Project Manager

Job Description

This is a temporary contract position to run for 6 months, without benefits, with the possibility for extension at the end of the term.

Position Summary

The Project Manager leads the planning and delivery of cross-functional technology and business initiatives for the Specialty Food Association (SFA). The role translates business needs into executable plans, creates clarity in complex or evolving situations, and drives work from intake through implementation and closeout. The Project Manager works independently while partnering with Technology leadership, developers, business stakeholders, subject matter experts, designers, data analysts, and external vendors.

The successful candidate combines strong project delivery discipline with practical technology fluency, an understanding of UX and design delivery, data and integration awareness, sound judgment, and the ability to anticipate risks, dependencies, stakeholder impacts, and downstream implications. The role requires active project leadership rather than administrative coordination alone.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Technology delivery and planning

• Lead and manage multiple concurrent technology and business initiatives of varying size and complexity using SFA’s hybrid delivery approach.
• Manage initiatives involving data integration, analytics, reporting, and system integrations.
• Work with business and Technology stakeholders to clarify objectives, scope, outcomes, assumptions, success measures, and decision rights.
• Develop and maintain integrated plans covering milestones, deliverables, owners, dependencies, critical path, design, development, testing, approvals, implementation, and transition to operations.
• Drive work forward with limited day-to-day direction and escalate when decisions, resources, or leadership intervention are needed.

Requirements, scope, and solution alignment

• Facilitate discovery and requirements discussions across business, technology, UX and design, content, data, finance, security, and vendor teams.
• Ensure business requirements are sufficiently understood before work advances, including possible integration, data, customer experience, security, operational, accessibility, and downstream process impacts.
• Maintain traceability from approved requirements and decisions to deliverables, tasks, designs, testing, and acceptance criteria.
• Proactively identify ambiguity, gaps, conflicting assumptions, and scope changes and drive resolution with the appropriate stakeholders.
• Distinguish projects from enhancements, production support, and operational work and support consistent intake and governance practices.

Digital experience, UX, and design delivery

• Plan and manage the UX and design lifecycle.
• Ensure approved requirements and decisions are documented and traceable.
• Identify design decisions or changes that may affect scope, integrations, content migration, development effort, timeline, budget, testing, or operations.

Execution, risk, and dependency management

• Own day-to-day execution, including assignments, due dates, estimates, status, follow-up, issue resolution.
• Maintain current risk, issue, decision, action, and dependency tracking with clear owners, impacts, mitigation actions, and escalation paths.
• Validate that dates are realistic commitments rather than placeholders.
• Be resourceful when faced with challenges and proactively find solutions with the project team.
• Coordinate shared resources across initiatives and surface conflicts early so priorities and sequencing can be resolved.
• Plan and coordinate testing, deployment, communications, and post-launch follow-up as appropriate.

Stakeholder and vendor management

• Lead meetings with clear objectives, agendas, decisions needed, and follow-up actions.
• Hold internal teams and vendors accountable for commitments.
• Manage deliverables, timelines, dependencies, open questions, and approvals in coordination with project and business owners.
• Exercise judgment about when to resolve issues directly, convene stakeholders, or escalate.

Communication, documentation, and reporting

• Produce clear, accurate meeting notes, status reports, decision summaries, and closeout communications.
• Ensure communications identify accomplishments, next steps, risks, dependencies, impacts, owners, dates, and decisions needed.
• Capture decisions and action items accurately and confirm alignment when discussions are complex or information is incomplete.
• Maintain organized, current records in Asana and approved repositories so stakeholders can locate authoritative information.
• Prepare concise project delivery updates that support prioritization, governance, and leadership decisions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 8 years of project management experience, including at least 5 years leading technology delivery projects.

Preferred Qualifications & Proficiencies

• PMP, or comparable certification; demonstrated success using hybrid delivery approaches is more important than a specific certification.
• Proficiency with Asana, Smartsheet (or comparable project management platform) and Microsoft Outlook, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

Core Competencies

• Independent technology delivery management and ownership
• Critical thinking and sound judgment in ambiguous situations
• Accountability, follow-through, and attention to detail
• Adaptability across multiple priorities and working styles
• Strong facilitation, judgment, problem-solving, organization, and follow-through.