Service Design Project Manager

Harmonic Design•Atlanta, GA

10d•Remote

About The Position

We are looking for an organized, people-centered project manager to sit at the heart of our service design consultancy. You will be the connective tissue between executive partners, engagement leads, service designers, and clients— keeping design work moving, visible, and on track. Service design engagements are complex: they span discovery through to delivery and must balance iterative ways of working with organizational accountability. This role exists to make that complexity manageable. This is a full-time role with roughly half your time billable to client engagements and half dedicated to internal operations. Both halves matter equally. You will own the operational rhythm of several engagement teams and internal initiatives—from daily stand-ups to client reporting—so that the design team can focus on doing their best work. You will not be expected to do the design work yourself, but you must understand it well enough to ask the right questions, spot risk early, and communicate progress clearly to a range of audiences.

Requirements

Demonstrable experience managing complex, multi-workstream projects in a design, innovation, or professional services consultancy, not just internal projects or product delivery.
Genuine curiosity about service design: you don't need to do the work, but you need to understand what good looks like well enough to ask the right questions and spot when something is off.
Comfort operating in a dual role—part client-facing project lead, part internal operations contributor—and the self-management to switch between them without dropping either.
Comfort in a small firm environment where structure is still being built. You'll help shape the way this role works, not inherit a fully defined playbook.
Fluency in project management tools, including Productive, and the ability to work inside clients' systems (Jira, Asana, Notion) without needing hand-holding.
Strong written communication: status reports, decision logs, and client-facing summaries that are clear, appropriately concise, and don't require editing before they go out.
Facilitation skills that work in a room of senior stakeholders and a room of designers equally well.
Close attention to detail in tracking and financial reporting—hours, actuals, budget burn—without losing sight of the bigger picture.
A working style built on transparency and proactive communication. You flag early, you follow up proactively, and you don't wait to be asked.
Four to six years of project management experience, with at least two years inside a design, innovation, or professional services consultancy.
Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Familiarity with design and iterative ways of working.

Nice To Haves

PMP or similar certification is a plus, not a requirement.

Responsibilities

Own and facilitate the project’s operational rhythm, including stand-ups, project health checks, and retrospectives.
Work with the Engagement Lead to keep the project plan current, proactively flag schedule risks, replan after delays, and coordinate dependencies.
Maintain trackers, dashboards, and client status reports. Chase updates and synthesize findings into clear impact summaries.
Maintain the decision log, document rationale and scope changes, and distribute records to relevant stakeholders in a timely way.
Respond to emerging blockers, secure approvals, align with dependent teams, and manage the unplanned coordination that is a natural part of complex consulting work.
Collaborate with the Principal of Design Operations to support the roll-out of internal operations programs and internal content management.