Project Manager: Editorial & Publishing

XQ Institute is the nations leading organization dedicated to rethinking the high school experience so that every student graduates ready to succeed in life. We work in communities throughout the country, with individual schools and entire school systems, to help them dream big about what high school could be, turn their innovative ideas into action, and create more rigorous and equitable schools.

Reporting to XQs Head of Editorial and Publishing, we are seeking an Editorial & Publishing Project Manager who is high-skilled in successfully planning and executing editorial and publishing content across XQ. The ideal candidate is meticulously-organized and detail-oriented, with proven experience building and maintaining day-to-day workflows as well as long-term project planning and execution in a fast-paced collaborative work environment to high standards of excellence. The position requires at least two-to-three days a week in the XQ office in Oakland, California.

Requirements

Key Project Management Responsibilities

• Leads the daily, real-time management and upkeep of the editorial calendar including creating, managing, and populating calendar fields for the successful planning, executing, and tracking content across teams
• Facilitates smooth and timely development, production, and dissemination of digital, print, video/multimedia, and other editorial products
• Skillfully constructs and manages detailed work plans with proficient use of XQs chosen systems including Notion, Milanote, Airtable, Miro, Google Suite, etc.
• Manages and tracks roles, responsibilities, and assignments of internal staff and external contributors to content production, review, and publication

• Develops and communicates overall timelines and key milestones
• Develops, aligns, and tracks editorial projects against organizational goals
• Develops and tracks budgets
• Coordinates schedules and calendars
• Represents the editorial and publishing team in project coordination meetings
• Organizes and manages editorial and publishing content in shared systems such as Google Drive and Box
• Creates and manages project communication channels in Slack
• Develops decks and presentation collateral for communicating project components and milestones

• Contributes to, iterates upon, and executes against an editorial content strategy and editorial calendar
• Plans, organizes, and assumes additional responsibility for project-related meetings and presentations
• Establishes and maintains effective systems for organizing, storing, and retrieving editorial content for XQ-wide use
• Identifies gaps in XQ workstreams, actively proposes solutions, and moves between teams to fill ad-hoc needs and capacity issues
• Regularly meets with teams across XQ to ensure collaboration and ongoing line of sight across all editorial and publishing needs
• Develops and coordinates new Scopes of Work and contracts in partnership with Legal and Operations
• Serves as in-office liaison to other teams for off-site Editorial team members
• Represents the team and XQ in internal and external meetings as appropriate

Qualifications

• Employment: 5+ years of work experience in project management or a similar role
• Education: Bachelors degree required; candidates without a Bachelors degree will not be considered
• Perspective: Demonstrated commitment to and experience in education, social justice, youth development, and/or community service and engagement
• Ethos: Desire to work in a lively, rapidly-changing, high-intensity environment with a diverse team that often collaborates fluidly across projects
• Willingness to report to the Oakland XQ office 3 days per week
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time

Additional Skills & Characteristics

• Meticulously organized and detailed, with a keen eye and careful attention to detail
• Proven experience with executing against goals on time and to high standards of excellence
• Masterful management and follow-through of short-term and long-term tasks simultaneously
• Exceptional interpersonal skills; ability to develop relationships with a wide range of individuals and proven ability to collaborate with a diverse, multi-functional team
• Familiarity with editorial and production processes; creativity and problem-solving ability
• Strong work ethic and independence, with a high degree of motivation to collaborate, learn and iterate
• Ability to communicate effectively, grammatically, and accurately, both verbally and in writing, with colleagues, vendors, consultants, partners, and XQ audiences
• Flexibility and willingness to perform other tasks as assigned
• A self-starter who takes initiative and works well both independently and collaboratively
• Ability to adapt to challenges and opportunities with a solutions-oriented, positive perspective
• A compulsion to identify and resolve inefficiencies, and a passion for building cohesive processes
• Mission-oriented commitment to understanding and articulating the mission, programs, and activities of XQ

• Maintains both a big-picture understanding of the work that needs to be done and the detail-oriented steps involved in doing it right
• Responds rapidly and thoroughly to inquiries and requests
• A confident contributor and upbeat collaborator with a consistent spirit of collaboration, partnership, and productive problem-solving

XQ Mindsets

Ours is a world defined by uncertainty, a society in flux, a state of unprecedented upheavals. While we dont anticipate any quick fixes, we can anchor ourselves to what we see emerging. Thats why we have established a set of collective XQ Mindsets to ground us.

• 100% accountability: This doesn't mean you have 100% ownership. It doesn't mean you are responsible for every last thing that needs to be done. It means choosing to take responsibility for our collective success and impact.
• Maker mindset: We build stuff. We wont always get it right the first timein fact, we rarely will. But by quickly making and testing our work, we can learn what works and what doesnt.
• We are the ones weve been waiting for: Critique is not enough. It is on us to create the solutionsno matter where we sit in the organization. We are a well-resourced organization filled with brilliant people. No one else is coming to our rescue.
• Opportunity knocks: We are ready, willing, and able to take on anything that is thrown our way. Pivots are a natural part of our approach, so lets embrace them so that we can experience them joyfully.
• Stand on the shoulders of giants: We honor those who came before us, who arent seated at our tables, and build on others and our own earlier work with respect and reverence.

Benefits

The salary for this role is highly competitive and commensurate with experience. XQ offers excellent organizational benefits.

XQ is based in Oakland, CA with offices in Washington DC. This role will be based in Oakland, CA

Please apply online. In your cover letter, please address why your skills, interests, and experience align with the requirements for this role.

XQ is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. At XQ, promoting, celebrating, and supporting diversity is a core value. Individuals are considered without regard to race, gender, age, sexual orientation, sexual expression, religion, color, veteran status, disability, marital status, or ancestry.