Project Manager - Digital Product

Job Purpose

SXSW is seeking a Project Manager for the Technology team who is responsible for leading the delivery of multiple concurrent technology projects from kickoff through post-project wrap. This role serves as the governance backbone for SXSW's technology initiatives, using a hybrid approach that balances Agile and traditional project management methodologies to ensure successful delivery within fixed festival launch windows. The Project Manager will coordinate closely with SXSW stakeholders and vendor partners to define requirements, manage timelines, track risks, drive communication, and ensure projects move efficiently through planning, development, QA, UAT, deployment, and success measurement.

Duties & Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Facilitate all Agile ceremonies and critical project meetings, including kickoffs, daily standups, sprint planning, design reviews, demos, and project retrospectives.
• Develop comprehensive project timelines, milestones, resource requirements, and dependency mappings, and break large initiatives into manageable phases with clear exit points.
• Standardize project governance documentation and artifacts, including PRDs, Airtable bases, agendas, RACI matrices, and RAID logs with clear escalation paths.
• Manage the end-to-end ticketing lifecycle by writing detailed epics, actionable user stories, and clear acceptance criteria while partnering with technical teams to estimate and allocate story points.
• Guide initiatives through the full product lifecycle, spanning requirements gathering, ticket creation, development, QA, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), deployment, and success measurement.
• Communicate regular, data-driven status updates-utilizing RAG status, burn-down charts, and milestone tracking-to keep stakeholders informed of risks, decisions, and target launch dates.
• Mitigate project delays and operational risks proactively by identifying solutions, proposing compromises, pushing back on scope creep, and escalating issues to leadership when appropriate.
• Optimize organizational processes and team workflows by leading retrospective reviews and implementing actionable improvements based on stakeholder feedback and project outcomes.

On-site Event Responsibilities

• Serve as a key on-site team player during SXSW's 15-day live event, supporting tech readiness, stakeholder communication, escalation management, and real-time problem solving.

Qualifications & Skills

Qualifications include:

• 5+ years as a technology project manager. Proven experience managing complex technology projects with multiple stakeholders and concurrent workstreams
• Strong understanding of Agile, Hybrid Agile, and traditional project management methodologies. Use of Jira, Airtable, or other tracking tools is required.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to provide clear, concise, and timely updates to technical and non-technical audiences
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including expectation-setting, follow-through, and decision tracking
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, especially when managing immovable deadlines and high-visibility launch windows
• Experience leading project ceremonies, sprint planning, stakeholder meetings, design reviews, demos, and launch readiness discussions
• Experience writing epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, and tracking work through delivery
• Comfortable operating in a chaotic, fast-paced, seasonal, event-driven environment with shifting priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership, drive accountability, and keep projects moving even when challenges arise.
• Experience supporting live events, festivals, media, entertainment, or other deadline-driven environments is a plus.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that an employee must meet to perform the essential functions of this job successfully:

• Prolonged periods of sitting or standing at a desk and working on a computer.
• Ability to lift to 10 pounds occasionally, as needed.
• Manual dexterity to operate standard office equipment such as computers, phones, printers, etc.
• May require occasional bending, reaching, kneeling, or climbing stairs
• Required to work on-site during the 15 days of SXSW and SXSW EDU.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Work Location & Schedule

The position is full-time and located in our Austin, Texas office. Core business office hours are from 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday, and we work in person. You must be available to work additional hours from January through March, including evenings and weekends. You must also be available for the March event, which will have extended on-site working hours.

Compensation

The compensation range for this role may vary based on experience and expertise, with an anticipated range of $80,000-$92,000.