Employer: SmartBug Media
Do you thrive on building effective websites that generate serious results for your clients? Are you business savvy and passionate about project management? Do you want to see your creative ideas come to life in a sky’s-the-limit, fast-moving agency environment? If so, this role at SmartBug Media is right for you.
Position Overview
The remote Project Manager (PM) is a client-facing position responsible for the success of SmartBug’s website projects. The WPM works with designers, UX specialists, developers, QA specialists, and marketing consultants to ensure the delivery of high-end websites to our clients, which are most commonly delivered on HubSpot and WordPress CMS platforms. Projects may also be built on or integrated with content management and marketing automation platforms such as Shopify, Marketo, Pardot, or others.
This role requires specific attention to detail in regards to planning and scheduling internal resources, as well as coordinating with the client’s schedule to hand off deliverables by the date agreed to on their contract, all within the scoped budget.
In this role, you will specifically be responsible for the success of these projects with regard to the following key areas:
The Day-to-Day:
- Act as the project owner and key point of contact for both the client and internal project team.
- Actively oversee and manage project execution throughout the entire project lifecycle (from discovery to close).
- Track and manage project actuals versus the plan for budget and schedule, and actively address variances as they occur.
- Lead project discovery and deliverable review calls with client and client stakeholders as appropriate.
- Identify, track, and manage project action items, issues, and risks.
- Practice disciplined scope management while maintaining high customer satisfaction rates. Keep web redesign projects profitable while rocking the customer experience.
- Scope management related to internal resources: All projects have a defined scope and estimated hours per internal resource (example: 100 hours for developer), and the WPM is responsible for making sure each of the key internal resources are not overstepping their defined scope.
- Scope management related to client requests: Work directly with clients to ensure that their goals and desires for the website are within the contractual scope.
- Offer clear and frequent communication with the client regarding project scope of work and additional requests.
- Proactively manage client expectations about what is included in the scope versus what is not included in the scope throughout the project lifecycle.
- Offer and control change orders in a timely manner for client requests that are outside the original scope of work. Contribute to the improvement and maintenance of project management processes.
- Project planning: Segment site creation into logical phases including but not limited to requirements gathering, wireframing, creating copy decks, design, development, internal testing, user testing, launch, and post-launch support.
- Participate in SmartBug’s process improvement by gathering input from both internal and external stakeholders to present improvements to management to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to our customers.
- Provide detailed feedback to project teams and internal resources including developers, the creative team, and quality control analysts to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to our customers.
- Act as the face of our web services team, building and delivering a customer experience that exceeds expectations and makes the client comfortable publicly endorsing us and acting as a reference account.
- Other responsibilities as assigned.
Experience and Education Requirements:
- Authorization to work in the U.S. without employer sponsorship is required
- At least 3 years of client-facing experience managing web development projects in an agency or client services setting is required
- B.A. or B.S. degree is required; technical field preferred
- Proven ability to manage multiple projects and consistently meet deadlines
- Excellent organization and time management skills
- Ability to lead and direct project resources with confidence, identify and act on project issues and risks, seeing each through to its proper resolution
- Solid business acumen, management, and problem-solving skills
- Hands-on experience with project management systems is required; experience with Teamwork is strongly preferred
- Proven relationship-building skills and communication experience
- Strong presentation skills and ability to communicate with executive-level clients
- Basic understanding of digital marketing, including content marketing, SEO, and website optimization
- PMP, CAPM, CSM or other reputable project management certification strongly preferred
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Suite
- Experience working remotely in similar roles is strongly preferred
Interview Process:
- Screening call with HR
- Video call with hiring manager
- Video call with hiring team
- Reference checking
- Final video interview with SmartBug’s COO
