Director, Project Management

Job Title: Director, Project Management

Team: Product

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

>Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a career-accelerating program that prepares promising young people—many of whom are people of color, from low income backgrounds, and the first in their families to attend college—to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation. 

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, we are helping to open up access to the American Promise, empowering a generation of leaders who mirror the diversity of our country.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Impact Report and 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, 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 write 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.
• Recognize, identify, and anticipate challenges, mitigate risks and their impact, and make decisions to facilitate issue resolution. 
• 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.
• 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- 5%
• 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- 5%

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
• Experience with agile methodologies and specifically, scrum

Preferred Qualifications
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• 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
• You exemplify Braven’s core values.
• Your experiences have informed your belief in Braven’s mission and have prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.
• Competencies:
• 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.
• You have a demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion.

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), Newark (NJ), or New York City (NYC) 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.
• Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof of such by the date of hire. Individuals may claim exemption from the vaccine requirement for medical or religious reasons.

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

Benefits

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 $86,800- $108,400 in Atlanta, $91,300-$114,100 in Chicago, $$100,500-$125,600 in Newark or New York City. 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
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office at least 3 days per week (on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and often work remotely 2 days per week (although certain commitments might adjust that from time to time). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of one of our hubs: Atlanta, Chicago, Newark, or New York City. 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.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

At Braven, we are committed to attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining a diverse team. Braven operates in the context of our American culture, against the backdrop of systemic racism and oppression of marginalized people since our country’s founding. We are committed to assembling leaders at our organization who have emerged from everywhere, with a particular emphasis on those who share the racial and income backgrounds of our Fellows, and creating an inclusive culture that allows all teammates, of all experiences and identities, to thrive.  

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.