Project Manager (TDC)

TDC - Boston, MA; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

TDC, based in Boston, seeks a Project Manager to support and manage client engagements in coordination with Vice Presidents and firm leaders. You will design research plans, lead data collection, and ensure milestones are met on time and on budget.

The role requires strong financial and quantitative analysis skills, experience in nonprofit or social sectors, and the ability to synthesize complex information into clear client deliverables.

Qualifications

• MBA, MPA or similar graduate-level degree and commitment to nonprofit or social sectors.
• 5–7 years of professional experience with at least 1 year in a managerial role.
• Experience in research, strategy, staffing, governance or finance is preferred.
• Strong analytical, writing and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to client engagements by identifying key strategic questions and designing and implementing a research agenda.
• Conduct in-depth financial analyses of income statements and balance sheets to clarify the client’s financial model.
• Build financial models and explore strategic scenarios and their implications.
• Analyze and synthesize large amounts of qualitative and quantitative information to identify implications and challenges.
• Contribute to major client deliverables, including writing and editing reports and presentations.
• Maintain client relationships.
• Facilitate meetings with clients’ board, staff and stakeholders as needed.

Skills

Project management

Strategic thinking

Financial analysis

Research skills

Communication

Leadership

Client relations

Education

MBA or MPA

Job description

TDC is a leading management consulting and research firm that works across the nonprofit sector. For 50 years, TDC has worked exclusively with nonprofit, governmental, educational, and philanthropic organizations, providing them with the business and management tools critical to carrying out their missions effectively.

We possess a strong track record in facilitating highly complex strategic business planning and organizational change processes for hundreds of organizations. Guided by our clients’ missions, informed by market realities, and grounded in financial best practices, we work with clients to help them lay out integrated programmatic, organizational, and financial strategies. In addition, TDC works with funders and donors to create philanthropic strategies that support their visions for meaningful impact. The choice to work with both nonprofit organizations and funders is a strategic decision we have made to make impact at two levels: individually at the nonprofit level and sector-wide through our work with funders. This allows TDC to have a truly well-informed sector-wide view. On occasion, TDC publishes in-depth research on critical topics faced by the nonprofit sector.

Based in Boston, TDC has a staff of twenty who work with clients nationally. Our consultants hold degrees from top MBA and graduate programs and bring a wealth of experience from the nonprofit and social sectors. Our team is highly skilled in organizational planning, data and financial analysis, program development and evaluation, and operational design.

Position Overview

TDC is seeking Project Managers to join our team. Project Managers efficiently support and manage client engagements in close coordination with Vice Presidents and firm leaders. Project Managers are responsible for advancing projects by designing and leading the development of key strategic questions and supporting research tasks as a part of an internal project team. Project Managers are also expected to ensure the meeting of milestones and deadlines by communicating clearly with clients on overall engagement objectives, work plans and key findings. Project Managers will implement the scope of work and contract on time and on budget. This role requires strong financial and quantitative analysis skills, as consultants are frequently asked to synthesize large amounts of data. From time to time, Project Managers will contribute to sector research that advances the firm’s learning objectives.

In a Project Manager’s first year, there is a strong emphasis on learning TDC’s approach to nonprofit consulting. Like all TDC staff, Project Managers work in a fast-paced environment on multiple engagements simultaneously. A Project Manager’s portfolio will encompass organizations that represent a range of focus areas within the nonprofit sector. As Project Managers gain increased knowledge of TDC’s practice, they will serve as lead consultants on client engagements.

Project Managers’ primary responsibilities include:

• Contribute to client engagements, with responsibility for identifying key strategic questions and designing and implementing a research agenda to inform a strategic business planning process. Research will include conducting interviews, focus groups, surveys, organizational benchmarking and analysis of client data.
• Conduct in-depth financial analyses of income statements and balance sheets to clarify the client’s financial model and current state of financial health.
• Build financial models, and identify and model strategic scenarios and their implications.
• Analyze and synthesize large amounts of qualitative and quantitative information to identify implications and strategic challenges
• Contribute to the development of major client deliverables, including writing and editing reports and presentations for clients.
• Maintain client relationships
• Facilitate meetings of clients’ board, staff and other stakeholders as needed.

Qualifications

Candidates for the Project Manager position are expected to think holistically and strategically about all aspects of client organizations, from the markets they serve to their staffing, financials and governance. Highly qualified candidates will have an MBA, MPA or similar graduate-level degree and proven commitment to, or interest in, the nonprofit or social sectors.

Candidates should meet most of the following criteria:

• You come to this role with 5 to 7 years of professional experience, with a minimum of one year in a managerial position (experience in the nonprofit, social, or research sectors is preferred, but not required).
• Your background includes prior success in roles that encompass at least one of the following concentrations: research, strategy, staffing, governance, or finance, and you are excited about continuing to learn and grow your skill set to encompass these areas.
• You display an intellectual curiosity about the problems we are asked to solve by TDC’s clients and excitement about the opportunity to work across a wide variety of organizations and projects.
• You have experience managing strategic projects or multifaceted research agendas that require thinking holistically, identifying and resolving a key strategic challenge, and delivering against tight deadlines.
• You are a strategic thinker who can understand core issues, consider all aspects of client organizations, and create deliverables that demonstrate an understanding of the big picture.
• You possess strong analytical skills and a capacity to conduct sophisticated and rigorous analyses of both quantitative and qualitative information.
• You demonstrate the ability to conduct financial analyses and create detailed financial projections.
• You bring past experience in conducting market research, with exposure to one or more of the following: competitive analysis, surveys and focus groups, and review of secondary literature and data using both quantitative and qualitative sources.
• You have excellent writing, editing and oral communication skills; ability to organize and present complex information in a clear and concise manner.
• You can build relationships at all levels of an organization, often in complex and sensitive environments and have experience at facilitating meetings and/or making presentations to small and large groups.
• You thrive in a mission-focused organization that values curiosity, intellectual rigor, humility, flexibility and a sense of humor.

TDC is an equal opportunity employer.