Senior Technical Project Manager (Remote)

DataKind

10h • $110,000 - $130,000 • Remote

About The Position

Reporting to the Vice President, Technology, the Senior Technical Project Manager combines hands-on technical project management with team leadership. In a lean, mission-driven organization, you'll need to both lead the TPM practice AND carry a significant individual workload—managing critical projects yourself while coaching a small team of 1-2 TPMs.
This role requires someone comfortable rolling up their sleeves daily. You'll be involved in the details of sprint planning, stakeholder updates, and technical decisions while simultaneously establishing standards, mentoring team members, and building scalable processes.
You'll be the primary bridge between Research, Education, Product, Engineering, and Data Science teams, translating organizational technology priorities into coordinated delivery while developing your team members (who may not have traditional PM backgrounds) into skilled practitioners. You'll manage a complex portfolio with multiple external and internal stakeholders, including technical leaders, end users, donors, university leaders, and implementation partners.

Requirements

• Deep alignment with DataKind's mission and values, and demonstrated commitment to educational equity and data-driven social impact
• 8+ years managing software/data engineering projects with proven ability to deliver complex initiatives end-to-end
• 3+ years in a player-coach or team lead role—you've managed/mentored others while still doing significant IC work yourself
• Comfort with ambiguity and scrappiness—you thrive in lean, mission-driven environments where you need to be flexible and pragmatic
• Strong technical fluency: Can review technical designs, participate meaningfully in architecture discussions, understand trade-offs between different technical approaches, and debug why projects are stuck
• 5+ years working directly with engineering teams using modern SDLC practices (CI/CD, Git workflows, API development, microservices)
• 3+ years working on data engineering, ETL/ELT pipelines, analytics platforms, or data-intensive applications
• Track record of successful technical product launches—you've taken projects from concept through production
• Proficiency with project tracking tools (Asana, Jira, Linear, Monday.com) and documentation platforms
• Exceptional communication skills: Can explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, translate business needs to engineers, facilitate difficult trade-off discussions, and write clear documentation
• Proven ability to deliver multi-quarter projects with cross-functional teams while building processes and standards along the way
• Coaching mindset: Can develop team members who may not have traditional backgrounds, meeting people where they are and building skills progressively
• Bias toward action: More comfortable shipping something good than perfecting something forever; knows when to move fast and when to slow down
• Strong technical judgment: Can assess when technical debt is worth taking, when to push back on scope, and when quality is non-negotiable

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience as a software engineer, data engineer, data scientist, or similar hands-on technical role—this gives you credibility with engineering teams and helps you understand technical constraints viscerally
• PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, or SAFe certification (strongly preferred)
• Previous work in education, edtech, student information systems, or higher education technology
• Understanding of data privacy regulations (FERPA, GDPR), security requirements (SOC 2), and accessibility standards (WCAG, Section 508)
• Experience managing vendor relationships or external development partners
• Background in mission-driven, nonprofit, or social impact organizations—you understand the unique constraints and motivations
• Comfort working remotely with distributed teams across time zones

Responsibilities

• Co-create the technical roadmap with Engineering and Data Science leadership—you're at the table shaping strategy, not just executing it
• Own end-to-end delivery of the most complex, high-stakes projects yourself while mentoring other TPMs (currently one TPM and possibility of an additional hire in the future)
• Balance portfolio priorities across feature delivery, technical debt, platform stability—making trade-off decisions collaboratively with VP of Technology
• Define and track program-level milestones, deliverables, and success metrics across concurrent projects
• Jump into the details when needed—reviewing technical designs, attending architecture discussions, debugging blockers, or covering for team members
• Identify strategic risks early including technical dependencies, integration challenges, resource constraints, and scalability issues; drive mitigation with urgency
• Document complex technical requirements and propose practical pathways forward based on stakeholder needs and compliance requirements
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment between product, engineering, data science, and business stakeholders through working sessions, not just status meetings
• Run multiple complex projects concurrently—you're managing 2-4 major workstreams yourself at any given time
• Implement practical agile practices that fit the team's size and culture (no process for process's sake)
• Track and communicate project schedules, sprint plans, and release dates clearly and concisely
• Proactively identify and resolve risks, issues, and dependencies before they become blockers
• Lead critical planning sessions, standups, and retrospectives—facilitating decisions, not just documenting them
• Create useful documentation (roadmaps, status reports, technical requirements) that people actually read and reference
• Make real-time resource trade-offs when priorities shift or capacity changes
• Roll up your sleeves to unblock teams—whether that's clarifying requirements, getting stakeholder decisions, or coordinating with partners
• Define and integrate appropriate quality standards into product requirements and technical design without slowing teams down—find the right balance for your context
• Define clear validation, testing, documentation, and risk management requirements, ensuring the team understands completion criteria and the quality standards that must be met
• Work with Data Security team to integrate security and privacy requirements into development workflows
• Implement quality checks that catch issues early (definition of done, code review standards, testing protocols)
• Champion accessibility and compliance requirements (e.g. FERPA, WCAG, etc.) from the start of projects, not as afterthoughts
• Track meaningful quality metrics (defect rates, rollback frequency, user-reported issues) and address trends
• Own the relationship with VP of Technology—provide regular updates, escalate blockers quickly, recommend strategic decisions
• Present project status and portfolio health to VP-level stakeholders with clarity and confidence
• Manage expectations actively with external partners, university leaders, and donors through regular communication and transparency about timelines and risks
• Translate between technical teams and non-technical stakeholders fluently—you speak both languages
• Navigate difficult conversations about scope, timeline, or resource trade-offs with professionalism and solutions-oriented mindset
• Build trust with stakeholders through consistent delivery, honest communication, and follow-through
• Establish lightweight but effective project management standards, methodologies, and best practices that work for a small, agile organization
• Create reusable frameworks and templates that enable teams across product and engineering to work consistently without creating bureaucracy
• Model excellence through your own project work—team members learn by watching how you handle stakeholders, manage risks, and drive delivery
• Manage and mentor our current TPM and any future hires through regular 1:1s, performance feedback, and career development support
• Develop TPM capabilities in team members who may not have traditional PM backgrounds, providing hands-on training, shadowing opportunities, and gradual skill-building

Benefits

• Flexibility and time off. Enjoy genuine flexibility that goes beyond adjustable hours. We build in shared time off, organization-wide recharge days, bi-weekly meeting-free days, and flexible PTO (with a minimum of 20 vacation days encouraged annually).
• Comprehensive Wellness Support. We care for your total wellbeing with 100% employer-paid medical, vision, and dental benefits for employees (72% for dependents), a wellness reimbursement program for the activities and purchases that matter to you, and 12 weeks paid parental leave when you need it most.
• A Culture of Growth. Every team member receives professional development funding each year, alongside mentorship and advancement opportunities. We invest in your future with a 401(k) plan with 5% employer matching.
• Meaningful Connection. Despite being distributed across time zones, we value being able to come together in person for conferences, strategic planning, and at our annual staff retreat.
• Living our Values. DataKind is committed to a diverse, equitable and inclusive work environment in our day-to-day work and via special initiatives driven by our DEI Steering Committee.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed