26 Feb We Are Hiring! – February 2024 Project Manager Role

Position Description

Connect the Dots (CtD) is looking for a driven and motivated Project Manager to join our team full-time. Connect the Dots is a woman-owned stakeholder/community engagement firm that innovates participatory processes to ensure diverse voices are a meaningful part of decision-making. You will be joining a fast-growing, close-knit, passionate team of community engagement professionals with an array of partners.

We are committed to co-creation, collaboration, and social, racial and economic justice, and are looking for candidates who embody such practices and: 

• have experience in running community engagement / public participation processes – medium to large-scale 
• ideally, have background or project experience in urban planning (with a particular focus on transportation and/or transit) 
• are motivated and have skill sets to support the growth of Connect the Dots

We are looking for people in or willing to relocate to the Philly area. You can work remotely 2-3 days a week – and you will have access to our office in Center City. We work to create a team that is representative of the communities we serve and a workplace where diversity is fostered. 

NOTE: This is not an entry level position. If you are interested in part-time, project based work, we are always building our extended team and are looking for people at any level. You can learn more here.

Project Work (~85% of role) 

Plan informed and creative engagement and public participation processes, tailored to each project: Design engagement and outreach processes and key tactics to spread the word and gather insights in a collaborative, thoughtful manner. This varies by and within communities so requires listening, research, conversations and collaboration with partners to develop the best-fit strategies. Adapt CtD’s tactics toolkit to specific project needs and creatively develop new tactics to ensure we are truly meeting people where they are, and ensuring accessibility and transparency. Plan and implement these strategies and tactics. Oversee and collaborate with staff and partners to accomplish. 

Manage multiple projects in a highly organized, efficient, and collaborative manner: Manage small, medium, and large projects with varying timelines. Organize multiple aspects of multiple projects concurrently. Develop project plans, collaborate with a wide variety of clients, partners, and team members, use and maintain project schedules, budgets, and hour allocations. Organize multiple aspects of multiple projects concurrently. Clearly communicate challenges, updates, and progress throughout. Is able to adapt and shift plans as needed. Has a strong ability to manage staff and subcontractors, assigning tasks, following up, and ensuring high quality and timely work products.

Business Health and Growth (~15% of role) 

Support the continued growth and evolution of Connect the Dots: We are a small firm so all contribute to our internal workings in different ways. We love that each new member of the Connect the Dots team brings something new and special to our team that enables our development as a firm. This could relate to internal work from business development, to operations, or more. We look for an overlap between skill/experience and our needs to co-create this unique part of your role. 

Experience and Skills 

Required: 

• Engagement Experience: Experience with large-scale and small-scale engagement and outreach processes and confidence developing, designing, and delivering workshops, outreach strategies, and mixed-methodology insight-gathering processes. 
• Internal Communication & Leadership: Must be a strong leader, with skills in guiding and supporting teammates to deliver positive outcomes. Must be a strong communicator, both internally with the team and with partners. Must be able to easily work with team members, assign tasks, ensure accountability, enable collaboration, provide and receive feedback in an efficient, fair, and clear manner. 
• People Management: Must be able to thoughtfully and effectively collaborate with partners, subcontractors, team members, and other stakeholders to anticipate roadblocks, pivot, make strategic decisions, and move projects along. 
• Resource and Task Management: Must be highly organized with the ability to manage multiple people, projects, tasks, and deadlines simultaneously. Must be able to manage project budgets and associated resources in order to produce high-quality deliverables in a timely manner. Must be a strong strategist and planner with attention to detail. 
• External Communication: Must be a strong writer and able to communicate with partners and the general public about projects in a clear and accessible manner, with the ability to distill complex information in a way that is engaging and understandable to different audiences. 
• Community Building: Must be welcoming, open, and humble – able to build trust and relationships with community leaders and groups. 
• Collaboration and Adaptability: Able to co-create outreach and engagement strategies and tools with the team to best connect with communities and gather input. Able to pivot, iterate, and adjust plans as needed. Must be a skillful negotiator and problem-solver. 

Preferred: 

• Planning Experience: Some experience in planning, particularly transportation or transit. 
• Language: Ability to speak another language, supporting outreach needs 

IMPORTANT: We welcome qualified candidates from all walks of life and value diversity in our company. We prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, veteran status, military service, disability unrelated to job requirements, marital status, or domestic partner status.

Compensation Package 

The role is a full-time, non-exempt position. Salary will be discussed openly to ensure commensurate with experience. 

• Salary range: $65-70,000, dependent on experience. 
• Hybrid and Flexible work: Ability to work remotely 2-3 days a week. CtD’s average work week is 40-45 hours; we naturally have peak times, and for those we have a recuperation time policy in place to ensure employees’ wellbeing 
• Tech and Wellness Plan: $1,200 annual stipend (3 months after start) to support wellness and technical capacity needs. 
• Monthly Health Insurance contribution of $200 per month, group insurance option. 
• PTO Policy includes 11 Holidays (4 Roving), 15 Vacation Days at base level (with one additional added per year of service), and 5-6 days of additional Vacation via office closure between Christmas and New Year. 
• Personal Development Plan including training opportunities 
• Office and Office Amenities: Access to Bond Collective office space with many complimentary events and amenities – including a fitness center (by summer/fall)

Application Details 

Email the following to [email protected] with the subject line “Feb2024CtDPM [Your Name]”. PDF format preferred. Applications are due by March 17th, 2024 (midnight EST). Only complete application packages will be considered. 

• Resume 
• Letter of interest 
• 3 work samples, including: 
  • a writing sample 
  • Insight-gathering/engagement plans or materials (e.g. workshop, survey) 
• 2-3 professional references

About Connect the Dots 

Connect the Dots is a woman-owned stakeholder/community engagement firm that innovates participatory processes to connect diverse voices to decision-making. Our work focuses on building meaningful engagement and outreach methods that elevate community voices in participatory processes. Through our creative and iterative approach, we incorporate education and intentionally designed interactions to ensure these processes are inclusive, accessible, and representative. 

Connect the Dots is working on a range of exciting projects focused on the public realm, transportation, comprehensive planning, equitable development/investment, urban economic development, parks/open spaces, sustainability, master planning, and more. We are a small fast-growing team based in Philadelphia, PA committed to ensuring communities’ voices are a meaningful part of decision-making processes. 

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