at Cengage Group in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Job Description
We believe in the power and joy of learning
At Cengage Group, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.
Our culture values diversity, engagement, and discovery
Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive and diverse workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through inclusive programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-diversity/ .
What you’ll do here:
The ed2go Content Project Managers (CPM) work closely with internal ed2go team members and external vendor resources to manage all assigned projects, ensuring that each is properly resourced and delivered on time and on budget. The CPM’s primary role is managing the workflows and resources for all project types, including: improving and refining processes and procedures; data gathering, and key metric reporting on all projects in process. It is the responsibility of the CPM to consistently lead projects holistically and strategically, while also controlling the resources for each individual project. This role will work with the teams and projects associated with Course Quality and Advanced Career Training roadmaps.
Resource Management
Procure and manage key resources including personnel, budget, and schedule. Key responsibilities include:
+ Align resources to a project within the approved profile
+ Monitor resources and scope alignment, identifying when additional or different resources are needed to bring a project to successful completion
+ Negotiate SME and vendor compensation based on project profile, required resources, and available budget
+ Ensure that individual projects are properly resourced to achieve projected launch
Course Project Management
Works closely with Content Team, Product Managers, SMEs, vendors, and other ed2go team members to manage project workflow from inception through launch.
+ Contract with external resources, including SMEs and vendors, as needed
+ Facilitate project communication between team members
+ Ensure team access to digital and print products and other materials as needed
+ Act as a liaison with the Intellectual Property Team to obtain permissions for text, images, and videos as needed
+ Act as a liaison with Creative Studios or other media providers, making the initial requests and working with the production team throughout projects, as needed
+ Lead project lifecycle (including, Fundamentals (ILC/SPT), Advanced Career Trainings, and Allegra) ensuring projects are on time, on budget and that all collaborators are working effectively.
+ Prepare the project for kick-off, working with Product Manager (PM) to be sure all planning meetings are scheduled, and pre-project documents are ready for team review
+ Create and run the production schedule and budget, including Milestone check-in meetings
+ Monitor scheduled deliverables
+ Ensure all collaborators are aware of potential project blockers and delays
+ Work closely with Technical Review (TR) and Configuration for project launch
+ Work directly with Cengage Legal to complete contracts for all projects, vendors, and other external resources
Operational Support – Processes, Workflows, Data and KPI
Responsible for implementing key process operations, including the documenting of all key processes and workflows; data updating, gathering, and integrity; and aggregating data into monthly, quarterly, and annual critical metric reporting.
+ Assist in the authoring of workflows as new product and project types emerge
+ Collaborate with key staekholders to improve workflow processes, procedures, increase agility, and expand the overall capacity
+ Act as an internal authority on Cengage-based systems including Data Warehouse, Alfresco, Teams, Smartsheet, Single Sign On (SSO), Catalyst, Jira, PLANit, Geyser, IPS etc.
+ Provide data that support important metrics related to resource forecast and actual usage
+ Suggest new metrics that align with evolving processes
Vendor Project Management
Responsible for assisting in the identification, vetting, onboarding, of design vendors hired to create new courses or revise courses currently in the ed2go catalog. CPMs are responsible for all project management tasks, as well as providing some learning design support to vendors to facilitate all stages of development and reduce the reliance on additional internal team capacity. Key Responsibilities are reflected in prior sections of this job description, as well as:
+ Work with Cengage Strategic Sourcing to identify new vendor resources needed to fill gaps
+ Review content delivered by the vendor, applying learning design thinking, style guides, and quality standards to delivered content
+ Coach vendors on ed2go design and quality standards
+ Answer learning design and multimedia design questions by reviewing project vision, strategy, or other like documents
+ Route questions to a learning designer or multimedia designer, when needed
+ Build robust relationships with current and new vendors in order to scale up the number and types of projects
+ Create documents, workflows to support consistent vendor management
+ Help internal team members to work effectively with vendors
Skills you will need here:
+ 5+ years work experience in an educational or course production setting
+ Minimum of 2 years’ experience managing small digital projects
+ Demonstrated success managing multiple projects and requisite organizational skills
+ Excellent verbal and written communication skills
+ Experience or general knowledge of learning design related to adult education and self-directed online learning
+ Keen attention to detail, skilled at time management, with excellent organizational agility
+ Consultative, cooperative, solutions-oriented, and service-minded perspective
+ Experience with vendor management
+ Ability to embrace, assimilate, and implement new processes, procedures, and standards in an environment of continuous improvement and change
+ Equal ability to collaborate and work effectively and efficiently with a team, as well as autonomously with little supervision
+ Extensive experience working with MS Office Suite (particularly Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint, and SharePoint)
+ Proficiency with technology, including productivity software, databases, project management tools, and cloud-based storage solutions
Preferred Qualifications
+ Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years work experience in an educational or course production setting
+ Experience working with instructional/learning designers or in an educational setting
+ A desire to become more proficient in learning/instructional design
+ Smartsheet experience is highly desirable
+ Experience or general knowledge in programming languages (including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) preferred.
+ 2+ years’ experience managing learning design or technical projects
+ Demonstrated success managing a large volume of projects
Ed2go, part of Cengage Group, has empowered millions of learners looking to improve their skills, get employed, and build a career. With over 2,000 academic partners, a growing roster of corporate customers, and an expanding direct-to-consumer channel, we are looking to signi