Research Projects Manager (m/f/d)

planqc; Garching bei München; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

planqc seeks a Research Project Manager to oversee its largest publicly funded programmes. You will coordinate planning, reporting, budgeting, and stakeholder communication across partner organisations in a dynamic, multi-project environment.

Ideal candidates bring a background in physics, engineering, natural sciences, or business, plus 2+ years of relevant experience. Strong English and German skills are required, with a focus on structured reporting and audit-ready documentation.

Qualifications

• Background in either a technical field (physics, engineering, natural sciences) or business/management.
• At least a degree plus 2 years of relevant professional experience (or more with less formal education).
• Strong organisation, structured working style, and comfort with numbers and budgets.
• Experience coordinating publicly funded R&D projects, including reporting requirements.
• Excellent written communication skills for structured reports.
• English at C1 level and German at B2 level.

Responsibilities

• Track progress across all projects and maintain a central dashboard for transparency to employees, executives, and investors.
• Own operational management of large publicly funded research programmes, ensuring milestones and budgets are met.
• Coordinate extensive report writing for funding institutions, with input from technical staff.
• Handle budget tracking and cost reporting in coordination with Finance.
• Maintain audit-ready documentation and support contract administration and procurement as needed.
• Plan and organise consortium meetings and manage follow-up actions across partner organisations.
• Serve as a point of contact for funding institutions, project sponsors, and consortium partners on administrative matters.
• Coordinate collaboration across universities, research institutes, industrial partners, and funding bodies.
• Drive process improvements in project administration and reporting.

Skills

Project Management

Budget Tracking

Reporting

Stakeholder Management

Cross-functional Coordination

English (C1)

German (B2)

Education

Degree + 2 years relevant professional experience

Job description

Your mission

Atplanqc, we build scalable quantum computers based on neutral atoms and actively shape the ecosystem that enables their development. As we grow, ourpublicly funded research projects are becoming larger, more international, and increasingly complex.

This role is about thebiggest projectsplanqchas to offer–large, publicly funded programmes to build quantum computers, each worthtens of millions of euros. These aremainly projectsfunded byGerman entities such as the BMFTR and the DLR, as well asEuropean sources like Horizon Europe. With around a dozen projects running in parallel, it is easy to lose track of the many deadlines, deliverables, budgets, and reporting obligations.

As Research Project manager, you are responsible for the operational delivery of some of planqc´s largest publicly funded research programmes. Working alongside the technical project leads, you ensure that complex, multi-partner projects remain on track, from planning and consortium coordination to reporting, budget risks, and stakeholder communication.

Your responsibilities

• Tracking & Dashboard: You collect status updates and track progress across all projects, maintaining a central overview dashboard that gives employees, C-level, and investors transparency on our portfolio – and proactively reminding people of upcoming deadlines, deliverables, and obligations
• Project Management: own the operational management of large publicly funded research programmes, ensuring milestones, deliverable, budgets and reporting obligations are met throughout the project lifecycle
• Reporting: You coordinate the extensive report writing – in particular interim and final reports for funding institutions – making sure they get done on time, with input gathered from the technical staff
• Budget Tracking: You handle budget tracking and cost reporting across the projects, in close coordination with Finance
• Compliance & Contracts: You keep projects audit-ready by maintaining complete, accurate documentation throughout the project lifecycle, and support contract administration (with Legal) and procurement where required
• Consortium Meetings: You plan and organise the periodic consortium meetings that some projects require across all partner organisations (e.g. every six months), including documentation and follow-up actions
• Point of Contact: When needed, you act as a point of contact for funding institutions, project sponsors, and consortium partners on administrative matters
• StakeholderManagement: Coordinate collaboration across universities, research institutes, industrial partners,and funding organisation
• Organise consortium meetings, steering workshops, and follow up on agreed actions to keep all partner aligned.
• Process Improvement: You take ow nership of continuously improving the processes, templates, and digital tools around project administration, reporting, budget tracking

What you bring

• Background & Experience: A background in either a technical field (e.g.physics,engineering,natural sciences) or business/management (e.g. business administration, economics, project management).At least a degree plus 2 years of relevant professional experience (or more experience without a degree).
• Organisation & Numbers: Strong organisational skills, a structured, methodical way of working, and comfort working with numbers and budgets
• Funded R&D: Experience coordinating publicly funded R&D projects, including application platforms and interim/final reports
• Writing: Excellent written communication skills, particularly for structured reports
• Languages: English at a minimum of C1 level and German at a minimum ofB2level

Nice to have

• Grant Accounting & Audits: Deep grant-accounting expertise (e.g. BMFTR/DLR cost claims, Horizon Europe financial reporting) and experience with project audits and audit-readiness
• International Context: Experience in interdisciplinary an d /or international project contexts
• Deep Tech: A background in quantum technologies or another deep-tech environment

What characterizes you

• Structure & Overview: You bring structure and visibility to complex, cross-functional projects and keep an overview even when many projects run in parallel
• Reliability: You work independently, reliably, and with attention to detail
• Communication: You communicate clearly