Contract Program Manager (Digital, Websites) - Evergreen

This is an evergreen job post; interviews are not ongoing, but we welcome expressions of interest from talented individuals who share our commitment to Blue State’s mission.

About the role

As a Contract Program Manager (Digital, Websites) at Blue State, you’ll lead website development and technical consulting projects from start to finish, helping nonprofits and progressive organizations reimagine how they engage audiences through their websites and digital marketing platforms. You’ll manage stakeholder relationships and work closely with our Tech, Strategy, Design, and Analytics teams to conduct user research, identify product requirements, create sprint plans, and test and iterate on deliverables for Blue State’s unique portfolio of clients.

A Program Manager at Blue State is a generalist who creates connections between stakeholders, strategists, designers, engineers, analysts, and content producers.

The company

Blue State is a purpose-driven agency partnering with leading causes, brands, and campaigns to create real change. From AARP and Doctors Without Borders to Amnesty International and Oxfam, we transform how brands and causes raise money, influence policy, build platforms, and grow communities of supporters. Led by creative and analytical minds from the political, nonprofit, and brand worlds, Blue State is an independent agency with offices in the US and London.

Responsibilities

• Manage budgets and timelines for website redesigns and other digital projects, including defining scopes and gathering estimates across disciplines.
• Distill clients’ goals and priorities through interviews, workshops, analytics, platform audits, and other forms of research.
• Write and maintain requirements, ensuring that all functionality, user flows, and edge cases are understood by stakeholders. Documentation could range from lo-fi sketches to detailed acceptance criteria.
• Minimize exposure to risk on a project by identifying potential scope creep and working with internal teams and client stakeholders to mitigate this risk.
• Help create sprint plans and release schedules.
• Develop testing and measurement plans in coordination with strategists and analysts.
• Manage multiple website build projects simultaneously and understand project priorities in the context of agency and client expectations.
• Manage stakeholder feedback, evaluating all proposed features against the product scope and ensuring that bugs are reported and prioritized correctly. Provide creative recommendations based on your technical expertise when features don’t fit in the budget. Make the tough calls when scope needs to be cut.
• Support the greater Business Development team with the scoping of new client product engagements. Estimate effort, ensure that team members are aligned on what’s being proposed, and guard against proposals that aren’t feasible.
• Manage operational aspects of projects, including communication of client needs to team and vice versa as well as resourcing and financial health tracking.
• Lead project status meetings and updates with internal teams and clients.
• Use AI to accelerate your work, such as writing requirements or organizing inputs.

Schedule

Blue State operates on a hybrid model. On-site presence is welcome for US staff within commuting distance of the NY or DC office. Managers may require in-person attendance for specific roles or client teams as necessary. Staff and visitors must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including a booster shot when eligible, to enter US offices or attend Blue State events. Exceptions for protected grounds will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $60–$90 per hour, commensurate with experience.

The team

You’ll be part of our global website development practice, collaborating with designers, developers, strategists, and other creative professionals. We’re veterans of presidential campaigns, agencies, nonprofits, and the tech world who are passionate about technology and aim to continually improve our work. We collaborate closely, both remotely and optionally from our offices in New York, DC, and London.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience in program management or similar roles such as product management or technical project management.
• Experience with CMS-driven websites, such as those built on WordPress. You will not architect a WordPress site yourself but will help steer designers and engineers in feasible directions aligned with client goals.
• Familiarity with and interest in marketing platforms, including CRMs, and data and personalization technology used by organizations to engage and mobilize supporters.
• Willingness to wear multiple hats and get into the weeds to reach a milestone, whether that means logging into the CMS to fix content, sketching a quick feature to clarify a proposal, or having difficult conversations with vendors.
• Ability to use wireframes to communicate recommendations to design teams.
• Cognizance of the overall AI landscape and the ability to evaluate AI outputs critically.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to interact with engineers, designers, and business stakeholders alike.
• Strong collaborator and relationship builder. Colleagues know they can come to you for help working through delicate issues or opportunities.
• Empathy, positivity, respect, and the ability to be a role model at Blue State.

At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. We encourage those from underrepresented communities—women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, those with disabilities, and people at all intersections—to apply. Even if you don’t think your current skill set checks every box, but this role aligns with your strengths, we want to hear from you.