Software Project Manager

obsidiansystems; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Obsidian Systems is seeking a Software Project Manager to own the day-to-day delivery of complex software engagements across blockchain, financial infrastructure, and distributed systems.

You will translate client objectives into executable plans, manage scope and risks, and keep projects on track through production delivery.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software project management.
• Experience owning the delivery of complex software projects from planning through completion.
• Experience with software engineers and technical leads in a software development environment.
• Strong understanding of the software development lifecycle, planning, development, testing, release and production delivery.
• Excellent organization and attention to detail while managing ambiguity.
• Experience working effectively with distributed or remote teams.

Responsibilities

• Own client software projects from initial planning through delivery and close.
• Translate scope and objectives into milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and execution plans.
• Partner with engineering leads to understand requirements, architecture decisions, dependencies, and risks.
• Maintain a clear view of project health across scope, timeline, resources, risks, and dependencies.
• Identify delivery risks early and drive mitigation plans before blockers.
• Facilitate kickoffs, planning sessions, status meetings, retrospectives, and other ceremonies.
• Ensure engineers have the context, decisions, requirements, and stakeholder access they need.
• Communicate project status, risks, trade-offs, dependencies, and changes clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Protect engineering teams from churn while maintaining strong client relationships.
• Escalate issues with context, options, and next steps.
• Continuously improve project management processes, tooling, documentation, and delivery practices.

Skills

Software project management

Delivery management

Stakeholder communication

Software lifecycle knowledge

Technical understanding (non-engineer)

Distributed/remote teams

Job description

Obsidian Systems is a software engineering consultancy that builds production systems for capital markets and other regulated industries. Our clients include market infrastructure providers, national exchanges, and global financial institutions. Much of our work today centers on the Canton Network, the privacy-enabled blockchain adopted by major capital markets institutions, where Obsidian is one of the most experienced engineering firms in the ecosystem.

We're a remote-first, globally distributed team that values ownership, curiosity, and clear communication. We believe the best ideas come from people who ask difficult questions, take responsibility for their work, and collaborate openly to solve challenging problems.

We're looking for a Software Project Manager to lead the delivery of complex software engineering engagements from initial scope through production delivery.

You'll sit at the intersection of our clients and engineering teams, creating clarity around what we're building, why we're building it, what could prevent us from delivering it, and what needs to happen next.

About The Role

As a Software Project Manager, you will own the day-to-day delivery of technical client engagements across blockchain, financial infrastructure, and distributed systems.

You'll work closely with software engineers, technical leads, clients, and internal stakeholders to translate business objectives into executable delivery plans, manage scope and dependencies, surface risks early, and keep projects moving toward successful outcomes.

You won't be expected to write production code, but you will need technical understanding to engage meaningfully with engineers, understand system dependencies and trade-offs, ask the right questions, and communicate technical constraints clearly to clients.

Our projects often involve emerging technologies, evolving requirements, multiple stakeholders, and problems that do not have obvious solutions. You'll need to be comfortable creating structure where it doesn't yet exist and making ambiguity visible rather than allowing it to become delivery risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Own client software projects from initial planning and kickoff through delivery and project close.
• Translate project scope and client objectives into clear milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and execution plans.
• Partner closely with engineering leads to understand technical requirements, architecture decisions, implementation dependencies, and delivery risks.
• Maintain a clear and accurate view of project health across scope, timeline, resources, risks, and dependencies.
• Identify delivery risks early and drive concrete mitigation plans before they become blockers.
• Facilitate project kickoffs, planning sessions, status meetings, retrospectives, and other delivery ceremonies where useful.
• Ensure engineers have the context, decisions, requirements, and stakeholder access they need to execute effectively.
• Communicate project status, risks, trade-offs, dependencies, and changes clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Protect engineering teams from unnecessary churn while maintaining strong, trusted client relationships.
• Escalate issues proactively with context, options, and recommended next steps rather than simply reporting problems.
• Continuously improve project management processes, tooling, documentation, and delivery practices across Obsidian.

What We Are Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in software project management, technical project management, delivery management, or a comparable role.
• Demonstrated experience owning the delivery of complex software engineering projects from planning through completion.
• Experience working directly with software engineers and technical leads in a software development environment.
• Strong understanding of the software development lifecycle, including planning, development, testing, release, and production delivery.
• Ability to understand technical concepts, dependencies, constraints, and trade-offs without needing to be a software engineer.
• Excellent organization and attention to detail without losing sight of the overall project outcome.
• Comfortable operating with ambiguity and creating structure in environments where processes or requirements are still evolving.
• Experience working effectively with distributed or remote teams.

Preferred Requirements

• Experience managing projects within a software consultancy, professional services firm, or client-facing engineering organization.
• Experience delivering projects in blockchain, distributed systems, fintech, financial services, or capital markets.
• Familiarity with digital assets, blockchain infrastructure, or the Canton Network ecosystem.
• Experience delivering software into regulated or enterprise environments.
• Familiarity with various delivery practices including Agile, while understanding when processes need to adapt to the project rather than the other way around.

How We Work

At Obsidian Systems, we believe great work comes from thoughtful people who take ownership, communicate openly, and enjoy solving difficult problems together. These principles guide how we work every day.

Own Your Work, Protect Your Team

• We take full ownership of our responsibilities while supporting the people around us. We believe accountability creates trust, and clear ownership allows teams to move quickly without stepping on one another's work.

Don't Settle for Superficial

• We aim to understand problems deeply rather than treating symptoms. We ask questions, challenge assumptions, and make unknowns explicit so we can build durable solutions instead of temporary fixes.

Be Honest Proactively

• We communicate openly and early.
• Raising risks before they become problems helps our team and our clients make better decisions.
• We value transparency over avoiding uncomfortable conversations.

Get to It

• Many of the challenges we solve have never been solved before.
• We don't wait for perfection; we start, learn, iterate, and move forward.
• Progress comes from taking the next concrete step.

Project management at Obsidian is about enabling progress, not adding unnecessary process.

If you're excited by solving difficult delivery problems, working closely with exceptional engineers, and helping build the next generation of financial market infrastructure, you'll feel at home at Obsidian.