Project Manager
Enjoy the Journey With PixelSpoke!
PixelSpoke is an environment for the good-humored, analytical, creative spirits inside each of us — and we’re looking for the next outstanding team member. If you can laugh at yourself and have a passion for building creative solutions, PixelSpoke may be a great fit for you.
We’ve been called a “happy collective of goodness” by people who’ve observed our team in action, and we’ve happily adopted the description. PixelSpokers have a wide variety of interests, backgrounds, and experiences, but we come together to form a closely connected group that continually works at improving, learning, and growing.
If that sounds good to you, keep reading! There’s lots of great stuff in here.
About the Position
You will work in partnership with our other two Project Managers as part of a small, engaged team of strategists, designers, and programmers to build compelling websites, marketing campaigns, and other interactive projects. You won’t have sales quotas – your success is based on the success of the projects you manage.
Your responsibilities will include setting clear project goals and client expectations, regular updates, clearly documenting all client requests, and preventing scope creep, among other detail-oriented tasks. You’ll also be responsible for managing compelling digital content for your clients, including copyediting, content loading, and quality assurance.
The work is fast-paced, and includes a lot of pulling things together from many different people – your clients, the internal team, and freelance partners.
A Day in the Life
Each day starts with a 15 minute huddle to get everyone on the same page. After that, you might check emails and answer questions from the internal team and clients about current projects. Then you might jump into a video call with a client to give a progress update and talk about upcoming goals. At lunchtime, you might join your teammates in the kitchen for some conversation after you grab something from the food carts across the street or prepare your lunch you brought from home.
After lunch you join the weekly client services meeting, where you’ll complete some bookkeeping related tasks and review the team scorecard before you jump into issues solving. You and the team might brainstorm ideas to address the scheduling of ADA scans or the timing of internal project hand-offs. The meeting closes with assigning follow up tasks to various team members.
You return to your desk where you spend some time reviewing the status of your active projects and ensuring budgets are on track. After doing a weekly client check in, you help a busy fellow Project Manager out by spending an hour loading content for an upcoming website launch. You end the day by putting the finishing touches on reviewing a custom microsite to clean up any final quality issues in advance of a client meeting in our office the next day. A few team members say goodnight as you head home for dinner.
More about the Position
We’re looking for someone with…
- 3 – 5 years of Project Management experience
- Excellent attention to detail
- Ability to quickly identify when a project begins to veer off scope, assess the cause, and immediately suggest and implement a resolution
- Ability to motivate teams and lead by example
- Expert organizational skills
- A consistently positive outlook
Year 1 Success Metrics
- # of projects handled
- Average gross margin on projects is 55%+
- 90% of projects finished on time and on budget
- Maintain billable utilization of 65% or higher
- Fully documented processes
Key Questions
- Can you communicate easily, credibly, and pleasantly about topics like scheduling, money, and technology?
- Do you have high emotional intelligence and are you at ease leading a group project, including being sensitive to your colleague’s work styles, strengths, and challenges?
- Are you at ease interfacing with other experts such as designers, coders, and writers?
- Are you able to discover what motivates individuals?
- Can you work with data to know what clients need and present it to them in a way that it feels like it’s their idea?
- Are you comfortable thinking through marketing and business objectives while still managing the day to day project management aspects of accounts?
- Can you manage your own time effectively and work well with a team to make sure projects stay on schedule and budget?
- Are you comfortable having courageous conversations and coming up with creative solutions to delight multiple stakeholders?
- If you’re not sure about your answer to a few of these questions, are you excited by the challenge of learning how to develop these new skills?
If you answered “yes” to these questions, we want to meet you!
Why Join the PixelSpoke Team?
We have a lot of reasons for loving our workplace, but here are a few of the biggest ones:
Our Core Values
Our culture determines how we communicate with each other and our clients, and everything we do is guided by our core values:
- Enjoy the Journey – We actively cultivate gratitude and joy, for ourselves and for others
- Improve Every Day – We are always looking for what we can start, stop, or continue to improve
- Everybody Wins – We create positive outcomes for our clients, community, and the planet
- Solutions not Blame – We are transparent in our behavior and take ownership of problems
- Curiosity with a Purpose – Constant learning is the fuel that leads to superior ideas for our clients
- Authenticity – We are genuine and authentic in our dealings with others
High Quality Work & Outstanding Clients
PixelSpoke has received numerous awards for our outstanding creative work, including 18 Communicator Awards, 12 Davey Awards, and 6 W3 Awards. We actively seek out clients that are aligned with our desire to make the world a better place. Our client base is focused on credit unions, because we believe local finance is a critical component of healthy communities and we can help them to stand out and compete against the big guys. We also seek out forward-thinking businesses and non-profits that are committed to being a force for good in the world.
Business as a Force for Good
PixelSpoke is made up of people who care about the world we live in and are committed to making it a better place. As a certified B Corp that has been honored as a “Best for the World” company three years running, PixelSpoke is making the world a better place by improving our environmental, community, and workplace impact. On an individual level, members of our team are committed to environmental action, social justice, community development, the arts, and more. To learn more, watch our CEO Cameron talk about Business as a Force for Good.
Our company and team have volunteered with and supported many organizations, including:
- Family Forward
- Innovation Law Lab (pro bono counsel for immigrants & refugees)
- Showing Up for Racial Justice
- Urban Gleaners
- Kiva (microfinance loans to underserved populations)
- Business for a Better Portland
- B Local PDX
Our CEO has been honored as a 2018 B Economy Leader by the B Corp community for his work building local communities of impact-driven companies and was named the 2017 Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Citizen of the Year for his work with refugees from Central America.
Emphasis on Wellness & Work-life Balance
We believe physical and mental health is vital and offer strong benefits to keep our team healthy and well. We encourage everyone to get to the office by foot, bike, bus, or Max in order to make ourselves and the community a little healthier. We also work hard to intentionally ensure that our team is working appropriate hours and has time to enjoy other interests outside of work.
Team Member Benefits
PixelSpoke is committed to maintaining a motivated, positive work environment full of great people who share and live our core values. Our benefits include:
- Competitive compensation package
- 100% paid health insurance (Kaiser Platinum Plan with vision and alternative care)
- 100% paid dental insurance
- 401k retirement plan with 4% match
- Short- and long-term disability policy
- Company paid ongoing training and personal development
- Vacation, personal time off and company paid holidays
- The option to work from home 1 day/week
- Outstanding working environment
- Family-friendly atmosphere and culture
- Working with other top performers inspired to create great client results
- Flexible Spending Account for healthcare, child care, and travel
- Employee Assistance Program
We value lifelong learning as the basis of an Everybody Wins relationship with each and every team member. We support professional development by encouraging our employees to get involved in professional organizations, take classes, and spend time on individual development.
What Comes Next
Our Hiring Process
We have a more thorough hiring process than most small businesses. This is because we believe that the cost of a mis-hire is enormous to both an individual and a company. Our process consists of several interviews, a review of your career history, and in-depth reference checks. We respect your time and appreciate your participation in our process. We want you to find the ideal position for your skill set and strengths.
PixelSpoke is committed to equity and values a diverse workforce. As part of this commitment, we seek team members whose diverse personal and professional background gives them a unique perspective to further PixelSpoke’s work with credit unions and other organizations that serve diverse member bases and marginalized communities. People of all types, including women, people of color, people with disabilities, people of different ages, veterans, and members of the LGBTQ community are strongly encouraged to apply.
If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the recruitment or interview process, please let us know.
How to Apply
If you feel you can contribute to a dynamic, growing company, please begin your application process by submitting your application here.
No emails or phone calls, please.