Project Manager, Platform (Contractor)

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Project Manager, Platform (Contractor) based in the United States.

As a Project Manager, Platform, you’ll serve as the operational backbone of a cross-functional product team delivering complex, high-impact initiatives.

You’ll orchestrate projects spanning software, digital content, service design, curriculum development, and physical production.

Your focus will be on owning the critical path, coordinating intricate dependencies, and keeping teams aligned around launch and readiness milestones.

You’ll anticipate risks, resolve blockers, and use data to improve team capacity, workflows, and delivery performance.

The role requires strong influence without direct authority and the ability to bring structure and clarity to fast-moving, high-pressure environments.

You’ll also manage external vendors and partners, ensuring commitments, quality standards, and timelines are consistently met.

This is a full-time contractor opportunity for an experienced project leader who thrives at the intersection of technology, content, and education.

Accountabilities:

• Lead the end-to-end execution of complex, large-scale initiatives involving software features, digital content, curriculum, physical materials, service readiness, and multiple cross-functional teams.
• Build and manage detailed project plans and critical paths, identifying long-lead activities and high-risk dependencies that could affect launch timelines.
• Coordinate dependencies between curriculum writers, software engineers, designers, production teams, service teams, and other internal and external partners.
• Proactively identify project risks, develop mitigation plans, restore project health, and escalate issues appropriately when additional support is required.
• Design and facilitate effective planning, execution, and status meetings, ensuring clear objectives, documented decisions, ownership, and follow-through.
• Oversee digital and service readiness, ensuring assets are properly tracked, quality-assured, and prepared for commercial launch.
• Analyze team velocity, capacity, and workflow performance to identify bottlenecks and implement process improvements that increase throughput.
• Conduct forward-looking resource planning across multiple quarters, anticipating staffing requirements, capacity constraints, and production peaks.
• Establish vendor agreements, negotiate statements of work and performance expectations, monitor delivery, and assess vendor performance for future decisions.
• Serve as the central source of truth for project status, providing stakeholders with clear, accurate, and data-driven updates on progress, trade-offs, risks, and resource requirements.
• Continuously improve project systems and workflows, including opportunities to automate administrative work and create efficiencies across the broader organization.

Requirements:

• 5-8+ years of experience managing complex projects, ideally within EdTech, software, creative publishing, or similarly multidisciplinary environments.
• Demonstrated ability to manage initiatives involving multiple teams, complex dependencies, and high-stakes launch timelines.
• Strong knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies for software development combined with Waterfall or Stage-Gate approaches for print and physical production.
• Experience managing blended products that combine digital experiences with physical materials or content.
• Advanced proficiency with Jira and Smartsheet, or comparable project management and workflow platforms such as Monday.com or Airtable.
• Ability to build effective dashboards, trackers, project plans, and reporting systems that provide teams with visibility into delivery progress and risks.
• Strong understanding of capacity planning, resource management, project metrics, and workflow optimization.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical issues for content and creative teams and communicate creative or production constraints effectively to technical stakeholders.
• Strong influencing, negotiation, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to align teams and resolve competing priorities without relying on direct authority.
• Highly organized, proactive, adaptable, and comfortable operating independently in ambiguous and high-pressure situations.
• Data-driven and outcomes-oriented, with a focus on measurable improvements, quality standards, and successful project delivery.
• Systems-thinking mindset with an interest in automation, process optimization, and creating scalable ways of working.

Benefits:

• Full-time contractor opportunity with a major education technology organization.
• Opportunity to contribute to products and initiatives supporting educators and learners at scale.
• Work across diverse disciplines including software, digital content, curriculum, creative design, and physical production.
• Collaborative, cross-functional environment with opportunities to influence processes and improve organizational efficiency.
• Opportunity to work on complex, high-visibility initiatives with meaningful educational impact.
• Inclusive workplace committed to equal opportunity and employment decisions based on qualifications and merit.
• Reasonable accommodations available for qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process.
• Background screening may be required upon selection, in accordance with applicable laws and policies.