Senior Director, Project Management

The Senior Director of Project Management is a senior leadership role responsible for running the day-to-day PM practice within UNH Marketing while also serving as an active, hands-on project manager on key initiatives. This is a player-coach role: the person in this position both leads the PM function strategically and directly manages projects alongside a small team of PMs. It requires someone who operates with a high degree of independence, brings proactive thinking and solutions to leadership, and can build and maintain strong working relationships across a complex, fast-paced university environment. This role is not for someone who waits to be directed. It is for someone who sees what needs to happen, drives it forward, and knows when and how to escalate.

Strategic Project Leadership – 25%

• Own and continuously evolve a comprehensive project management strategy aligned with the marketing department's goals and the university's broader strategic objectives.

• Lead the identification, prioritization, and implementation of key projects, bringing a clear point of view and recommended approach to leadership rather than waiting for direction.

• Proactively forecast capacity, risks, and resource needs 1 to 3 or more months out, surfacing issues and proposed solutions before they become problems.

• Drive process improvement across the PM practice, including the evolution of tools, workflows, intake models, and prioritization frameworks.

• Communicate proactively and regularly to the marketing team and key university partners on PM initiatives, process updates, and project status, without being asked.

Player-Coach Responsibilities – 25%

This role is structured as both a strategic function leader and a practicing PM. The Senior Director is expected to:

• Actively project manage key initiatives alongside direct reports, modeling best-in-class PM behavior in real time.

• Balance Senior Director-level strategic responsibilities with day-to-day project management work, consistently pulling up from the tactical to maintain a strategic view of the practice.

• Own the schedule, timing, next steps, and stakeholder communication on projects they are managing directly, with no prompting from leadership.

• Serve as the primary point of contact and decision-maker for PM-related questions from across the university.

Team Leadership and Staff Development – 15%

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of project managers, with a demonstrated track record of measurably growing PM talent over time.

• Hold regular 1on1s and team meetings that drive accountability, development, and alignment, not just status updates.

• Proactively identify development needs for each direct report and create clear, actionable plans to address them, following up consistently to ensure sustained forward progress.

• Maintain open, direct communication with staff around their roles, workload, growth, and performance so that concerns are surfaced and addressed at the manager level.

• Foster a team culture of ownership, high standards, and continuous improvement.

Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Management – 15%

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with stakeholders across the university, including partners who may push back on or resist PM processes.

• Navigate difficult stakeholder dynamics with persistence and professionalism, bringing proposed solutions and escalation paths rather than disengaging when relationships become challenging.

• Ensure all key stakeholders are appropriately prepped, informed, and aligned going into meetings and at key project milestones.

• Proactively anticipate stakeholder needs and address potential friction points before they escalate.

• Serve as an educator and advocate for PM practices and process improvements with partners across the university.

Project Planning and Execution – 15%

• Oversee the development of project plans, timelines, and resource allocation to ensure successful, on-time project delivery.

• Monitor project progress across the team, identifying and proactively addressing roadblocks without waiting to be asked.

• Own intake triage, accurately and independently assessing which projects belong in Central Marketing and routing or redirecting others appropriately.

• Establish and enforce project management methodologies, standards, and best practices across the team and with university partners.

Resource Management – 5%

• Optimize resource utilization by aligning project requirements with available capacity and skill sets across the PM team.

• Implement best practices in resource allocation, tracking, and reporting, including maintaining a forward-looking view of capacity and risk.

• Manage outside vendor and freelancer relationships where applicable.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and a minimum of 10 years of experience in project management, with at least 5 years in a PM leadership role with direct reports. Master's degree preferred.

• Demonstrated experience running a PM practice or function, not just managing individual projects or a single team.

• Proven track record of developing PM talent, with specific examples of staff growth and advancement under their leadership.

• Experience across multiple mediums and channels including print, digital, out-of-home, and others.

• Experience managing outside vendor and freelancer relationships.

• A track record of independently owning and evolving PM processes, tools, and workflows without being directed to do so.

• Strong problem-solving skills with a demonstrated bias toward bringing solutions, not just surfacing problems.

• Ability to navigate resistance and difficult working relationships with professionalism and persistence.

• Thrives in a high-paced, high-volume environment and can adapt rapidly to shifting priorities.

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to calibrate style and approach to different audiences and influence stakeholders at all levels.

• Comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and managing up to leadership proactively.

The University of New Hampshire is an R1 Carnegie classification research institution providing comprehensive, high-quality undergraduate and graduate programs of distinction. UNH is located in Durham on a 188-acre campus, 60 miles north of Boston and 8 miles from the Atlantic coast and is convenient to New Hampshire’s lakes and mountains. There is a student enrollment of 13,000 students, with a full-time faculty of over 600, offering 90 undergraduate and more than 70 graduate programs. The University actively promotes a dynamic learning environment in which qualified individuals of differing perspectives, life experiences, and cultural backgrounds pursue academic goals with mutual respect and shared inquiry.

EEO Statement

The University System of New Hampshire is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access employer. The University System is committed to creating an environment that values and supports diversity and inclusiveness across our campus communities and encourages applications from qualified individuals who will help us achieve this mission. The University System prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or marital status.

Compensation Pay Range:

$80,270.00 - $143,800.00

The pay range for this position is listed above. Actual offer will be based on skills, qualifications, experience, and internal equity, in addition to relevant business considerations. More information on benefits can be found here: USNH Employee Benefits | Human Resources

Location:

Durham