Full time, remote

Proof+Geist is looking to add an enthusiastic, motivated, organized Project Manager to our team. The way we think about project management at Proof is unique, and merits a bit of explanation so we can have confidence we’re all on the same page.

What does a Project Manager do at Proof?

Fundamentally, a Project Manager pays attention to a project and is accountable for a project’s success. At Proof, the goal of a Project Manager is to deliver an exceptional product and create an exceptional experience for everyone involved in the project (both the client and the team). 

More specifically, we like to use a Design Thinking framework to explain the domains a Project Manager is responsible for paying attention to. Here are the phases of a project, through a Design Thinking and Project Management lens:

• Empathize
  • Goal: Establish the relationships
  • Who has what roles and responsibilities within the project? Who are the stakeholders?
  • What feeling or atmosphere are we looking to create?
  • How can we get everyone on the same page?
  • Key Risk: we haven’t built trust, so we don’t have it when we need it.
• Articulate
  • Goal: Align & Define
  • Why are we doing this? What problem are we trying to solve?
  • What does success look like? What are our deliverables?
  • What are our constraints?
  • What are we not going to do?
  • Key Risk: we assume a shared understanding; the same words can mean different things
• Ideate
  • Goal: Plan
  • How are we going to solve the problem?
  • How can we front-load the timeline, to fail and learn early?
  • Key Risk: we move too quickly to creating – never find the “right” idea

• Create
  • Goal: Do the thing
  • Build the software
  • Deploy the product
  • Key Risk: We invest in the wrong idea – it doesn’t work / doesn’t fix the problem

The process of designing and building something is not linear, and in fact, is subject to change and revision throughout the process:

Therefore, a Project Manager must also be flexible, receptive to feedback, and enthusiastic about revising existing plans as new information becomes available.

You’ll hear echos of other project management frameworks here – for instance, the way we work aligns well with an Agile approach to projects, though we don’t subscribe to that methodology specifically. This means that we are more interested in the real-world experience you’ve had running and organizing things, rather than your training or certifications. For instance, a teacher who managed a high school classroom for several years is likely a stronger candidate in our eyes than a certified Scrum Master who needs everything to fit within an Agile approach.

Responsibilities

• Implement the Proof Project Process (outlined above)
• Coordinate and deliver (internal and external) technical and non-technical projects across the company
• Lead day-to-day communication with clients and within the team
• Manage resources, coordinate schedules, and plan meetings
• Keep projects on budget and on time, or negotiate updated timelines and budgets with the help of the Account Lead
• Run project sync meetings
• Help project teams (including the client) set priorities
• Solve resource problems
• Anticipate, assess, and mitigate risks
• Run project retrospectives

Requirements

To be a good fit as a Project Manager at Proof, you should be:

• Experienced in coordinating projects either personally or professionally that involve many moving pieces and stakeholders
• Passionate about improving the systems around you
• Skilled in verbal and written communication
• Comfortable multitasking and juggling multiple projects
• Able to work from a safe remote location with good wifi and video capabilities. If you feel this prerequisite bars you from applying, please let us know; We will work with you on tech capabilities and this should not be a reason not to apply.
• Knowledgeable about the support and conditions you need to focus and work effectively

About us

Proof+Geist is a warm, caring community of humans. We’re also a rapidly growing technology company that makes businesses better by designing and building software systems centered around the Claris platform. Considering that we’re mostly software developers, we have an unusually high concentration of art, philosophy, and religion majors on our team. 

Our offerings fall into four broad categories: 

• Infrastructure & hosting (Ottomatic, custom infrastructure deployments)
• Software products (Otto, LedgerLink, etc.)
• Professional services (technology consulting, custom software design, Claris Platform/FileMaker and web development)
• Customer success (support for clients as they navigate all of the above)

We place a heavy emphasis on teamwork, collaboration, feedback, and process. 

Salary, work hours, and benefits

The salary range for this position is $50,000-65,000 (junior) or $60,000-75,000 (mid-level) per year and will vary based on experience, background, and skill set.

• This is a salaried position, workloads and times will vary from day to day, but most weeks should land around 40 hours. Sorry, but visa sponsorship is not available.
• It is anticipated that from time to time seasonal or project needs will require time beyond 40 hours, including occasionally for overnight and weekend emergencies.
• We expect that you will commit to being available from 11am to 3pm Eastern time, Monday to Friday, for meetings and collaboration. Time outside of that can be and often is flexible. Our operations team is primarily based in the eastern time zone, and our team more broadly is primarily US-based.
• You are expected to set up a home office from which to work. Office expenses are your responsibility unless otherwise arranged.

Benefits include:

• Company holiday (~12 paid days, including a winter holiday closure week) and PTO (15 days) as outlined in the Proof+Geist Employee Handbook
• Family-focused work environment with allowances for flexibility in schedule
• Company sponsored health, dental, and vision plans
• Company sponsored 401(k)
• This position will be eligible for additional employee benefits as they are made available

To Apply

For consideration, please submit the following to join-us@proofgeist.com:

• a resume
• cover letter, including the word “empathy” 
• a creative supplement to your application; you may choose to submit a small (~250 words)/short (max 3 minute) additional material in whatever format you choose– poetry, short video, photographs, a short writing response, a zine, or any medium of your choosing addressing one of the following prompts:
  • What are you most curious about right now?
  • Show us a system you’ve designed or improved.

Perfection is neither desired nor possible, so we hope that you will timebox yourself to about an hour in synthesizing this creative supplement. This is meant to be an outlet of self-expression rather than a burden.

FAQs

Where do I have to be to work with Proof+Geist? 

We are fully remote and have people physically located from California to Florida to Maine. That means that you’ll need reliable internet access and a computer with a webcam, but location is flexible.

Will I need to know any skills/software before I start? 

We don’t expect anyone to be an expert in any one thing. You don’t need to be a programmer or a computer science major. We use Zoom, Google Suite, ClickUp, and Slack every day. It’s great if you have some working knowledge of those. For other skills & software, we will do some on-the-spot training but ask that you come with the mindset to teach yourself new skills & tools. 

What exactly does Proof+Geist do? 

We make businesses better by designing and building software systems. That being said, considering that we’re software developers, we seem to have an unusually high concentration of philosophy and religion majors. Here are some of the things we believe: https://proofgeist.com/ethos 

The ideal Proof+Geist candidate is curious, willing to be challenged, try new things, excited by learning, interested in being part of a team, and comfortable with questions that don’t have clear answers.