Design & Projects Operations Lead | EOS & Capacity

Emerald Design Works; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Medical, Dental & Vision

Paid Time Off

Paid Sick Time

9 Paid Company Holidays

Monthly Cell Phone Reimbursement

Professional Development Opportunities

Collaborative Culture

Job summary

Emerald Design Works is seeking a hands-on Project & Design Operations Manager to report to the CFO and partner with the VP of Design. You’ll drive EOS rollout, build visibility into projects, and keep schedules and capacity aligned with business goals.

You’ll manage Rocks, budgets, dashboards, and handoffs across Design and broader operations, spotting bottlenecks and helping teams deliver what they commit to, while guiding teams with practical, process-driven leadership.

Qualifications

• Organized, proactive, analytical; able to influence teams without direct management.
• 4–7 years of project management, PMO, resource management, or related experience.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, dependencies, and stakeholders.
• Experience with resource and capacity planning, time tracking, and budget-versus-actual reporting.
• Strong Excel and project-management systems skills; able to create useful dashboards.
• Hands-on EOS and Ninety.io experience is a plus.
• Experience in interior design, architecture, engineering, construction, or other project-based services is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the company-wide EOS rollout with the CFO, including milestones and adoption of Ninety.io.
• Maintain visibility into Rocks, scorecards, priorities, commitments, and leadership action items.
• Partner with the VP of Design to create and maintain project schedules, milestones, and assignments.
• Track designer workload, availability, and upcoming demand; flag capacity gaps and scheduling conflicts.
• Compare budgeted versus actual design hours, identify variances, and help improve future estimates and project delivery.
• Build project, capacity, and utilization reporting that supports timely decisions.
• Improve handoffs, workflows, and project-management discipline across Design and the broader business.

Skills

Organized

Analytical

Proactive

PMO experience

Stakeholder mgmt

EOS experience

Capacity planning

Excel dashboards

Tools

Excel

Ninety.io

Project management software

Dashboards

Job description

Emerald Design Works is seeking a hands-on Project & Design Operations Manager to report to the CFO and partner with the VP of Design. You’ll drive EOS rollout, build visibility into projects, and keep schedules and capacity aligned with business goals.

You’ll manage Rocks, budgets, dashboards, and handoffs across Design and broader operations, spotting bottlenecks and helping teams deliver what they commit to, while guiding teams with practical, process-driven leadership.