Associate Director, Technical Project Management

Job Title: Associate Director, Technical Project Management

Team: Systems

Location: Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), New York (NY), Newark (NJ)

Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Classification: Exempt 

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring an Associate Director, Technical Project Management. This role will serve as a technical project manager for a specific domain area within the Systems Team, ensuring a standard project management methodology is embedded across multiple high-impact, cross-functional projects. The Systems Team at Braven is a cross-functional technology function spanning Engineering, Data Operations, and Digital Product Management. We build and maintain the platforms, tools, and processes that power Braven’s program delivery and organizational operations. As a member of a growing Systems Team, you will manage a portfolio of projects to guide cross-functional project teams through the execution of complex technical work in order to deliver high-impact outcomes that support Braven’s ambitious goals.

This role is on the Systems team and reports directly to the Senior Director, Systems Strategy and Operations. 

What You’ll Do

Project Delivery & Execution (40%)

• Manage operational and tactical aspects of domain-specific cross-functional projects of varying size, scope, and technical level.
• Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, and milestones for Systems Team scrums.
• Create and maintain quality project documentation and other assets, including the project charter, project schedule, and lessons learned.
• Own backlog refinement, keep Jira groomed, stories well-defined, and sprints ready to pull.
• Partner with Digital Product Management on prioritization and roadmap alignment.
• Track delivery progress against commitments and proactively flag risks or delays.
• Run sprint planning and delivery check-ins within existing team scrums to ensure clear goals and realistic commitments.
• Maintain visibility into team capacity and upcoming work.
• Coordinate release planning and facilitate go/no-go decisions across technical teams.
• Drive sprint reviews and demos with internal and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Ensure timely completion of project deliverables and milestones, with overall success measured by stakeholder satisfaction and project quality.

Cross-Team Coordination & Dependency Management (30%)

• Identify and gain agreement on project requirements, objectives, scope, timing, and resources with domain stakeholders.
• Map and track dependencies between Systems, Product, and Volunteer teams.
• Facilitate cross-functional planning for domain initiatives, using existing meetings and async channels (Slack, Jira boards) rather than creating new standing meetings.
• Ensure smooth handoffs between teams.
• Proactively identify and resolve cross-team blockers before they impact delivery.
• Collaborate with teammates within and across projects to identify project risks and develop mitigation strategies.
• Develop, strengthen, and cultivate effective working relationships with project stakeholders to ensure cross-team communication, transparency, and consistency throughout project execution.

Stakeholder Communication & Reporting (15%)

• Prepare regular status reports for domain stakeholders and Systems leadership.
• Maintain risk and issue logs with clear owners, due dates, and escalation paths.
• Communicate sprint progress, capacity, and delivery forecasts to stakeholders.
• Shield teams from unnecessary interruptions by consolidating ad-hoc requests through structured channels.
• Collaborate and consult with domain stakeholders, including product owners, Program Managers, and subteam leads, to understand their needs, prioritize work effectively, surface and help resolve conflicts, and support consistency and alignment on project methodologies for successful project delivery.

Process Improvement & Tooling (15%)

• Track and report on delivery metrics (velocity, cycle time, sprint burndown) to surface trends.
• Identify process bottlenecks and propose incremental improvements scoped to the teams you support.
• Maintain and improve team documentation, workflows, and Jira/Confluence hygiene.
• Collaborate with fellow Technical Project Managers to standardize delivery practices across domains.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• At least 4 years of demonstrated excellence in cross-functional project or program management within a technical function.
• Experience with Jira project management tool.
• Experience with agile methodologies and specifically, Scrum and Kanban

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Scrum Master or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
• Experience working directly with technical teams (engineering, DevOps, Salesforce development, platform infrastructure).
• Familiarity with software development, Salesforce development lifecycle, and emerging technologies
• Demonstrated success in managing complex projects from start to finish. You pay attention to detail and ensure that all contributing teammates have clear tasks, while also keeping all stakeholders updated.
• Strong ability to effectively prioritize competing demands and make timely decisions to keep critical work on track.
• Demonstrated commitment to building strong and welcoming cultures that help to develop others.
• Experience coordinating work across multiple teams simultaneously.
• Strong communication skills — able to translate technical details into clear status updates for non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to identify risks early and support timely resolution.
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values.
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with or for Braven’s student Fellow population.
• Experience in the education, government, or nonprofit sector.
• Strong ability to collaborate effectively and cross-functionally with teammates and build relationships and influence without authority. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to present ideas and content in a concise, clear, engaging way and adapt your approach to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders, including technical and non-technical teammates.
• Strong organizational skills with a proven ability to create and execute project plans with high attention to detail and meet deadlines.
• Comfortable seeking out, receiving, and implementing constructive feedback; demonstrating a commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Atlanta (GA), Chicago (IL), New York (NY), or Newark (NJ) 3 days per week
• Ability to travel approximately 2-4 times per year to other Braven locations 

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Benefits

Compensation

Braven offers opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly relative to one another, their qualifications, and their impact on the organization, and we take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each offer is carefully determined using external and internal benchmarks.

The hiring range is determined by role scope, qualifications, and internal equity, with annual growth based on performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The hiring ranges for this role by geographic market are set forth as $87,200-$93,700 in Atlanta, $92,000-$98,800 in Chicago, and $101,200-$108,700 in Newark and New York City. This is based on a 50-hour work week. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits-eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.  

Please note that Braven is firm in its compensation philosophy; therefore, only candidates who believe our total rewards package aligns with what they are looking for in their next opportunity are encouraged to apply.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 20 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of Atlanta, Chicago, New York, or Newark. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.