Project Manager - 1099 Contract Position

AIM Institute for Learning & Research; United States; On-site; USD 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

AIM Institute for Learning & Research in the United States is seeking an experienced Project Manager to lead the delivery of multiple major projects across the organization. Sitting within Client Success & Impact, the role sets the plan, tracks milestones, manages risk and budget, and ensures commitments translate into action while coordinating cross-functional teams in a fully remote environment.

The position offers a flexible, purpose-driven environment with opportunities to influence outcomes

Qualifications

• Five or more years of professional project-management experience.
• Experience delivering multiple major projects across cross-functional teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for executives and teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery for multiple major projects from initiation to closeout.
• Define scope, objectives, deliverables, milestones, risks, and success metrics.
• Maintain living project plan as truth source and drive action.
• Coordinate cross-functional contributors without direct people management.
• Produce governance-ready reporting on progress, risks, and budget.
• Partner with Relationship Managers to align delivery with client success.

Skills

Project management

Cross-functional coordination

Risk management

Budget forecasting

Executive communication

Education

PMP certification

Tools

Project management software

Job description

Company-Wide Project Delivery | Client Success & Impact

About AIM Institute for Learning and Research

AIM is a national nonprofit organization transforming lives through literacy. AIM Institute for Learning & Research empowers educators and leaders with the science, structure, and strategies needed to strengthen literacy instruction. Through research-to-practice partnerships, professional learning, coaching, and implementation support, AIM helps schools, districts, and departments of education turn evidence into meaningful outcomes for educators and students.

Position Summary

AIM Institute for Learning & Research is seeking an experienced Project Manager to lead the disciplined delivery of multiple major projects across the organization. Sitting within Client Success & Impact, this role creates the structure, visibility, and accountability needed to move complex, cross-functional work from commitment through successful completion.

The Project Manager owns the delivery process: scope, integrated project plans, workstreams, responsibilities, dependencies, risks, deliverables, timelines, budget performance, and outcomes. The Project Manager maintains the living project plan as the single source of truth, validates progress, drives follow-through, and promptly surfaces anything that could threaten successful delivery.

This role does not directly manage the people performing the work. Instead, it coordinates cross-functional contributors, establishes clear ownership and operating rhythms, and ensures decisions and commitments translate into action. The Project Manager works as a peer to Relationship Managers: Relationship Managers lead client relationships, revenue, and overall client success strategy, while the Project Manager leads delivery and execution.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Integrated Planning & Delivery

• Lead delivery for multiple major projects concurrently, from initiation and planning through implementation, acceptance, and closeout.
• Define and maintain project scope, objectives, success measures, deliverables, milestones, assumptions, constraints, and acceptance criteria.
• Build and manage integrated project plans that connect workstreams, responsibilities, dependencies, decision points, resources, and timelines.
• Maintain a living project plan and reliable single source of truth for project status, ownership, next steps, and delivery health.
• Translate contractual commitments and organizational priorities into executable work plans, clear ownership, and measurable outcomes.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Accountability

• Coordinate contributors across the company without implying direct people-management authority.
• Clarify roles, responsibilities, handoffs, and decision rights; use practical tools such as work breakdown structures and responsibility matrices when helpful.
• Establish effective project cadences, prepare focused agendas, document commitments, and ensure owners close actions on time.
• Validate reported progress against evidence, deliverables, and milestones rather than relying on status updates alone.
• Identify capacity constraints, competing priorities, and execution gaps early and work with functional leaders to resolve them.

Risk, Issue, Decision and Change Control

• Maintain current risk, issue, action, decision, and change logs with clear owners, due dates, mitigation plans, and escalation paths.
• Monitor dependencies and critical-path items; anticipate downstream impact when dates, scope, resources, or assumptions change.
• Lead disciplined change control by documenting requests, assessing schedule/budget/outcome implications, securing decisions, and updating the project baseline.
• Escalate unresolved issues and material delivery risks promptly, with a concise explanation of impact, options, and recommended action.
• Create clear governance visibility so sponsors and leaders can make timely, informed decisions.
• Produce accurate, decision-ready project reporting that shows progress, upcoming milestones, deliverable status, risks, issues, changes, budget performance, and required decisions.
• Track project budgets and forecasts in partnership with project sponsors, finance, and functional owners; surface variances and corrective actions early.
• Maintain visibility into billable milestones, deliverable acceptance, invoicing readiness, and information needed to support timely billing.
• Ensure project documentation is complete, organized, current, and accessible to the people who need it.
• Support project closeout, lessons learned, outcome review, documentation transfer, and transition to ongoing operations when applicable.

Relationship Manager Partnership

• Operate as a peer partner to Relationship Managers, with clear and complementary accountability for delivery and relationship success.
• Provide Relationship Managers with timely, accurate delivery information for client communications, expectation management, and renewal or revenue planning.
• Coordinate on client-facing milestones, scope questions, risks, changes, and escalations so external commitments remain aligned with executable plans.
• Participate in client and internal meetings when project delivery expertise, decision facilitation, or execution visibility is needed.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Five or more years of professional project-management experience, including responsibility for complex, multi-workstream projects.
• Demonstrated success managing several significant projects or workstreams at the same time in a cross-functional environment.
• Strong command of project planning, dependency management, risk and issue management, change control, governance, status reporting, and project closeout.
• Experience monitoring budgets, forecasts, and delivery milestones, with the ability to connect project progress to invoicing and billing visibility.
• Exceptional organization, judgment, attention to detail, and follow-through, with the ability to create clarity in ambiguous or changing conditions.
• Ability to influence, coordinate, and hold contributors accountable without direct supervisory authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to tailor project information for executives, functional leaders, clients, and delivery teams.
• Proficiency with modern project-management and collaboration tools and the ability to establish practical, sustainable ways of working.
• Ability to work effectively in a fully remote environment, including proactive communication, dependable availability, and disciplined documentation.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Current Project Management Professional (PMP) certification; equivalent recognized project-management credentials and substantial relevant experience will also be considered.
• Experience leading projects in education, professional learning, client services, nonprofit organizations, consulting, or another mission-driven environment.
• Experience with client-facing delivery, contracted deliverables, and acceptance processes, and cross‑functional financial coordination.
• Familiarity with both predictive and adaptive project-management approaches and the judgment to select the lightest effective method for the work.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Leaders and contributors share one credible view of project scope, status, ownership, decisions, risks, and next steps.
• Milestones and deliverables are met with fewer surprises because dependencies, risks, and changes are identified and acted on early.
• Cross-functional contributors understand their responsibilities and consistently follow through on commitments.
• Budget, deliverable-acceptance, and billing status are visible enough to support timely decisions and invoicing.
• Relationship Managers and Project Managers operate as aligned peers, giving clients a consistent experience across relationship and delivery work.

Contract Terms

• Compensation: $75,000–$80,000 annually, based on experience and qualifications.
• Engagement: 1099 term contract tied to assigned projects. This independent-contractor engagement is not eligible for employee benefits.
• Future opportunity: There may be a full‑time opportunity after the assigned projects conclude, based on organizational needs and performance; conversion is not guaranteed.
• Work arrangement: Fully remote, with no travel expected.
• Reporting relationship: Head of Client Success & Impact.