Project Manager– ADCEE Admin and Operations

Job Category:

Academic Staff

Regular

Project Manager I

The office of the Associate Dean for Corporate Engagement and Entrepreneurship is hiring a Project Manager to support our growing team. Our unit brings together several specialized offices within the College of Engineering to connect with industry partners, launch entrepreneurial initiatives, boost critical research, and build large‑scale funding proposals.

This role is designed to accommodate different levels of experience, and the final title and scope of responsibilities will be determined based on the background of the selected candidate. It is an excellent growth opportunity for an experienced project coordinator ready to step into a management role, as well as an ideal fit for an established project manager looking to lead complex initiatives.

In this role, the successful candidate will manage complex initiatives and projects across our various offices. A key component of the work involves resource planning, helping our leadership team balance and allocate staff time across the entire unit. We are looking for an independent, creative problem solver who thrives in a dynamic environment, excels at designing detailed plans for high-priority projects, and wants to guide projects from an initial idea all the way to a successful finish.

We are especially excited to meet candidates with project management experience in non‑technical fields, such as higher education, community or corporate relations, or general business operations. If you enjoy keeping people organized, building clear timelines, and delivering practical results, we encourage you to apply.

• Monitor project budgets, including pulling financial data from Workday and communicating budget status with project stakeholders
• Creates a project plan, monitors progress and performance against the project plan, and identifies, resolves, or escalates risks and issues
• Prepares regular reports to communicate the status of the project within and beyond the project team
• Facilitates the estimation of project costs, resources, and time required to complete the assigned phase of a project and monitors activities, negotiates for resources, and assigns tasks to ensure these targets are met. Follows established change control processes if targets can no longer be met
• Manages the activities of outside contractors to ensure they are integrated into the project and that the organization receives satisfactory standards of service
• Work with project team staff to establish a process for resource allocation and tracking to support leadership’s ability to monitor unit capacity and priorities.
• Work directly with faculty and principal investigators to update project plans and ensure they are on track based on established timeline, milestones, and budget.
• Use software tools to develop plans for projects, initiatives, and events associated with the ADCEE unit. Including creating plans for other project personnel to manage and implement.
• Sets priorities, allocates tasks, and collaborates with project staff to meet project targets and milestones

College of Engineering, Grainger Institute for Engineering

The minimum salary for this position is $67,500, but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

• Considerable professional experience coordinating or managing projects through all phases of the project lifecycle.
• Significant professional experience building and maintaining project plans using tools like Smartsheet, Trello, or similar software

• Project management credential such as a PMP.
• Experience using Smartsheet to manage projects.
• Experience working with higher education faculty, principal investigators, or research scientists.
• Substantial experience leading and collaborating with multiple stakeholders.
• Successful experience managing projects in non‑technical fields such as business operations, marketing, or large‑scale event planning.
• Demonstrated experience with strategic resource planning including managing workload commitments and balancing staff capacity across a complex…