Communications Project Manager

Summary:

Are you a systems thinker? Can you help a creative team find its sweet spot? Do you live to help groups celebrate their accomplishments and their differences while cementing good working processes? This job is for you.

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for a Project Manager to join the Communications department, reporting to the Senior Program Manager. We want to change the world and we have been doing just that for the last 20 years. As we’ve grown we have flexed our creative muscles and become more comfortable with increasingly complex projects. 

As a Senior Project Manager in the Communications department, you will liaise regularly with and across several creative teams, acting as a strategic partner to writers, designers, marketers, and movement communications specialists. Our work often touches upon different departments across the Foundation with varying degrees of interdependencies. Part of your role will be to manage project plans, define schedules, lead meetings, track progress, schedule and facilitate cross-team and cross-departmental projects, support our collective work, and help us to explore possible futures. 

This is a remote position working with teams in the USA, the UK, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. 

You are responsible for:

• Developing shared understandings within and across teams in the department

• Inspiring trust & driving projects to completion

• Ensuring individuals and teams understand their commitments to goals and to each other

• Managing the delivery of multiple projects

• Motivating teams to follow through on commitments and uphold a culture of accountability

• Liaising with other departments on Foundation-level projects  

• Identifying roadblocks, challenges, and dependencies and alerting your project teams 

• Developing and reporting upon relevant qualitative and quantitative metrics

• Conscientiously and consistently building trust and ensuring a sense of belonging

• Reinforcing the power and importance of attempting challenging work 

• Coordinating commitments, communications, timelines, and dependencies, within and across teams

• Creating and managing good calendars and scopes

• Identifying stakeholders and keeping them aware of progress

• Building and maintaining coalitions both inside and outside the Foundation

• Supporting healthy team dynamics and a culture that welcomes diverse perspectives

Skills and experience:

• 5+ years of experience working as a project manager 

• Strong project management skills: prioritization, organization, planning, time management, stakeholder management, facilitation, problem solving, and decision-making

• Experience working with creative teams

• Ability to build rapport and influence with distributed teams representing various cultures and time zones with different communication styles

• Ability to anticipate risks, resolve conflicts, and initiate escalation paths

• Ability to build relationships and trust, influence without authority, and effectively enforce accountability

• Strong interpersonal communications skills

• Experience with using project management software (we use Asana)

Qualities that are important to us:

• Mission driven—you believe in the power of inclusive communication and movement building to make free knowledge accessible to everyone. 

• Openness and curiosity—we work on new and interesting problems in complex, public and collaborative ways.

• Resilience—Working together for outcomes, willingness to change course when warranted and motivated by high standards.

• Positivity—Sharing a culture of encouragement and respect.

• Team-oriented—Natural inclination for team collaboration and for helping colleagues succeed 

• Intentionally inclusive—Strong personal values related to participation, equity, and diversity in global movements

• Creativity—An appreciation of creative mentalities linked with an understanding of creative approaches that may involve risk 

Additionally, we’d love it if you have:

• Experience working in an international organization that has a distributed workforce 

• Experience working within a movement with strong culture and values

• An understanding of the value of neurodiversity

• Fluency in languages other than English

• A desire for your work to be world-changing

• A good sense of humor

• Non-profit experience

About the Wikimedia Foundation:

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. 

The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that relies on donations. We receive donations from millions of individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

As an equal opportunity employer, the Wikimedia Foundation values having a diverse workforce and continuously strives to maintain an inclusive and equitable workplace. We encourage people with a diverse range of backgrounds to apply. We do not discriminate against any person based upon their race, traits historically associated with race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy or related medical conditions, parental status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, or any other legally protected characteristics.

Benefits & perks:

• Health Care Benefits Covered at 100%: We cover 100% of premiums for medical, dental and vision plans for all full time employees and eligible dependents

• Wellness Reimbursement Program: Up to 1,800.00 USD per year for reimbursement for staff wellness expenses, such as gym fees, educational expenses, and more

• Technology and Equipment Stipend: In addition to receiving a brand new laptop, monitor, & docking station, all new hires receive 600.00 USD stipend to set up their space for working virtually 

• Professional Development Program: Up to 750.00 USD reimbursement per year to encourage continuous learning through attending conferences, courses, workshops and the purchase of educational materials 

• 401(k) Retirement Plan: Employer match of up to 4% of employee contributions dollar for dollar with no vesting period

• Paid Time Off: Generous paid time off policy of over 45 days, which includes: vacation days, at least one observed holiday a month, sick leave, and volunteer days

• Flexible Schedules: Options available to balance your personal and remote-work life

• Silent Fridays: No scheduled meetings so you can get caught up at the end of each week

• New Parent Leave: Fully paid new parent leave for seven weeks plus an additional five weeks for pregnancy, and flexible options as you embark on your return to work

• Fertility and Adoption Reimbursement Plan: Reimburses staff up to 5,000.00 USD in expenses per year, with a lifetime maximum of 10,000.00 USD

• Assistance for those unexpected life events: Long and short term disability, life insurance, and an employee assistance program

• Pre-tax Savings Plans: Generously funded health savings accounts (HSAs), pre-tax contribution options for health care, child care & elder care, public transportation and parking expenses