Project Manager

Work with our awesome team

RKS has been at the forefront of Innovation in the United States for the last 42 years. We are considered one of the top firms globally for product design, engineering, and development service, as well as digital design and engineering, and experience design. Our work brings innovation that enhances everyday lives, from sporting goods to dental devices, to wearables to household appliances, and global and local NGOs.

Our mission is simple: To elevate the human experience, and to improve the quality of life for humans worldwide.

The key to our success is our collaborative and creative environment. Our diverse team is lead by some of the most celebrated and senior professionals in our industry. We work on all projects as a tight-knit team, drawing on each other's strengths, capabilities, and good humor. Our office is a state-of-the art solar-powered design studio.

We are looking for a dynamic and engaging project coordinator. In this role you manage multi-disciplinary projects of varying sizes, establish rapport with both our team and our clients, and create a track record of successful delivery. This position plays a multi-faceted role: first and foremost, you are responsible for all aspects of the project life cycle: diagnosing client needs, managing program teams, and leveraging the knowledge and creativity of colleagues to generate robust solutions to client business challenges.

You will use a variety of project management tools to inspire, coordinate, and manage the daily activities of your project teams. You will participate in weekly planning meetings to support resource leveling. You will guide the integration of work by our execution team - cultivating collaboration, balancing trade-offs, and helping ensure that we create meaningful solutions to product design challenges.

This is a hybrid position, for our Thousand Oaks office.

You can find more about RKS: rksdesign.com

In this role, you will:

Build Trust

Build trust with clients, managing their expectations with confidence and professionalism

Build trust with RKS senior leadership, assisting them with project tracking and proactively identifying changes to project scope before they happen Communicate Proactively

Proactively and clearly communicates status, risks, and issues internally and with clients

Identify potential change of scope issues as they arise and communicate them to the team, account management, and the client

Regularly review project budget status and request resources to complete project work as necessary

Oversee and support the planning/preparation of presentation materials, in cooperation with Technical Lead and other team members Organize Program Documentation

Maintain program documentation related to deliverables, schedule, and budget

Maintain responsibility for project data setup accuracy and organization for internal project management database and server Coordinate Program Budgets and Deliverables

Manage schedules of internal and external support.

Document all decisions, meeting minutes, and action items tracking

Work with Technical Leads to define product requirements and track adherence to requirements

Work with Technical Leads to ensure deliverables are met per client expectations and proposals

Report on program budgets of varying sizes to ensure efficient use of team members' time

Assist in the creation of proposals and budgets for industrial design, engineering, and software projects Management

Manage schedules of internal and external support

Keeping track of employee performance to be used for performance review

Redirect efforts on an ongoing basis as necessary as required to create project timelines, budgets, and deliverables Requirements

Key Requirements

Strong organizational, written, and verbal communication skills, coupled with responsiveness and follow-through on details

Experience with implementing project management tools, methodologies, and best practices

Ability to develop strong relationships and enable cohesiveness across diverse individual skills and styles Training or experience with more than one of these disciplines in consumer, commercial, or medical projects: strategy, research, human factors, industrial and interaction design, mechanical and electrical engineering, and/or software/firmware development

Well-versed and knowledgeable about Zoho/Salesforce, MS Excel, MS Project, and internal project management systems

Familiarity with and/or interest in consulting environments and how they work

Work Authorization: Located and authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time Preferred Requirements

Preferred but not required: 2+ years in consulting, agency or industry-related experience managing teams of cross discipline resources with complex, multi-location programs

BA preferred, but not a required

MBA a plus, but not required

Experience managing large front-end and back-end software (app, mobile and/or embedded software) development projects Other Qualifications

You love what we do! You have a true passion for project management and human-centered product design. You want to be deeply

immersed in the product development process and are willing to educate yourself as needed to truly understand the nature of client work. You like to explore new territories and learn from others

You cultivate and thrive in collaborative environments. You have interest and/or experience in inspiring, empowering, and guiding interdisciplinary teams of researchers, strategists, designers, and engineers

You are familiar with how to plan and maintain client projects from start to finish. You are happy to adjust work plans ad budgets as needed, depending on project process

You are committed to high standards of workmanship. You are self-motivated and can work independently with little oversight

You are an excellent communicator with exemplary writing, presentation, and interpersonal skills - all needed for interaction with clients, participants, and internal teams

You are comfortable with ambiguity and complexity, because sometimes that leads to the most unique, unexpected design solutions Benefits

Health Benefits

Sick Time

Vacation Time

401k Plan