Project Manager III

The First Church of Christ, Scientist • Boston, MA

2d • $130,089 - $169,115 • Onsite

About The Position

The Project Manager III leads complex, cross-functional projects with significant organizational impact. They play a senior role that independently leads medium to large, cross-functional initiatives with meaningful organizational impact. Working independently, the Project Manager III serves as a mentor to other project managers, and a senior escalation resource for complex project and stakeholder challenges. The role blends demonstrated project management experience and thought leadership to contribute to the ePMO’s effectiveness and continuous improvement. Project Manager III can be characterized as follows: Project Complexity: Medium to large cross-functional projects with significant coordination across departments. Projects often involve multiple stakeholders with competing priorities and higher organizational visibility. Supervision: Operates with minimal supervision and is trusted to manage complex projects independently. Serves as an escalation resource for other project managers when challenges arise. Stakeholder Exposure: Works directly with coordinating managers and multiple project sponsors to align priorities, resolve conflicts, and maintain cross-department coordination. Experience: 5–9 years of project management experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives. Decision Authority: Independently manages complex projects and makes significant decisions regarding scope, schedule, resources, and risk management. Resolves most stakeholder and project conflicts and escalates only major strategic or organizational issues.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 5–9 years of project management experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Active listening skills to understand user needs.
• Ability to take constructive feedback and act on it.
• Stakeholder engagement and strong communication with coordinating managers.
• Navigating cross-functional, multi-stakeholder, collaborative environments.
• Leadership, communication, and group facilitation.
• Humility and a willingness to learn; sets aside personal agenda, and prioritizes the project and stakeholder needs.
• Leadership presentation skills, including a demonstrated ability to provide key project updates to management with minimal supervision.
• Project planning, budgeting, and cost controls.
• Risk management.
• Proficiency in business productivity tools (Google, MS Office, Figma, etc).
• Experience with project management tools (Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence. etc).

Nice To Haves

• Agile and PMI (PMP or PgMP) certification preferred.
• Christian Science Mother Church membership is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Leads collaboration among project sponsors and stakeholders to clarify goals, priorities, assumptions, and constraints.
• Facilitates discussions that help stakeholders evaluate tradeoffs and reach alignment on project direction.
• Builds trust as a collaborative partner and change agent supporting organizational priorities.
• Guides stakeholders through complex decisions while maintaining project momentum.
• Requires minimal supervision from ePMO leadership; capable of navigating project complexities, escalating risks, and reporting key updates to leadership.
• Partners with project sponsors to define initiative goals, scope, success criteria, and strategic alignment.
• Develops comprehensive Project Overviews including definition of done, assumptions, risks, approach, timeline, resource requirements, and stakeholder alignment.
• Designs stakeholder communication and engagement strategies to support complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Facilitates planning discussions that help sponsors evaluate priorities, tradeoffs, and resource constraints.
• Partners with senior sponsors to clarify business needs, strategic objectives, and success criteria.
• Leads execution of complex cross-functional projects involving multiple departments and competing priorities.
• Manages scope, schedule, and project budget while balancing stakeholder expectations and organizational constraints.
• Proactively navigates complex stakeholder dynamics and facilitates alignment among leadership, without driving a personal agenda.
• Anticipates project risks and implements mitigation strategies before issues escalate.
• Ensures project documentation is complete, accurate, and supports effective decision-making.
• Integrates hybrid delivery approaches across internal and external teams.
• Maintains high levels of transparency across stakeholders and leadership.
• Leads cross-functional teams spanning multiple departments.
• Guides teams through ambiguity, competing priorities, and shifting organizational needs.
• Drives accountability and results without direct authority.
• Uses Kanban and other workflow management practices to improve team coordination and transparency.
• Resolves interpersonal conflicts and strengthens team collaboration.
• Mentors team members and junior project managers to build project delivery capabilities.
• Serves as lead project manager or co-lead for complex vendor engagements.
• Facilitates statements of work, change orders, and vendor performance discussions.
• Leads vendor negotiations related to scope adjustments, deliverables, and timelines.
• Resolves vendor performance issues and escalates critical concerns when necessary.
• Advises leadership on vendor capabilities and risks during project execution.
• Partners with Vendor Management and Security teams to ensure compliance and best practices.
• Update project portfolio,
• Publish periodic portfolio updates.
• Support ongoing work braiding.
• Support Cohort meetings.
• Identifies opportunities to improve ePMO tools, templates, and project delivery practices.
• Proposes refinements that strengthen project governance and execution.
• Coaches and mentors Level I–II project managers.
• Promotes a culture of project excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior