Technical Project Manager

Location: Remote, USA

Position Status: Full-time, exempt

Salary Level: Starting salary for this role will be $100k commensurate on experience

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Team

MicroMentor is a tech-based social enterprise of Mercy Corps. At MicroMentor, our mission is to leverage the power of mentoring to help small businesses thrive. We do so by offering entrepreneurs direct access to a pool of committed professional volunteer mentors via an easy-to-use online community. MicroMentor has an expanding global community making 10,000 mentoring connections every year. Entrepreneurs matched with a mentor have shown significant results in terms of improved job creation, business survival, and revenue growth.

Our team is diverse, driven, and hardworking. We are highly committed to the mission of helping small businesses thrive through mentoring, and to Mercy Corps’ mission that is improving the lives of 19 million people in 40+ countries.

The Position

MicroMentor is on an exciting growth trajectory and seeks a skilled Technical Project Manager (TPM) as a key team member in our strategic pursuit of product improvements and partnerships with high value clients on our journey to scale and sustainability. The TPM’s main responsibilities are to act as the decision maker among the product engineering, programs and partnerships teams regarding project deliverables and timelines, and to represent the product and technology strategy / competency of MicroMentor with competency on strategic partners, commercial clients, donors and technology vendors.

The TPM role at Micromentor requires the skills and the mindset needed in growth stage startups, managing multiple areas simultaneously, with a focus on leading the development of highly technical projects, where a true subject matter expert is required to guide a project to completion and provide support for project team members.

The TPM will have a deep understanding of the major technological components of a complex digital multi-platform, mobile-first service architecture, allowing the TPM to convert product visions and feature requests into well defined product user stories and specifications that will drive the implementation by the software development team. In collaboration with the senior engineers, the TPM will scope the level of effort for new projects, refining deliverables, providing the base for the Sales team to provide estimates and quotes to prospective and existing strategic partners.

The TPM will also drive the release schedule for the core MicroMentor services and work out a product roadmap together with the Product Owner/s as outlined by the Leadership team. As the owner of the realization of the product roadmap, the TPM will track the progress and velocity of the engineering team, and suggest corrective measures as needed to the Leadership team to ensure that all milestones are met. They will raise change requests, support deployment of new apps, and support the engineering and design teams in understanding our users’ needs.

MicroMentor is driving an ambitious growth trajectory with a high demand on modern technology to power its growing spectrum of services. MicroMentor is also leading a collaborative effort in engineering a mentoring platform shared by other non-for-profit players. This translates into a critical need for technological competency when interacting with external stakeholders, and the TPM is to fill this role.

The successful TPM has held a TPM role at a software or engineering company previously, a robust technical background, strong skills in translating engineering and software terms into layman’s terms,, excellent interpersonal skills, is highly organized and detail-oriented, and has a coherent philosophy for planning and executing software development. The person in this role will have a close relationship with the core engineering team, Product Manager, and Director of Technology.

Essential Responsibilities

• Lead the execution of MicroMentor’s software development through a product roadmap and coherent technical project management philosophy
• Develop and track complex technical engineering, mobile first software project plans with cross-functional teams and partners
• Analyze, plan and develop requirements and standards in reference to scheduled projects
• Assign and oversee the daily tasks of technical personnel while ensuring all subordinates are actively working toward established milestones
• Hold regular technical team meetings to determine progress and address any questions or challenges regarding projects
• Regularly communicate project status to all stakeholders (internal and external) Assist the senior engineer in their collaboration with staff extension services that execute on engineering work
• Serve as the point of contact to staff extension services and technology vendors and work out task orders.
• Serve as liaison between technical and non-technical departments in order to ensure that all targets and requirements are met.
• Formulate objectives, plan project life-cycles, and devise resource availability plans to support software development.
• Review functional and design specifications to ensure full understanding of individual deliverables.
• Work closely with project owners to collect business objectives and requirements to clearly define, document and scope projects and initiatives.
• Work closely with User Experience designers to refine user stories for production by engineering teams.
• Lead the exploration, evaluation, and design of technical solutions to meet objectives of the software projects.
• Maintain and update relevant documentation to provide a guide for internal customers.
• Update and maintain all production technologies as necessary

Supervisory Responsibility

None

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Executive Director, Works Directly With: Director of Technology, Engineers, and Product Manager

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• Minimum of a 4-year degree in computer science, information systems.
• 5+ years of experience in the areas of development, implementation, or user interface engineering, ideally including full stack development experience and some hybrid mobile application development (Ionic, Flutter, etc).
• 3+ years of technical project management experience, preferably in a software or mixed software/hardware environment in an agile or similar production environment.
• Professional Technical Project Management Certification from accredited institution preferred
• Managerial experience applying analytical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Strong sense of personal accountability regarding decision-making
• Experience with providing service to online communities or online consumer services
• Experience working in a high-level collaborative environment and promoting a teamwork mentality
• Ability to predict challenges and seek to proactively head-off obstacles
• Clear communication (written and verbal English) to ensure ability to scope, manage, and lead projects.
• Ability to manage multiple projects at once and identify opportunities for improvement in the software development process.
• Excellent project management skills: planning, scheduling, project communication, issue resolution, change management, and risk management.
• Creative solving of technical problems to ensure the ability to translate business requirements into project plans.
• Well versed in iterative software project management practices like Agile, and the software development life cycle.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

The position is 100% remote. Must be available to work full time within a US time zone. If the candidate is based in Portland, they can work onsite at the Mercy Corps Portland Office (not mandatory). Travel to Portland HQ for annual planning may be required.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times.

As a safeguarding measure, Mercy Corps screens all potential US-Based employees. Any offers of employment or continued employment are dependent on the successful completion of the screens which include, but are not limited to our Background Check and Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme processes,

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

Covid-19 Vaccine Policy for US-Based Employees

Mercy Corps has determined that, in an effort to protect the health, safety, and well-being of all Mercy Corps employees working in the United States, all U.S.-based employees must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, regardless of prior COVID-19 infection status.

This policy will be revised as needed to comply with federal, state, and local requirements, and to respond to changing guidance from public health authorities.

For new employees this requirement goes into effect within 10 business days of employment. Team members that travel are expected to comply with host-country requirements, including vaccinations. Failure to comply may impact your employment. Proof of vaccination or exemption must be provided.