Open Positions
About Us:
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) was founded in 2000 with one clear objective: finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease in our lifetime. The Foundation applies extraordinary scientific, business and media assets to this singular focus—thus creating a unique and dynamic organization. Since inception, MJFF has quickly grown into the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s disease research worldwide, having funded more than $800 million in research projects in academic and industry labs worldwide. We exist to put ourselves out of business, so we deliberately hold no endowment but instead spend what we raise quickly and efficiently; 88 cents of every dollar spent goes directly to research programs. Core to our philosophy is how we think of our capital and its risk profile relative to other stakeholders in the drug development pipeline. We work aggressively to de-risk various treatment ideas and tools in the hopes of building a robust pipeline of new treatments for patients. Today, the Foundation has about 145 full-time employees.
This role on the Marketing and Digital Strategies team and will serve as a dedicated consultant on special projects- focusing on developing and executing processes to gather information from across the organization and convert this to deliverables that will efficiently and effectively engage our community to support our initiatives and participate in our mission of finding a cure.
Position Summary:
Living in a fast paced environment, effective project management is key to achieving the ambitious goals of the organization. This role will work cross-functionally with diverse internal and external stakeholders to seamlessly translate organizational strategic research engagement and fundraising goals into actionable tactical plans for the marketing and digital strategy teams.
As a liaison between management and technical teams, you will standardize workflows to collect key pieces of information to scope projects, aggregate data into digestible information, connect dots, track progress and deliver results.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
Business Analysis
• Perform rigorous and insightful analysis and extract key information quickly and simply providing teams with facts that guide strategy management, planning, and control of multiple projects. Enrich decision making around key inflection point in the lifecycle of a project
• Service internal stakeholders across organization to collect new business requests and operational objectives; review, analyze and evaluate stakeholder needs. Gather information, define scope and feasibility, develop project plans and work with M/DS team to implement plans to execute deliverables
• Act as the key interface between stakeholders and the technical teams who will execute on the vision
• Implement a comprehensive management plan for each project and hold regular stakeholder meetings to keep all interested parties updated in project progress. Anticipate road blocks, uncover areas for improvement and implement solutions.
• Pinpoint how teams can leverage existing strengths and improve its weaknesses through various business processes improvements
Project Management
• Define project requirements by identifying project milestones, phases and elements, validating resource requirements, dependencies, forming and motivating project teams, establishing project budget
• Take ownership of moving parts of projects to ensure appropriate resources, workflows and timelines align for seamless delivery of objectives
• Develop and maintain internal project plans, including timelines, project scope, and objectives, including all relevant stakeholders and ensuring feasibility
• Monitor project progress by tracking activity; resolving problems; publishing progress reports; recommending actions
• Liaise strategy with appropriate members; manage internal expectations. Manage competing resources and priorities across multiple teams
• Incorporate measurement strategies to evaluate project performance and outcomes - Track data and analyze against baseline metrics to measure program success and goals
• (optional)
• Coordinate with clients to implement changes to existing programs as necessary
• Create process to ensure standardized review and approval of plans so that work is neither overlooked nor duplicated
Qualifications and Skills:
• Education – BA/BS; Graduate degree preferred
• 2-3 years of Project Management and/or Business Analyst experience; knowledge of Agile methodology a plus
• Excellent communication skills, capable of accurately assessing key business requirements and explaining information to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Effective team player with a collaborative approach to problem-solving and comfort in navigating ambiguity
• Have a natural analytical way of thinking with an ability to plan, organize and structure work
• Ability to multitask across multiple projects under tight timelines and complex priorities
• Strong interpersonal and people management skills; ability to work productively both independently and as part of team, including reporting to cross-functional managers at all levels
• Experience with MS Office tools. JIRA experience a plus
• Proactive and flexible with an ability to connect dots, quickly process new information and integrate into project plans
How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter describing their specific qualifications and interest in the position. Submissions without cover letters will not be considered. Please, no telephone inquiries and do not contact our staff directly. Only applicants who best match the position needs will be contacted.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.