Senior Project Manager, Ece State Partnership

Department
BSD SUR - OHNS: Thirty Million Words
About the Department
Background:
The TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago develops, tests, and implements evidence-based interventions designed to promote very young children's cognitive and social-emotional development, with a priority placed on that of children living in poverty. TMW Center interventions are designed to be overlaid onto existing health, education, and social service systems working at scale in a given community in order to meet families where they already are. The TMW Center has a robust research and development strategy that includes further development and testing of TMW interventions; harnessing technology to support behavior change, intervention engagement, and analysis; and furthering strategies to engage parents in the TMW Center's interventions across the health, early learning, and social service sectors.
Job Summary
The key responsibility of this role is to manage the TMW Center's multi-year research partnership with the State of Connecticut and shepherd the Connecticut project to completion. The Senior Project Manager will monitor the project from start to finish, coordinate with other TMW work streams, and manage day to day operational activities to ensure timely completion of project goals and deliverables.
Responsibilities

• Creates and manages overall project timelines and dependencies; manages the development and execution of work plans; sets deadlines, assigns responsibilities, and monitors and summarizes progress of project. Manages studies toward on-time completion of project benchmarks.
• In close collaboration with senior leadership, defines clear delineation of roles and responsibilities, key deliverables, and projected timelines. Assembles and leads a project team, assigns individual responsibilities, identifies appropriate resources needed, and develops schedules to ensure timely completion of project deliverables.
• Communicates project status to stakeholders and key project participants; reports up regularly to the Director of Partnerships on progress, staffing, and potential threats to success; identifies challenges and possible solutions; prepares reports for senior leadership and other stakeholders regarding status of project.
• Partners closely with PI, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Chief Creative Officer and other core project leadership to provide strategic input and ensure that learnings from the field inform analyses and further technological, program, tool development. Where appropriate, identifies opportunities to advance the ECE strategy for TMW Center's tech-based innovations.
• Meets regularly with study leads and internal teams to monitor progress toward goals. Sets study timelines and benchmarks that are aligned with data needs for analysis and funding deliverables and requirements.
• Provides direct management to on-the-ground staff in Connecticut; supervises field staff working on the research studies, including occasional on-site visits to Connecticut. Ensures Research Coordinators and other field staff are properly trained for intervention implementation and conducting study recruitment, data collection, and assessments.
• Coordinates with other TMW Center work streams and external stakeholders to ensure all deliverables are met and that key tasks are completed on time. Facilitates and encourages collaboration across work streams to ensure project milestones are completed successfully. Ensures shared learning and collaboration across studies and project activities, creating opportunities for lessons learned and best practices from one study to be shared and built upon in others.
• Identifies staffing and supply needs and creates incremental project goals and timelines. Identifies areas where staffing can be shared and maximized across studies and other Center-wide work.
• Engages with members of TMW Center teams as needed to ensure data collection systems, report processing, material procurement, permissions, and other necessary resources are in place and available.
• Ensures that implementation fidelity and best practices are embedded in all study implementation and program delivery protocols.
• Implements data collection and entry best practices, monitors for a high level of reliability, and ensures fidelity of implementation of assessments. Provides additional training and support as needed to maintain high level of quality.
• Tracks partnership metrics and contributes to relevant funding proposals and reports.
• Initiates and drives proactive, detailed planning work and complete detailed work plans, in collaboration with Leadership, for year two (2025) pilot work and year three (2026) RCT work at least six months prior to the start of each calendar year.
• Regular visits to Chicago and Connecticut to meet with and collaborate across teams, gather information and ensure fidelity of implementation.
• Works independently to develop detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plans, and status reports. Assembles and leads a project team, assigns individual responsibilities, identifies appropriate resources needed, and develops schedules to ensure timely completion of projects.
• Tracks progress, conducts analysis, as well as prepares for and facilitates project meetings. Ensures adherence to quality standards and reviews project deliverables.
• Acts as a resource and subject matter expert for project team and provides analytical guidance. Interprets complex project issues and provides analytical guidance to a project team.
• Leads and coordinates the successful integration of vendor tasks and tracks and reviews vendor deliverables.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications
Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
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Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.
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Certifications:
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Preferred Qualifications
Experience:

• Teaching experience in an early education setting: childcare, Pre-K, or early elementary education.

Preferred Competencies

• Knowledge of early childhood developmental stages and pedagogy.
• Ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Ability to train others.
• Excellent organizational skills, including strong attention to detail.
• Proven ability to establish and stick to timelines.
• Problem-solving skills, including a strong ability to prioritize.
• Initiative and independent judgment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Proficiency with Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook, and PowerPoint as well as conduct and participate in Zoom meetings on camera.
• Demonstrated ability to build diverse relationships and manage professional workload with minimal supervision.
• Ability to travel up to 10%.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (required)

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
Job Family
Administration & Management
Role Impact
Individual Contributor
FLSA Status
Exempt
Pay Frequency
Monthly
Scheduled Weekly Hours
40
Benefits Eligible
Yes
Drug Test Required
No
Health Screen Required
No
Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No
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