KIOD Project Manager

The Project Manager role at the Karsh Institute of Democracy (KIOD) at the University of Virginia will perform a wide variety of functions to support KIOD interdisciplinary teaching, research, and public engagement work. For the next five years, this role will support the Digital Technology for Democracy (DTD) Lab, along with other special projects and initiatives as assigned. Working closely with the DTD Lab faculty director and leads and the Karsh Institute team, the project manager will help faculty and partners develop, manage, and execute initiatives. The manager will coordinate with other Karsh staff on fiscal administration, communications, event planning, and other administrative functions. This role reports to KIOD’s Director of Research.

The Digital Technology for Democracy Lab is a pan-university project spanning across all thirteen UVA schools. The Lab will explore the intersections of Democracy and Digital Technology, broadly conceived, and how rapidly evolving digital technologies can challenge, but also fortify democratic institutions and practices. The Lab seeks to support faculty research and create collaborations and exchange between academia and thought-leaders, technologists, policy makers, activists, civil society organizations, artists, designers, and others, taking a broadly transdisciplinary and global approach.

Responsibilities

• Gain familiarity with the entire scope and requirements of the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab.

• Manage workplans, facilitate collaboration meetings, establish and oversee timelines and deadlines, and make recommendations to faculty directors and leads on program planning.

• Build and execute a Practitioner Fellows and Post-Doctoral Fellows Program for DTD. The program manager will build the fellows program to eventually host its full cohort of 14 post-doctoral fellows and 2-3 practitioner fellows per year. This work would involve:

  •  Developing a timeline for the full cycle of the fellowship, managing the search, and hiring phases, including working with UVA’s International Studies Office on visas for fellows.

  • Planning and executing information sessions for the fellowships and orientations for selected fellows.

  • Coordinating the work of fellows and lab faculty, helping fellows develop workshops and programs and identify opportunities for collaboration with other faculty, groups, and units at UVA.

  • Developing and assisting with the tracking and evaluation of the fellows program, including surveying fellows to assess the mentorship component of the post-doctoral fellows program; tracking research publications, conference presentations and public scholarship of practitioner fellows and post-doctoral fellows; tracking the career impact of the post-doctoral fellowship regarding career placement following the fellowship; and assessing the impact of events with both post-doctoral and practitioner fellows. 

• Coordinate and help execute the Lab’s Technology & Democracy Exchange. The exchange will create conversations between academia, policymakers, the technology industry, and other sectors such as the arts and journalism, to craft an ecosystem in which digital technologies sustain democracy. This work would involve:

  • Managing and executing faculty-led exchange programs that will take various shapes, from half-day to day-long symposia to intensive two-week training workshops to longer-term residencies.

  • Developing and sustaining partnerships with external parties around collaborations and events.

  • Collaborating with faculty to ensure the participation of both practitioner and post-doctoral fellows in Technology & Democracy Exchange events.

  • Developing and assisting with the evaluation of events (attendance, impact, research implications, partnership development) and track impact of event products (white papers, policy proposals, public media citation, and/or appearances).

• Develop with DTD faculty a seed funding program and manage the application and selection process, track and evaluate the quality of activities supported in terms of the contribution to the broader aims of the Lab, publications and presentations resulting from seed funding, and grant applications resulting from seed funding contributions.

• Facilitate budget meetings, communications, event planning, financial transactions, and human resources needs of DTD in coordination with the Democracy Labs Event Planner, Senior Finance Generalist, Associate Director of Marketing and Content, and others on the communications and programming teams.

• Ensure that the faculty Director of the Lab and the Director of Research and other key stakeholders are aware of the status of initiatives and any barriers to deliverables or successful outcomes.

• Track and communicate updates and impacts of the projects with Director of Research, DTD director and communications teams.

• In coordination with the Senior Finance Generalist and Event Planner, track that procurement and purchasing procedures are followed, vendor contracts are paid, and speaker honorarium and guest reimbursements are issued.

• Gain familiarity with the range of UVA and KIOD policies and procedures to provide both timely and accurate guidance to faculty and other partners on the kind of support KIOD provides aligned with those policies and procedures, including on financial transactions, event planning and execution, and communications and marketing, among other activities

• Ensure that the work of the Lab and other special projects assigned comply with UVA and KIOD organizational policies and procedures.

• In addition to the above job responsibilities, other duties may be assigned.

Anticipated Hiring Range: $55,000 to $65,000, commensurate with experience.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree

• Experience: Two years of experience. Relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including a willingness to become proficient in Microsoft OneDrive and Teams.

• Experience in an academic environment and knowledge of academic faculty culture and norms.

• Demonstrated project management experience.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects in a complex and evolving organizational environment.

• Experience building constituency lists and managing outreach (via the Communications teams) to targeted constituencies.

Preferred Experience

• Expertise or background related to the content and issues informing the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab.

• Experience with developing and using Qualtrics surveys or other survey tools.

Position Expectations

• Attention to detail and excellent organizational and planning skills, with an ability to prioritize tasks, follow up and track details and communicate task progress.

• Exhibit a professional and positive demeanor and effective communication and relationship building with diverse groups of individuals and organizations.

• Work independently to creatively solve problems within a fast-paced environment.

• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

• Proactively provide updates and develop processes and systems to ensure operational continuity and transparent access to documents and communications.

• Develop and execute information retention processes, including documents, emails, and decisions.

• Demonstrate professional judgment regarding when to ask questions and seek help from team members and faculty partners.

• Anticipate lab needs and proactively take initiative to ensure lab progress.

• Work cooperatively with diverse groups of individuals and organizations to achieve shared objectives.

• Value diverse experiences, styles, backgrounds, and perspectives with a demonstrated awareness of diverse cultural norms.

• Use a collegial mindset while executing and explaining UVA and KIOD policies and procedures with staff, faculty, and other partners.

This position is located in Charlottesville, VA, with the ability to work a hybrid schedule.in Charlottesville, VA.

This position is a restricted position and is dependent upon project need, availability of funding and performance.

This is an Exempt level, benefited position. For more information on the benefits at UVA, visit www.hr.virginia.edu/benefits.

This position will remain open until filled. Review of applicants will begin March 1st 2024.

This position will not sponsor applicants for work visas.

The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment.

To Apply:

Please apply through the UVA job board and search for R0056532. Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile by searching 'Find Jobs'. Complete an application online with the following documents:

• CV

• Cover letter

Upload all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do not contain all required documents will not receive full consideration.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via SkillSurvey during the final phase of the interview process.

For questions about the application process, please contact Jon Freeman, Recruiting Specialist, at [email protected]

For more information about UVA and the Charlottesville community please see http://www.virginia.edu/life/charlottesville and https://embarkcva.com/.

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.