Project Manager, Strategic Communications

Position Overview

We are hiring a Project Manager, Strategic Communications to run the day-to-day execution of a communications support team embedded with a Navy headquarters organization in Washington, DC. The team covers public affairs, congressional affairs, visual information and multimedia, and technical library and legislative analysis work for senior Navy leadership.

This is not a status-reporting job. This client seeks someone who takes an ambiguous tasker and comes back with a plan, an owner, and a first draft. Someone who walks into the room with two viable options and a recommendation. You will own the plan, the tempo, and the follow-through for a multidisciplinary team of writers, graphics and video professionals, analysts, event and exhibit staff, and web and social media managers.

The role also carries real contract administration weight: workload management, monthly reporting to the Government, deliverable tracking, and budget discipline. Getting those right is what earns the room. From there the job expands into making the team faster, clearer, and easier to work with, and delivering a finished product the first time the client asks.

Responsibilities

Run the work

• Manage communications and creative output (campaigns, products, and events) from early concept through production, including the people, processes, and technologies to make it happen.
• Plan and execute across multiple concurrent workstreams spanning public affairs, congressional affairs, multimedia, events and protocol, and analysis support.
• Turn ambiguous or late-breaking taskers into a clear plan with an owner, a due date, and a first draft, before the client has to ask for a status update.
• Bring recommendations, not questions. When the path is unclear, present two viable courses of action with a recommendation and the tradeoffs.
• Facilitate project kickoffs and brainstorming sessions, collaborate with teammates to establish a shared vision, and present concepts and creative ideas to the client and company leadership.
• Maintain the deliverables list (item, due date, assigned person) and produce agendas and minutes from strategic planning meetings and events.

Lead the team

• Provide workload management and oversight of contract personnel, balancing capacity against surge and no-notice requirements.
• Match the right person to the right tasker and rebalance early when a deadline is at risk.
• Support training and professional development so the team maintains current industry standards in storytelling, design, and multimedia production.
• Provide quality review of public affairs products so they clearly and logically convey complex information and ideas - presentations, press releases, briefs, communications plans, still and video photography, and post-production editing.
• Support product development directly. This is a working role: you will review, edit, unstick, and occasionally produce.

Contribute your own craft

• Bring real depth in at least one communications discipline and put it to work on the product, not just on the schedule.
• Support product development directly across the task areas. This is a working role: you will review, edit, unstick, and produce.
• Serve as a credible reviewer in your discipline. Raise the standard of what leaves the team and coach others toward it.
• Pick up the pen when it is needed-during surge, coverage gaps, or a tasker that lands late and has to go out anyway.
• Track where the field is moving in storytelling, design, and multimedia, and bring what is useful back to the team.
• Recommend strategies and courses of action that improve the client's communications and content creation, grounded in your own experience producing the work.

Report and administer

• Develop, submit, and present the monthly labor summary, monthly contract cost and performance report, and monthly personnel report to the client.
• Track cost and hour expenditure against budget and surface variances early, before they become the client's problem.
• Track all contract deliverables through submission and acceptance, including status of outstanding items and resolution of open issues.
• Coordinate travel approvals, onboarding, non-disclosure agreements, and personnel in-processing.
• Interact with company leaders and third-party/vendor resources, and coordinate activities across teams.

Improve how the work gets done

• Find the bottlenecks, dropped handoffs, and recurring manual work, and replace them with a better process or tool. Retire process that is not earning its keep.
• Build the operating rhythm (recurring syncs, intake, prioritization, and information flow) that keeps the client informed without generating overhead for anyone.
• Use AI tools across research, drafting, analysis, and internal execution, and help the team redesign how it works around them.

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in English, Communications, or a related field and a minimum of four (4) years of relevant professional experience; or a bachelor's degree in a field related to this work and a minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent projects to deadline in a fast-moving environment with competing priorities.
• Demonstrated experience leading or coordinating a team of professional staff across more than one discipline.
• Strong writing and editing skills, and the ability to review others' communications products for quality, accuracy, and style compliance.
• Experience producing recurring management reports (labor, cost, personnel, and deliverable status) accurately and on time.
• Ability to structure an unfamiliar problem, form a point of view quickly, and communicate it in plain language to senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to work with minimal direction and to make and defend judgment calls in the absence of complete guidance.
• Demonstrated record of high-frequency, low-friction communication with clients: short turnarounds, direct answers, and proactive notice of problems.
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and no-notice requirements while maintaining quality and attention to detail.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Outlook, Word, Excel, SharePoint, Teams, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work effectively remotely in cross-functional teams.
• Ability to meet deadlines and produce quality work.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Working knowledge of NAVSEA, the Navy, the Department of War, and Congress.
• Experience supporting a DoW or other federal headquarters communications organization.
• Experience supporting senior military or civilian executives in a high-tempo environment.
• Familiarity with visual information and multimedia production workflows: photography, videography, graphic design, digital signage, web, and social media.
• Experience on a federal services contract, including deliverable (CDRL) tracking, labor and cost reporting, and subcontractor coordination.
• Demonstrated use of AI and automation tools to reduce manual work in a professional setting.
• Active Secret clearance is strongly preferred.

Clearance Requirements

Applicants selected will be subject to a security investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements. Secret Clearance is required for continued employment.

• The position requires access to classified imagery and information during product review and workload management, and access to classified spaces during the preparation, collection, cataloguing, and archiving of products.
• Must maintain a favorable background investigation at the Secret level for the duration of the assignment.
• Must execute a non-disclosure agreement within 15 days of hire.

Work Location: Washington, D.C. (Washington Navy Yard)

• Our company prioritizes the benefits of flexibility and collaboration, whether that happens in person or remotely.
• If the position is remote or hybrid, you may periodically work from a Pantheon Data office location or client site.
• If this position is assigned to a Pantheon Data office location or client site, you'll work with colleagues and clients in person, as needed for specific client requirements.

Compensation

The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $155,000. This is not, however, a guarantee of compensation or salary. Rather, salary will be set based on experience, geographic location and possibly contractual requirements and could fall outside of this range.

Benefits Overview

We are always looking for good people! Pantheon Data is committed to providing its employees with competitive salaries and benefits in order to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. In addition to our benefits, we also offer SmartBenefits through the Washington Metro Area Transportation Authority, where you specify an amount of your pre-tax wages be paid directly to your SmarTrip account. In some cases, tuition assistance may be available for continuing education expenses and certifications related to their position. Additional details may be found at

Pantheon Data Important Information

As part of the application process, you are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.