Project Manager, Digital Strategies

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Project Manager, Digital Strategies leads complex digital projects from concept to launch and serves as the primary liaison and relationship manager between the Digital Strategies team and university partners. The role aligns partner goals with team capabilities, supports clear communication and stakeholder management, and ensures partners feel understood while the team has the clarity and support needed to deliver strong work. It also supports UX Design and Development teams by facilitating agile ceremonies and iterative delivery practices. The role is part of Vanderbilt University's Communications and Marketing division, an institution-wide center of excellence that develops and executes communications and marketing strategies in support of the university's academic and research mission. The division advises and partners with other university divisions and seeks innovative approaches to emerging challenges. The Project Manager oversees project setup, schedules, documentation, communications, stakeholder coordination, and delivery across multiple concurrent digital projects. The position manages established workflows and systems, improves recurring processes, develops approaches for novel projects, and applies agile or scrum practices selectively to fit project and partner needs. It also leverages technology, automation, and emerging AI-enabled tools to improve planning, workflow, research, information synthesis, and communications while applying appropriate judgment and institutional standards. This position has no supervisory responsibility and reports administratively and functionally to the Director of Project Management and Production.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
At least 5 years of project management experience.
Proficiency with Wrike and project management methodologies.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Clear communication across multiple audiences and ability to translate between partner needs and team capabilities.
Ability to identify bottlenecks, facilitate solutions, and adapt to changing project needs.
Understanding of how digital projects serve institutional goals and ability to help partners assess priorities and trade-offs.
Ability to work independently and demonstrate discretion, professionalism, and sound judgment.
Familiarity with scrum frameworks and agile principles, including facilitating ceremonies, maintaining backlogs, and supporting iterative delivery in a hybrid project management/agile environment.
Demonstrated ability to adopt and effectively use emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to improve productivity, workflow, and quality of work.

Nice To Haves

Formal certification such as CSM or PSM.
Higher education experience.
Experience with Wrike or similar project management software.
Experience in digital development environments.

Responsibilities

Serve as liaison and relationship manager for university partners, including schools, units, centers, and divisions.
Proactively understand partner priorities and digital goals, help articulate needs, and align expectations with team capacity and capabilities.
Explain project constraints, trade-offs, and timelines while maintaining partner confidence and trust.
Set up and manage assigned digital projects in Wrike and Notion, including project structures and timelines.
Establish realistic deadlines and action items for team members, stakeholders, and external vendors.
Maintain current project documentation, including scope of work, timelines, and post-launch site documentation.
Monitor progress, identify risks and bottlenecks, and facilitate solutions to keep projects on track.
Manage multiple complex projects, balancing quick-turnaround requests and long-term initiatives.
Guide projects through pivots and scope changes while maintaining team momentum and partner confidence.
Facilitate agile ceremonies for UX Design and Development teams, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
Maintain and prioritize project backlogs with team leads and partners as needed.
Help identify and remove impediments that slow sprint progress or delivery.
Support iterative delivery while balancing agile flexibility with structured timelines.
Communicate regularly with team members and partners through meetings, status updates, and documentation.
Create and manage project agendas, meeting notes, and internal and external status updates.
Ensure stakeholders have accurate information and understand next steps.
Translate partner needs into clear project briefs and team documentation.
Manage project management systems and workflows, including Wrike, templates, and approval processes.
Identify opportunities to improve processes for recurring project types and design and implement systems for novel or complex projects.
Maintain organized project documentation and institutional knowledge.
Apply agile and scrum frameworks pragmatically according to project type, team capacity, and partner needs.
Use technology, automation, and emerging AI-enabled tools to improve project planning, workflow management, research, information synthesis, and communications development.
Identify opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen visibility and coordination, and improve execution speed and quality while applying appropriate judgment, confidentiality, and institutional standards.
Perform other relevant duties as assigned.