Retail Operations Project Manager Jobs in Ashburn, VA

ABOUT ULI

The Urban Land Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research and education organization supported by its members. Founded in 1936, the Institute has more than 48,000 members worldwide representing the full spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines across private enterprise and public service. ULI's mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.

ABOUT THE TEAM

ULI is entering a new chapter. Coming out of FutureScape 2035, the organization is putting a strategic plan into motion that will shape how ULI convenes its members, shares knowledge, builds belonging, and drives impact in the years ahead. The Global Operations & Digital Strategy team is responsible for the platforms, operations, data, and delivery capacity that turn that strategy into reality. Its departments - spanning IT, data, digital products, and more – carry a mandate that reaches across the whole of ULI’s operations.

Within that team, the project management function operates like an internal project management office: a small, trusted group that teams across ULI call in whenever a project is complex enough to need a neutral third party keeping vendors, timelines, and stakeholders aligned. Much of this work touches technology today, because that is where ULI's multi-vendor, multi-stakeholder projects tend to live, but the function is deliberately built to flex wherever the organization's biggest cross-functional priorities are, technical or not.

This is a close-knit, two-person team with room to grow as project volume and the strategic plan’s ambitions expand over the next few years.

THE ROLE

This is a newly defined, dedicated project management role. You will report to the Lead Project Manager and work closely with her as ULI's digital roadmap ramps up.

You will not be thrown into ULI's biggest, most complex initiatives on day one. You will start by learning the portfolio, building relationships with the teams and vendors you will work with most, and picking up smaller implementation projects - think a business unit onboarding a new CRM or tool specific to their team. As you build momentum, you will move into owning larger, end-to-end initiatives central to the strategic plan: new tools, new internal platforms, operations programs, and the cross-functional work that determines how ULI delivers for its members and staff going forward.

This is not a technical role. You will not be making architecture or technical decisions; ULI has dedicated technical leads for that. Your job is to be the connective tissue: coordinating vendors, keeping internal stakeholders aligned, and making sure the right person is in the room to make the right call at the right time.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Project Leadership & Vendor Management

• Lead technical implementation projects end to end, from helping coordinate the RFP process and vendor selection through execution and delivery.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for implementation vendors, keeping delivery on scope, on schedule, and mapped to what ULI needs to hand over on its end.
• Support larger, organization-wide initiatives in a coverage and support capacity alongside the Lead Project Manager.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Act as the liaison between vendors, technical leads, and business stakeholders, making sure the right internal decision-makers are engaged at the right moments.
• Run change management processes when scope, requirements, or priorities shift mid-project, which happens often in a fast-moving environment.
• Adapt your approach project to project. ULI does not run one methodology. You will work agile on one project and waterfall on the next, often on the vendor's tooling rather than your own.

Budget, Timeline & Reporting

• Track external project budgets against the agreed scope of work and flag variances or the need for a change order early.
• Own project plans and status reporting using whatever tool fits the project, ULI runs on Monday.com internally, but vendors often work in Jira or other platforms, so comfort learning new tools quickly matters more than expertise in any one of them.
• Use AI tools where they help, ULI is early in its AI maturity, but status updates, project plans, and similar routine documentation are increasingly built with AI support.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR

Required

• Experience leading cross-functional projects with multiple internal stakeholders and, ideally, external vendors, from kickoff through delivery.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills. This is the single most important thing we are looking for. The mechanics of project management can be templated and automated; getting a room full of different teams, priorities, and personalities aligned cannot.
• Genuine flexibility and adaptability. We need someone who can move between methodologies and tools project to project, not someone attached to running things one specific way.
• Comfort operating with some ambiguity and shifting priorities, in a fast-moving, resource-conscious nonprofit environment where you will often be doing a bit of everything.
• Familiarity with at least one project management or task-tracking platform (Monday.com, Jira, Asana, or similar). Specific tool experience is not required, most of these tools work the same way underneath.

Preferred

• Experience managing vendors or external implementation partners specifically, rather than only internal project teams.
• Background working agency-side or in a client-services model, where you are used to representing one team's needs to another.
• Experience working with global or international stakeholder groups.
• Exposure to using AI tools in project workflows (status reporting, plan-building, and similar).

This is not a technical project management role, ULI has dedicated technical leads on every project for architecture and technical decisions. Candidates with broad cross-functional stakeholder experience are a natural fit.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

In your first 90 days, you will learn ULI's portfolio and the teams and vendors you will work with most, and you will start moving smaller implementation projects forward, hitting agreed milestones even if a project is not yet fully complete. You will be watching budgets against scope, keeping timelines on track, and building the relationships that make cross-team coordination possible.

Over your first six months to a year, as ULI's broader digital roadmap is handed to the team, you will move into owning larger projects end to end, contributing directly to the technology overhaul the ULI Board has made an organizational priority.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The salary range for this position is $65,822 - $75,000. Actual compensation will be based on experience, education, skills, and other job-related factors. ULI offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, and life insurance; generous vacation leave; and a retirement plan with employer match.

WORKING CONDITIONS

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is committed to shaping the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide, and we embrace our core values of integrity, collaboration, inclusion, and excellence in service to our members. In alignment with the Board of Directors' strong commitment to in-person collaboration, our roles require regular on-site presence to foster teamwork, innovation, and organizational effectiveness. ULI's primary workplace remains its offices, where in-person collaboration supports our mission and service to members.

ULI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion/creed, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, veteran or active military status, non-citizenship or citizenship status, arrest or conviction record, credit history, caregiver status, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or partnership status, familial status, unemployment status, or any other status protected by applicable law.