Editorial Project Manager

The Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) is a national nonprofit organization that enriches K-12 education by ensuring accurate, high-quality classroom material and teaching about Jews, Judaism, and Jewish history. The Editorial Project Manager plays a critical role in managing project lifecycles from initiation through delivery, maintaining organizational systems and workflows, and ensuring timely delivery of high-quality work.

Responsibilities:

• Own the full project lifecycle for Editorial Team projects from initiation through delivery, using waterfall project management methodology
• Build and maintain detailed project plans in Smartsheet, including timelines, milestones, task hierarchies, owners, and due dates; update plans daily to reflect progress and changes
• Track workload distribution across the Editorial Team and flag capacity concerns to support balanced scheduling
• Serve as the team’s reliable source of truth on project status, ensuring colleagues have full visibility into history, outstanding items, and upcoming deadlines
• Plan and facilitate project meetings (kickoffs, status check-ins), develop agendas, and distribute notes, decisions, and action items to relevant stakeholders
• Oversee day-to-day project workflows including file organization, naming conventions, version control, and document hand-offs
• Proactively identify risks and bottlenecks before they escalate; bring concerns to the Managing Editor with proposed solutions
• Generate regular reports and status updates that surface project health and keep the Managing Editor and leadership informed
• Support the Managing Editor in evaluating and refining the processes and documentation that govern Editorial Team workflows
• Review and assist with updating team documentation - including guidelines, checklists, templates, and task descriptions - to keep it accurate and accessible
• Support the rollout of new or updated processes, providing training to team members as needed
• Assist in evaluating the team’s use of tools (Smartsheet, Google Docs) and flag opportunities for improved efficiency

Requirements:

• A bachelor's degree in a relevant field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• 3–5 years of project management experience, ideally in a publishing, editorial, or education-adjacent environment; candidates with 5+ years are strongly preferred
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously with competing priorities and a track record of on-time delivery
• Strong working knowledge of Smartsheet or a comparable project management platform (Asana, Monday.com, Microsoft Project); candidates without Smartsheet experience who demonstrate quick, independent software learning will be considered
• Proficiency in Google Workspace (Docs, Drive, Gmail: the core tools for day-to-day Editorial Team work)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and professionally with internal team members, leadership, and external stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a collaborative, mission-driven environment where adaptability and resourcefulness are essential
• Experience in educational publishing, curriculum development, or a nonprofit editorial environment
• 3+ years experience with waterfall project management methodology
• Experience configuring and administering Smartsheet (project plans, dashboards, automations, reports)