Workers' Futures Project Manager (and 2025-2026 Project Management Roster)

Overview

IRIS is hiring for project managers, to work with us on current and future projects. We are currently hiring for one active project, to begin early- to mid-January on a six-month timeline, with potential for renewal. This role will involve management of a working group and peer-learning-focused project oriented around workers and labor movements in the Global South.

We are also screening for additional project managers for an active 2025-2026 roster, whom we can call upon on a project-by-project basis during the next year. We anticipate hiring 3 or more individuals from this roster. We will inform all applicants of their status in both processes within the next two months.

To Apply

Please use the Idealist.org platform to provide a personal cover letter or video intro, in English, that shares a bit of your story along with your resume/CV by December 16, 2024 as well as completing our brief PM Roster Application Form.

For the immediate opportunity, we ask that you apply as soon as possible, and before December 1, 2024. Applicant materials will be reviewed and interviews invited on a rolling basis. We kindly ask that cover letters drafted by an artificial intelligence not be submitted as we rely on these to get a sense of your individual personality, your writing style and how you organize your thoughts.

Job Structure & Compensation

• hourly, contract position to start
• fully-remote contract; at least half of work hours will align with US Eastern time
• hourly rate between $30-$50/hour, commensurate with experience and considering fair market rates in place of residence
• Some travel—fully covered by IRIS—may be requested
• Current Role: estimating 20-30 hours per week to start, variable, subject to selected candidate availability and project demands; global open, with preference for focus regions East Africa, South America, and Middle East North Africa, or US-based; preference for experience in work related to labor rights movements and economic futures
• Roster Openings: 10-30 hours per week, project-dependent; global open, with preference for project focus region, or US-based

Responsibilities & Duties

IRIS is seeking an experienced, creative, adaptable and solutions-focused project manager to manage and implement projects already designed, proposed and awarded. We’re looking for someone meticulous and generous, who actively builds trust relationships while methodically carrying out IRIS activities and commitments to deliver meaningful and timely outcomes. The consultant will report directly to the IRIS Founding Director and partner with the core team on operational and systems components of the work.

Project Administration and Implementation

Team management

• Manage project stakeholder communication and relationships with emphasis on trust building and clarity, in close collaboration with the IRIS Project Lead (in this case, the IRIS Founding Director), including among internal team members, consultants, researchers, working group members, partner organizations and funder
• Serve as an information resource and wheel hub for the project, especially coordinating closely with, upmanaging and updating the project lead
• Facilitate internal project coordination including:
  • Determining meeting cadence & attendance & maintaining a forward thinking meeting schedule that response to project needs
  • Creating meeting agendas and providing opportunities for input and feedback
  • Document project decisions and pivot points, meeting follow-on & next steps

Project management

• Actively participate in project handover from the IRIS Design team, taking up management of existing project plan and documents and diving into needed clarifications, updates & gap-filling
• As needed, create and/or update internal project documents, including work plans, timelines/gantt charts, project budgets, contract scopes of work, needed document and communication templates, implementation trackers, and reporting formats
• Track timeline throughout project implementation, flagging delays, bottlenecks & concerns and guiding the team through to successful and on-time completion of the project and all relevant activities and deliverables
• Manage project stakeholder communication and relationships with emphasis on trust building and clarity, in close collaboration with the IRIS Project Lead (in this case, the IRIS Founding Director), including among internal team members, consultants, researchers, working group members, partner organizations and funder
• Facilitate the creation of (or update existing) robust project theory of change and slate of goals - that will then inform the work plan - that can effectively guide project-level decision-making to meet both IRIS and funder objectives
• Manage project decision-making processes, briefing and advising the Project Lead on key decision points, including context/background

Activity management

• Manage virtual and in-person project events, including design, participants, planning, run of show, coordination with facilitators/speakers and other vendors, communications, and follow-up
• Manage, give feedback on, coordinate review processes, finalize and integrate into project externally-commissioned deliverables from consultants and vendors, including proposals from vendors, graphics, videos, slide presentations, research and reporting, other written products and any other intermediate or final products
• Support data and creative asset collection efforts—including surveys, audio/visual materials, information resources, links/web resources—that take place during the course of the project and partners, participants, and other project stakeholders and communicate and adapt collected data/information as appropriate to project scope

Budget and operations management

• Draft, finalize, track and manage contracts related to the project team and invoicing schedules, with input from other project stakeholders, and in partnership with IRIS Operations Manager
• Serve as operational point of contact and work closely with the IRIS Director of Operations & Learning as well as IRIS Operations Manager to ensure project operations fit into broader IRIS systems and fully comply with all legal, regulatory, and fiscal sponsor requirements
  • maintain oversight of project grant-in code and advise on expenditure and SP Variable coding
• Track project expenses on a monthly basis using IRIS financial statements
  • rework budgets when necessary
  • flag pipeline or budget overage concerns early and work with the IRIS team, partners and/or external implementors/vendors to resolve

Funder Relations, Project Representation & Reporting

• Represent IRIS in funder meetings and with project stakeholders
• Draft narrative updates & reporting for interim and final deliverables and upon request, including working with templates, coordinating inputs, responding to feedback, and, when necessary, adapting and finalizing for different stakeholders/versions/formats
• Assemble other needed project documents as appropriate, including: bios/headshots, agendas, surveys, questionnaires, website copy, slide decks, newsletter blurbs
• Work with IRIS Project Lead and other project stakeholders to ensure impact goals and project learning trajectories are clear, accessibly communicated, progressively updated/documented, and flowing into IRIS high-level goals throughout the course of the project

Project Activities and Thematic Areas:

Potential activity types may include:

• Commissioned Research, including landscape analyses, desk reviews, narrative analyses, social listening, and surveys
• Fellowships & Curriculum Development and Delivery
• Creative Hubs and Networks
• Events, convenings, and peer learning sessions, including virtual and in-person
• Content Funds and Re-granting Portfolios

Project specialties and thematic areas may include:

• combatting authoritarianism
• securitization narratives
• combatting anti-gender ideology
• workers and economic futures
• sexual and reproductive health and rights/young mothers
• technology and society
• climate

Who You Are

No candidate will have all of these skills and experiences. We encourage you to apply if you have some of these skills and experiences, and especially deep knowledge in certain of the activities/thematic areas. We will ask you to mark your areas of expertise in the accompanying roster application.

For the current position: we are specifically looking for someone experienced with global-south-centered labor rights organizations/activists/movements; please apply if you are a project manager with this experience and indicate your interest in the current position.

For all positions:

• An experienced project manager, used to managing creative, multi-pronged, cross-sector projects internationally and/or in multicultural settings.
• Experienced in partnering with social justice movements, global hubs, philanthropy and/or non-profit sectors.
• Knowledgeable in effective project management practices and platforms, including Monday.com, Slack, and Google Suite
• An organized and committed do-er known for stabilizing and reassuring any team you take part in, with an ability to keep eyes on all aspects of a project spectrum with calm and clarity
• Confident coming into previously designed projects, asking questions, following thought processes, and lending order to confusion, you dive into fuzzy situations to bring clarity and accountability
• Open, transparent, and responsive; able to demonstrate ease with remote time management, priority aligning, and process tracking
• You listen deeply, are always a little bit prescient because you’ve thought more steps down the road than anyone else, and take a quiet satisfaction in having the answers (or figuring them out!)
• Surefooted in demonstrating dignity, respect, and care for everyone you come into contact with

About IRIS

The International Resource for Impact & Storytelling (IRIS) is an international philanthropy-facing donor collaborative connecting creative visual storytellers, civic innovators and narrative analysis, with a focus on global-south-based and -focused work across a range of interconnected social justice issue areas. Launched in 2021 by a small-and-growing team of specialists, IRIS works with its partners to design innovative projects that interweave research, fluency in narrative strategies and content cultivation for impact. IRIS supports network strengthening, peer learning, and solidarity building activities that are locally relevant and globally connected.

A Note about Diversity

The IRIS team, partners, and grantees come from a beautiful diversity of regions and backgrounds that span the globe. Principles of diversity, equity and inclusion are key to our founding and vision and a backbone in our unique structure and approach. All candidates are encouraged and welcomed to apply, including women, LGBTQIA+, and candidates residing in Indigenous communities and areas affected by socio-environmental concerns. This position is open to professionals based anywhere in the world with the ability to be available during East Coast US hours.