Senior Project Manager, SPARK

California Endowment • Los Angeles, CA

11d • Hybrid

About The Position

The California Endowment is seeking a Senior Project Manager for SPARK (Strategic Projects, AI, Results & Kaizen), its enterprise-wide capability for turning strategic priorities into measurable results. This is an execution-focused delivery role that leads projects and programs from concept through implementation, transition, and closeout, working across functional teams and supporting TCE’s strategic priorities. The role defines scope, keeps commitments on track, manages risks, and provides leadership with clear visibility into initiative status while building trust with Program and Grantmaking staff.

Reporting to the Chief Operations and Finance Officer (COFO), the Senior Project Manager partners with senior leaders, project sponsors, and staff across TCE. The role has no formal direct reports. SPARK follows a Focus, Design, Catalyze, and Transition rhythm: identifying priority work, convening appropriate people and expertise, establishing clarity and momentum, and transferring ongoing ownership to the appropriate team.

The role also helps strengthen TCE’s project management practice by establishing shared methods, supporting adoption of a project management platform, coaching staff, and facilitating training. It promotes practical, responsible use of AI and technology and continuous process improvement, partnering with IT and other technical teams rather than duplicating their work.

This is a hybrid position based in the Los Angeles office, with two office days per week. The Endowment is a private, statewide health foundation established in 1996. Its mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities and promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians.

Requirements

• Minimum five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in project or program management, business operations, process improvement, organizational change, consulting, technology implementation, or a closely related field.
• A bachelor’s degree in a related field is equivalent to four years of relevant experience.
• Expertise leading complex, cross-functional projects and programs from planning through implementation, transition, and closeout.
• Ability to translate high-level priorities and ambiguous problems into clear plans, sequenced work, concrete decisions, and measurable outcomes.
• Excellent facilitation, stakeholder management, written communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to influence without authority, build trust across functions, and hold teams accountable in a practical, respectful, and supportive way.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including identifying patterns, managing dependencies, assessing trade-offs, and developing sound recommendations.
• Experience with project management and collaboration tools, and comfort learning and applying process-mapping, workflow, data, automation, and AI tools.
• Knowledge of disciplined project management methodologies, such as Agile, Waterfall, hybrid, or Kanban, and ability to adapt an approach to the work.
• Ability to operate in a changing environment, manage multiple priorities, and remain calm and organized under pressure.
• Commitment to TCE’s mission, TCE+ principles, equity, learning, and cross-organizational partnership.
• Track record of keeping stakeholders informed and holding deliverables to deadlines.
• Comfort and effectiveness working across teams and functions without formal authority over the people involved.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook/Exchange, and with collaboration tools.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in a foundation, nonprofit, public-sector, or other mission-driven organization.
• Familiarity with a formal project management methodology such as Agile, Waterfall, hybrid, or Kanban, through training or hands-on experience.
• Experience with SaaS project management tools such as Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet, or Jira, or openness to learning and leveraging these tools.
• Project management certification such as PMP, CAPM, Agile, Scrum, or comparable; certification is not initially required, and the employee may pursue it within the first year.

Responsibilities

• Define project scope, milestones, deliverables, affected stakeholders, measures of success, and how learnings will be captured.
• Break project work into manageable tasks and sequence activities into realistic schedules.
• Track progress, deadlines, and deliverables across assigned initiatives.
• Translate ambiguous or high-level strategic priorities into concrete, actionable plans and connect project work to organizational strategy and TCE’s 2027 goals.
• Hold project owners and cross-functional partners accountable for commitments and deadlines, and escalate patterns of non-delivery to appropriate sponsors with actionable requests.
• Communicate project status clearly and consistently to leadership, program teams, and other stakeholders.
• Build trust with Program and Grantmaking staff, navigate competing departmental priorities, and influence without formal authority.
• Distinguish risks from issues, develop prevention and mitigation plans, resolve issues, surface obstacles early, and escalate with recommendations.
• Identify opportunities to simplify enterprise-wide processes and reduce manual or duplicative work.
• Help teams explore and responsibly adopt AI-enabled workflows and emerging technology relevant to their projects.
• Partner with IT and other technical teams on technology-related capabilities.
• Facilitate collaboration across historically siloed teams and coach less experienced project contributors and super users.
• Manage conflict constructively, including friction that may arise from accountability expectations.
• Help define common project management language, templates, meeting rhythms, dashboards, escalation routines, and role expectations across TCE.
• Support adoption of a single project management software platform, including setup, standard fields, dashboards, workflow rules, training, and usage expectations.
• Identify and help train departmental project management super users.
• Support manager readiness regarding project management role expectations, performance indicators, and evaluation of project management contributions.
• Hold coaching sessions, maintain training resources, and facilitate regular meetings for the project management bootcamp cohort.
• Maintain SPARK’s shared project tracking tool and reporting cadence.
• Apply SPARK’s Focus, Design, Catalyze, and Transition rhythm to assigned initiatives and hand off ongoing ownership when work is established.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Shared medical and dental premiums for employees and eligible dependents.
• Employer-paid vision, life and AD&D, short-term disability, long-term disability, and employee assistance program benefits.
• Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Reimbursement toward gym fees and/or wellness programs and mental health care.
• 9-80 schedule with synchronized days off.
• Hybrid work schedule available for most positions.
• 11 paid holidays and a paid winter holiday closure.
• Generous paid time off (PTO).
• 401(k) plan with employer match and contributions.
• Matching gifts program.
• Paid parking or public transportation subsidy.
• Professional development and training opportunities.
• Tuition reimbursement program.
• Monthly BYOD stipend.

What This Job Offers

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