Project Manager

Remote (United States)

Job Details

Employment Type: Full-Time

Compensation:
NYC or San Francisco Bay Area: $113,000 per year
All other U.S. locations: $102,500 per year

About the Role

This Project Manager will provide critical project management and operational support to a research team working across a portfolio of global health and poverty-alleviation programs. The primary focus is keeping a high volume of complex research and grantmaking projects organized, on schedule, and moving efficiently from planning through completion.

You will partner closely with researchers, internal teams, grantees, and other external stakeholders to manage timelines, maintain project systems, coordinate information, identify risks, improve workflows, and ensure accurate and reliable project documentation. This is primarily a project management and operational excellence role rather than a pathway into a research position.

What You’ll Do

Project Management of Research and Grantmaking Plans

• Manage the execution of research and grantmaking workflows, ensuring a high volume of complex projects remain on track and deadlines are met.
• Keep team trackers current and maintain a clear understanding of how individual projects support broader team goals.
• Manage project timelines and deadlines, identify risks early, and adjust schedules when competing priorities require changes.
• Create investigation templates and other tools that help research teams work consistently and maintain high standards.
• Maintain and improve project management systems, tools, and workflows while using judgment to determine when established processes should be followed or adapted.

Communication and Coordination

• Communicate clearly with project contributors, internal teams, grantees, and other external stakeholders regarding the projects you manage.
• Take increasing ownership of interactions with external stakeholders as experience and familiarity with the work grow.
• Facilitate smooth information flow and collaboration, ensuring contributors have the information they need to complete their work effectively.
• Write and send communications to grantees and other external contacts to request information, explain processes, or gather feedback.
• Prepare call agendas and document and communicate clear follow-up actions.
• Communicate research project status to internal teams and facilitate smooth handoffs related to fundraising and funding logistics.
• Recognize unusual situations and flag potential issues to relevant stakeholders early.

Attention to Detail and Accuracy

• Maintain high standards of accuracy and quality across systems, documents, processes, and other work products.
• Ensure public-facing documents clearly cite sources and contain important information needed to communicate research and decision-making.
• Keep team trackers updated with current and accurate information so teams and leadership can make decisions using reliable project details.
• Assign outstanding tasks and follow up promptly so project status, responsibilities, and next steps remain clear.
• Maintain organized and complete project files so information remains accessible and useful to the broader team.

Proactive Problem-Solving

• Identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities to improve operational processes and systems.
• Propose and implement practical solutions that improve workflows and overall team effectiveness.
• Help teams plan and execute their highest-priority work and support reprioritization when circumstances change.
• Improve guidance, templates, and processes to better support team needs.
• Resolve straightforward issues independently and escalate more complex challenges early, providing potential options for addressing them.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher.
• 2–5 years of experience in project management or operational support.
• Strong project planning and management skills, including the ability to identify and focus on the most decision-relevant aspects of a project.
• Ability to proactively move work forward, anticipate needs, identify risks early, and maintain momentum across projects.
• Strong ability to organize complex work involving multiple overlapping components and stakeholders.
• Exceptional attention to detail and the ability to manage a high volume of concurrent tasks and projects with competing deadlines.
• Ability to consider broader priorities, team capacity, and efficient allocation of time when planning and managing work.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain your reasoning and communicate areas of uncertainty.
• Comfort working in a document-heavy environment that relies on careful writing, clear documentation, and well-maintained systems.
• Curiosity and willingness to ask questions and critically evaluate your own work and the work of others.
• Ability to interact respectfully, efficiently, and effectively with colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Flexibility, strong organizational skills, and a proactive approach to supporting team effectiveness in a rapidly growing and changing environment.
• Genuine interest in work focused on improving global health and reducing global poverty.

Important Role Considerations

• This position is specifically focused on project management and operational excellence and is not designed as a pathway into research or another organizational function.
• The team uses both standard project management systems and custom workflows. Candidates should be comfortable adapting processes to project needs rather than relying exclusively on specific frameworks such as Agile or Scrum or on a particular project management platform.
• The role involves managing many concurrent projects with competing deadlines and frequent task switching.
• The working environment relies heavily on written documentation, requiring comfort with detailed documents, extracting key information, and managing numerous written workstreams simultaneously.
• The role is specifically designed for candidates with approximately 2–5 years of relevant experience. Candidates with substantially more experience, such as 7+ years in project management or operations, or advanced credentials such as a PhD, may find the position's level and scope less aligned with their career stage.

Travel Requirements

• Research team members may be required to attend site visits and conferences, averaging approximately 1–2 trips per year.
• Additional travel opportunities, including international travel, may be available for employees interested in traveling more.
• Employees are strongly encouraged to attend quarterly organization-wide and departmental retreats for collaboration and in-person work.
• Specific travel obligations will be discussed during the later stages of the hiring process, with consideration given to employees with family or other obligations.

Benefits

• Fully employer-funded health, dental, vision, and life insurance, with 100% of premiums covered for U.S.-based employees and their dependents.
• Four weeks of paid time off per year.
• Four months of fully paid parental leave.
• Employer-provided ergonomic home workstation or coworking space membership.
• Automatic employer contribution equal to 5% of gross salary to a 403(b) retirement plan for U.S.-based employees.