Projects Director

Hey! Paper Leaf is an award-winning digital product design firm located in Edmonton, AB. We design & develop innovative custom web applications, mobile applications and websites –and we are looking to add a full-time Projects Director to our team to help us do that. We have a fun, relaxed & flexible environment that’s actually organized; a tight-knit team where your voice is heard; a variety of challenging, rewarding, and creative work; and a clear framework for professional development and growth. It’s a good place to be. We're currently remote during the pandemic, and do anticipate remaining remote-first (with in-person and drop-in time as required) going forwards. So, with that said, this is a remote-first position, open to applicants in Canada, with preference given to those near Edmonton, AB and/or within the MST timezone.

We work on projects for clients across the globe, and you'll be working on a team that values high-quality execution – not one that is hellbent on burning you out and churning out as much work as possible. You can learn more about our work on the Portfolio page, our team on our About page, and get a good vibe of our culture from our Instagram feed. Sometimes mission statements are bogus, but we believe in ours: to improve organizations through the elegant execution of design and technology.

We also believe that diversity in all regards contributes to a broader collective perspective that will consistently improve Paper Leaf and the work we do. We are working hard to increase the diversity of our team wherever we can and we actively encourage everyone to consider becoming a part of it.

Position

Compensation: $72,000 – $100,000 CAD

The Projects Director is a leadership role at Paper Leaf, encompassing both a people management role for our Project Managers (PMs) and a strategic role for certain client projects. The ideal candidate has past PM or AM experience in an agency/consultancy setting, and has a good baseline of knowledge when it comes to web and mobile app technology and project delivery. This position reports to our Operations Director (currently on Maternity Leave, and will report to the Managing Director in the interim).

In your role as Paper Leaf’s Projects Director, you will work closely with each project manager to make sure they are delivering on their responsibilities, mentoring them on the areas that they can improve, and flagging potential project and team issues before they arise. Our project managers are responsible for the successful delivery of projects to satisfied clients. To their teams, project managers are the champion of the client and the user; to the client, they represent the team's capabilities and needs. PMs are responsible for project resourcing (who is working on what, and for how long), project strategy, and project budget. This includes: conducting stakeholder interviews and developing user personas and user stories, helping define schedules & roles; keeping projects on time & on budget; communicating with clients and internal team members; reporting on project statuses; and more. You are accountable for project managers executing on the above.

Further to the Projects Director role at Paper Leaf, you will work with the rest of our management team to set and lead the direction for the project management team in our shop. This means you love to identify process problems, solve them, and continually improve project management processes while also holding your team accountable to what’s expected. Like all teams at Paper Leaf, our management team is cross-functional; we each have a speciality but work together to ensure the shop and our projects run smoothly. You’ll also work with other leadership to help guide project teams through early stage Discovery projects, ensuring the strategic direction of the project is appropriate and that, ultimately, the teams are set up to build the right thing and deliver it in the correct manner.

Are you the ideal candidate for this position? You are if you…

• are exceptionally organized and great at task management
• are direct, accountable, and empathetic
• have related past project management experience in an agency or consultancy setting
• can see both the forest and the individual trees - you know how to look at the big picture, and how to break it down into its individual parts.
• love not only finding answers, but finding the questions that need to be answered
• anticipate & resolve issues that may arise from projects and your reports before they become critical
• find holes in a project’s strategy and coach others on how to resolve them
• critically review processes and look for areas to streamline or improve existing standards
• are a problem solver – you approach nearly everything as a problem to be solved
• love working with people & have great people skills
• are an outstanding communicator, both written & verbally, and a great listener
• attract & retain PMs for our project management team
• know what to delegate to whom, and how to delegate
• deliver what you say you will when you say you will

Job Duties

The job duties for the project manager position involve:

• PM performance management for a team of 4 Project Managers, inclusive of feedback, mentorship and coaching
• PM hiring & training
• Client & user needs and requirements uncovering
• Working with PMs to set project goals & expectations and guide project strategy
• Oversight of PM project delivery & team resource forecasting
• Vacation coverage for PM team, overflow or interim PM work if required
• Oversight of client invoicing & revenue forecasting
• Participating in client meetings: pitches, needs assessments / workshops, progress reviews (attending as needed)
• Shop utilization, project budget & client satisfaction reporting
• Providing a consistent experience to clients as they move through project phases or across project teams
• Acting as an escalation contact for client concerns
• Writing: meeting itineraries, project documentation, daily comms, etc.
• Reviewing project deliverables for quality and strategic alignment

Requirements

To be considered for the position, here’s what you’ll have:

• 3+ years experience as a Project Manager, Product Manager, Account Manager, Account Executive or in a related role, in an agency or consultancy setting
• 1+ year experience managing direct reports
• 3+ years experience working on website, web application, or mobile application projects (or related education)
• Strong written skills
• Very strong verbal communication & people skills
• Strong critical thinking & problem-solving skills
• Outstanding organizational skills
• Ability to plan ahead and foresee challenges
• Ability to take a fuzzy idea, create clarity and create an actionable plan to move forward on it.

If you don’t meet one or two of these requirements, but still feel you’d be a good fit, throw your hat in the mix anyway. You miss every shot you don’t take.

What We Offer

This full-time, salaried position (compensation is dependent on experience, and based on our band system will land between $72,000 and $100,000 CAD) used to be out of our office in Edmonton, but we're all working remotely for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We offer a relaxed working environment; flexible start and end times to your days, and the opportunity for 4 day weeks if you want; a compensation package that includes a competitive salary, benefits, and vacation time; the opportunity to work on interesting, challenging, and meaningful projects; professional development opportunities; and more.

Please apply via the formal job posting, live at our parent company (ZGM)'s job portal.

We are always looking for the right candidates to help us grow, and will be in contact with those we wish to connect with for an interview.

Thanks!