Project Manager

Whipsaw is a product design and brand consultancy based in San Francisco. We take products from first insight to first customer, working across strategy, industrial design, digital experience, brand identity, packaging, and market launch with one integrated team. 350+ global client partners. 1,000+ products designed. 325+ design awards. Our clients are funded startups building their first commercial product and established companies evolving an existing one, entering a new market, or launching a new sub-brand. The work spans consumer, medical, scientific, industrial, and connected products. About Whipsaw Whipsaw is a product design and brand consultancy based in San Francisco. We take products from first insight to first customer, working across strategy, industrial design, digital experience, brand identity, packaging, and market launch with one integrated team. 350+ global client partners. 1,000+ products designed. 325+ design awards. Our clients are funded startups building their first commercial product and established companies evolving an existing one, entering a new market, or launching a new sub-brand. The work spans consumer, medical, scientific, industrial, and connected products. The role We're hiring a contract Project Manager to run one engagement, start to finish. You'll be fully dedicated to a single client program in the life sciences space, embedded with our strategists, researchers, and designers for the length of the contract. Your job is to be the connective tissue. You're in every session. You capture what happens, get it to the people who need it, and keep the program moving between meetings. When the design team needs a decision from the client, you know who to ask and when the answer is coming. When our internal PM needs context to conduct across the wider engagement, you've already handed it over. The work is unglamorous and enormously valuable. Programs like this rarely fail on craft. They fail because a piece of feedback got lost in a call three weeks ago, or because two stakeholders were working from different versions of the same deck. You're the reason that doesn't happen here. What you'll do Join every client working session, workshop, and research review Capture feedback, decisions, and open questions live, then turn them into something the team can act on within a day Synthesize session notes, research inputs, and client materials into clear summaries for our strategy and design teams Prep agendas, pre-reads, and recaps for every client touchpoint Keep the schedule, milestones, and deliverable list current, and flag slippage early Track action items on both sides of the engagement and chase them down Give our internal Whipsaw PM the full picture so nothing gets rebuilt from scratch or asked twice Own file organization, version control, and shared documentation so nobody hunts for the latest file Spot the tricky stuff before it lands: unclear scope, conflicting feedback, missing approvals, quiet stakeholders. Work the problem first, escape second. What we're looking for Required 3+ years managing complex, multi-workstream projects Direct experience in at least one of: biotech or life sciences, hardware, medical devices, or software Real product development experience. You know how a program moves from research through concept, refinement, and handoff, and you know where it usually break Exceptional organization and communication. This is the whole job. You write clearly, you write fast, and you write for the person reading it, whether they're a scientist, a designer, or an executive Comfort with AI tools. We use them daily for synthesis, note capture, research, and documentation. You should already be doing the same, and you should know when to trust the output and when to check it Tech native. New platform, new client system, new workflow. You pick it up without a training session Patience. Complex programs mean repeated questions, shifting inputs, and stakeholders who join late and need catching up. You handle that without friction Based in the San Francisco Bay Area and able to work hybrid onsite Nice to have Experience in regulated or scientific environments (FDA, ISO 13485, clinical or lab workflows) Agency, studio, or consultancy background Experience working in Microsoft 365 environments Experience working in Google Cloud environments Familiarity with Figma, Notion, or Smartsheet Research operations or workshop facilitation experience Terms Contract Length: 4-5 months, with potential to extend Hours: Up to 40 hours per week, fully dedicated to one client program Overtime: Billed to client and paid to you hourly Location: Hybrid, San Francisco/ 2-3 days per week onsite at 55 Mississippi St. Rate: $65-75 per hour Start date: August 12, 2026 Classification: 1099 #J-18808-Ljbffr