Project Manager, Digital Strategies

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

14h

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 throughout the project lifecycle, and helps ensure partners feel understood and the team has the clarity and support needed to deliver strong work. The position supports the UX Design and Development teams by facilitating agile ceremonies and iterative delivery practices. It manages project setup, timelines, documentation, risks, communication, workflows, and partner expectations across multiple projects. The role also improves processes and systems, applies agile or Scrum approaches pragmatically, and uses technology and emerging AI-enabled tools to improve planning, coordination, productivity, and quality. The position is part of Vanderbilt University’s Communications and Marketing division, which serves as an institution-wide center of excellence and strategic partner for communications and marketing. It reports administratively and functionally to the Director of Project Management and Production and has no supervisory responsibility.

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.
Ability to understand how digital projects serve institutional goals and help partners consider priorities and trade-offs.
Ability to work independently and demonstrate discretion, professionalism, and sound judgment.
Familiarity with Scrum frameworks and agile principles, including the ability to facilitate ceremonies, maintain backlogs, and support 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 partners’ strategic priorities and digital goals, helping them articulate needs and connect digital solutions to broader institutional objectives.
Communicate project constraints, trade-offs, and timelines, and align partner expectations with team capacity and capabilities.
Set up and manage assigned digital projects in Wrike and Notion, establishing project structures and timelines.
Create deadlines and action items for team members, stakeholders, and external vendors.
Maintain accurate project documentation, including scopes of work, timelines, and post-launch site documentation.
Monitor progress, identify risks and bottlenecks, facilitate solutions, and guide projects through pivots and scope changes.
Manage multiple complex projects simultaneously, balancing quick-turnaround requests with long-term initiatives.
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, and help identify and remove impediments to delivery.
Support iterative delivery while balancing agile flexibility with structured partner and internal timelines.
Maintain frequent communication 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 understand current information and next steps.
Translate partner needs into clear project briefs and team documentation.
Manage established project management systems and workflows, including Wrike, templates, and approval processes.
Identify opportunities to improve recurring project processes and design and implement systems for novel or complex projects.
Maintain organized project documentation and institutional knowledge.
Apply agile and Scrum frameworks selectively and 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 ways to streamline processes, improve visibility and coordination, and increase execution speed and quality while exercising appropriate judgment and maintaining confidentiality and institutional standards.
Perform other relevant duties as assigned.