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.

Requirements

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