum Master or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
• Additional Preferred Skills: 
• Experience as a Technical Project Manager or similar role, managing complex technical projects from initiation to completion
• Some familiarity with software development and emerging technologies
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values.
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.
• Demonstrated success in managing complex projects from start to finish. You pay attention to the details and ensure that all contributing teammates have task clarity, while also ensuring that all stakeholders are updated. 
• You are a relentless prioritizer, with the ability to make hard decisions in order to achieve the most important things.
• Committed to continuous learning and improvement and as such, are comfortable seeking out, receiving and implementing constructive feedback without taking it personally.
• Strong ability to collaborate effectively and cross-functionally with teammates. Your passion for our mission and those whom we serve is evidenced by an unwavering customer service orientation. Your role is to set others up to do their best work. 
• Strong communicator and facilitator, able to present ideas and content in a concise, clear, engaging way and able to adapt your approach to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including technical and non-technical teammates.
• Demonstrated success in building relationships in order to enhance the effectiveness of your team or work.
• A problem solver at the systems level, who is comfortable with ambiguity. You are able to thrive in the gray, while being excited about and able to convert that gray into black and white.
• Regardless of your role, you are ready to roll up your sleeves to get the work done that will propel Braven through the growth phase we are in.
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL),or Newark (NJ) at least 3 days per week
• Will be expected to travel for no more than three to four weeks in the year
• Ability to support Braven’s programming eight nights per year

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits

The salary for this position, which depends on prior work experience and our assessment of your demonstrated fit for the role, will likely be between $ 87,200-$108,900 in Atlanta, $92,000-$114,900 in Chicago, and $101,200-$126,400 in Newark, NJ. This is a full-time regular\exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity. Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking. You will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, or Newark. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.