Data Project Manager Jobs in Springfield, VA (NOW HIRING)

Who We Are:
HelioCampus was founded with the purpose of helping college & university leaders navigate today’s growing pressures. As one of EdTech’s most steadily growing companies, our roots in higher ed ground us in the critical nature of this work.

What We Do:
We help our clients navigate today’s high stakes with data and Institutional Performance Management practices. Together with our clients, we chart a path to sustainability by borrowing practices from the most successful businesses.

How We Do It:
We approach our work with a “we’re on it” attitude that the higher ed community has come to know and expect from our team. We’re data geeks to our core, committed to simplifying the toughest challenges and operating with transparency. Our most successful team members are change agents who love a challenge.

How You'll Help:
We are seeking an experienced project manager to lead data-driven implementation projects for our higher education clients. You will be responsible for managing projects from inception to completion, working closely with clients to identify their needs and provide innovative solutions to help them achieve their data analytics goals. The successful candidate will have a strong background in IT project management, data analytics and higher education, with a proven track record of managing complex data projects within the higher education sector.

What You Will Do:

• Project Team Engagement and Client Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for the institution project manager/coordinator. Responsible for creating a trusting client relationship by establishing project priorities, resource needs, availability and timelines. Responsible for establishing weekly check-ins with internal and external team members to meet deadlines. Proactively identify and address blockers that may impact project success.

• Project Management: Manage end-to-end project delivery, including project planning, scoping, scheduling, and management of project resources. Manage internal and client project teams, and ensure that team members are clear on their roles and responsibilities. Identify ways to improve internal processes, and maintain the implementation guides and supporting tools that keep the team running effectively.

• Communication: Communicate project progress and status to stakeholders, including clients, project sponsors, and executive management. Identify and mitigate project risks, and escalate issues as necessary. Manage project communication/decisions between client and internal project team.

• Documentation: Provide overall project management for the relevant HelioCampus platform implementation, including (but not limited to) the development and maintenance of a project plan, meeting notes, status report, issue log and other project artifacts. Properly save and archive client documents delivered to the project team for successful implementation. Support implementation handoff documentation by identifying client-specific business rule customizations for our ongoing support teams to reference. Provide technical implementation input and documentation for new products post product launch.

• Quality Assurance: Ensure that projects are delivered on time, within budget, and meet quality standards. Ensure that project deliverables meet client expectations and are of high quality.

• Platform Implementation: Develop strong technical understanding of HelioCampus analytics and assessment products to support platform implementations and training of client power users. Support new product implementations and provide feedback to the product team for improvements and proposed modifications. Work closely with technical teams on configuration adjustments and changes. Directly configure and activate certain platform features for clients. Help clients prepare for platform adoption by identifying impacts to existing processes and driving user engagement throughout the implementation process.

• Data Advisory: Escalate common implementation hurdles to the product team for further enhancement and refinement of our products. Provide advice, subject matter expertise, and feedback on data definitions and functional client use cases to inform technical development.

• Training: Facilitate power user training sessions in partnership with other teams during implementation. Provide assistance to clients during “Go Live” and ensure seamless handoff to their on-going services team once implementation is complete. This may include but not be limited to preparing platform roll-out and training presentations, helping to train end-users on relevant HelioCampus platform features, and other launch activities.

• Travel: Travel to client/partner institution sites as needed (no more than 10%).

You Will Be a Good Fit For This Role If You Have:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning

• 3+ years of relevant, project management experience

• Strong communication, planning, and organizational skills

• Experience working with higher education clients, with a deep understanding of the higher education landscape and data needs and/or assessment practices.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical information to non-technical stakeholders.

• Proven ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, and tight deadlines.

• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to motivate and manage project teams.

Nice To Have’s Include: 

• Previous experience in technology implementation/consulting and/or higher education

• Prior experience with:

  • Data analysis and analytics technologies (data warehousing, data visualization tools, SQL, Excel)

  • Team collaboration and project management tools such as Confluence, JIRA, Smartsheet, Trello

  • Similar SaaS products

• Prior experience working with higher education technology systems (Workday, Colleague, Banner, Peoplesoft etc.) is a plus

• Project management certification (PMP, CAPM, ITIL 4 Foundations or equivalent) is highly desirable.

• Experience working in Agile development environments is a plus.

A Note on AI in Our Hiring Process: We are an AI-forward company and champion the smart use of technology. However, our hiring process is designed to evaluate your personal capabilities, critical thinking, and lived experience. Please ensure your resume, application materials, and interview responses are your own and not generated by AI. Show us your raw talent and your genuine experience, that is the person we want to join our team.

Location:
This specific role is primarily remote, with occasional travel to an office or client site. US East Coast working hours are required, and a strong preference is given to candidates who can easily travel to our Chapel Hill, NC or Bethesda, MD offices for occasional in-person work.

Compensation and Benefits:
Flexible work schedule, 18 PTO days on day one with additional PTO per year. Fifteen (15) paid holidays, medical/dental/vision coverage, parental leave, 401K with match, company events, referral bonus, professional development opportunities, home office perks, and two office locations.

What Sets Us Apart:

1. Commitment to Higher Education: We believe that serving higher ed makes the world a better place. This drives our desire to deliver high-quality products and services to help higher education institutions serve their students and communities.

2. Flexibility to Fit Your Life: HelioCampus employees enjoy the autonomy, freedom, and trust of a remote-first working environment. We embrace an “on it” mentality both in and out of the workplace, and employees are supported in pursuing personal and professional passions.

3. A Community of Bright Minds with Big Hearts: HelioCampus hires curious and talented practitioners who bring a diversity of thought and genuine care for one another and our clients to work every day. Our team members are more than a job description and are encouraged to show up as their full and authentic selves.  

What We Believe:
HelioCampus is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.

Disclaimer:
The list of responsibilities described above is not comprehensive. Other tasks not mentioned here may be required.  Changing business conditions may trigger changes to job responsibilities.  This job description is not an employment contract.

Physical Qualifications:

This position requires the following physical qualifications to support a productive remote work environment. We are dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this role. If you require accommodations, please discuss this during the application process.

Vision: Sufficient visual acuity to read documents, view computer screens, and engage in tasks that require attention to detail.

Hearing: Ability to communicate effectively in person (as applicable) and via phone or video conferencing, ensuring clear understanding of verbal instructions.

Fine Motor Skills: Proficient use of hands for typing, using a mouse, and managing office equipment such as printers and scanners.

Lifting: Occasional lifting of up to 10 pounds (e.g., office supplies or equipment).