How to Apply
A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, in two pages or less, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations and skill set. Submit both a cover letter and resume as one file (because of system limitations).
Who We Are
Through curricular innovation, tools for student success, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.
About the TIS Team
The TIS team builds and maintains the robust technology foundation that enables innovation at the Center for Academic Innovation. We ensure the reliability, scalability, and security of CAI's media, IT, and learning infrastructure, supporting everything from studio production and XR experiences to course platforms and internal systems. Our work spans Michigan Online infrastructure, AV systems design, IT support, media asset management, cloud storage, cybersecurity, and disaster recovery planning. We collaborate closely with Creative Studios, Operations, and product engineering teams to deliver seamless technical experiences for learners, faculty, and staff. Whether designing resilient workflows, managing cross-functional support models, or piloting next-generation tools, the TIS team plays a critical role in advancing CAI's mission at scale.
For more information, please visit our website: Academic Innovation
Responsibilities*
Project Planning & Delivery
- Lead end-to-end project management for technology initiatives across infrastructure, media systems, and IT support, from scoping and requirements gathering through implementation, testing, and launch.
- Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, milestones, and deliverables for concurrent TIS projects, including infrastructure upgrades, platform migrations, vendor implementations, and security remediation.
- Coordinate sprint planning, standups, retrospectives, and backlog management using agile and hybrid methodologies appropriate to each project's needs.
- Identify risks, dependencies, and blockers early, proactively developing mitigation strategies and escalation paths.
Cross-Functional Coordination & Communication
- Serve as the central point of coordination between TIS, DevOps, Data, Creative Studios, Course Operations, and external vendors, ensuring alignment on priorities, timelines, and deliverables.
- Facilitate clear, consistent communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, translating project status, risks, and decisions into formats appropriate for each audience.
- Coordinate vendor engagements, including scheduling, deliverables tracking, and contract milestone management for technology partners and service providers.
- Prepare and present regular project status reports to TIS leadership and cross-functional partners, including dashboards, risk mitigation plans, and milestone trackers.
Process Improvement & Documentation
- Develop and maintain project management standards, templates, and workflows for the TIS team, establishing repeatable practices that scale with organizational growth.
- Document project outcomes, lessons learned, and process improvements to build institutional knowledge and support continuous improvement.
- Support the modernization of ticketing and service management workflows, contributing to clearer ownership, prioritization, and transparency across technical teams.
- Maintain a centralized project portfolio view to support resource allocation, capacity planning, and leadership decision-making.
Identify opportunities to leverage AI-assisted tools and automation to improve project tracking, reporting, documentation, and team workflows, adopting a responsible approach consistent with CAI's standards.
Operational Support & Stakeholder Engagement
- Support procurement processes and budget tracking for technology projects, coordinating with the Operations and Policy domain on purchase orders, contract renewals, and spend monitoring.
- Contribute to disaster recovery planning, security incident coordination, and operational readiness activities as a project coordination resource.
- Assist in onboarding documentation and training coordination for new tools, platforms, and systems introduced through TIS projects.
- Represent TIS in cross-center working groups, governance committees, and university-level coordination efforts as needed.
What You'll Do
The Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) at the University of Michigan seeks a skilled Technical Project Manager to lead the planning, coordination, and delivery of technology initiatives across CAI's infrastructure, media systems, and IT support portfolio. This role will drive cross-functional projects, align technical and operational stakeholders, manage dependencies and risks, and bring structure and follow-through to complex initiatives that support Michigan Online and CAI's broader digital learning ecosystem. This position reports to the Director of Technology Infrastructure and Support.
Required Qualifications*
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
- A minimum of 4 years of professional experience in technical project management, IT operations coordination, or a related role in a technology-intensive environment.
- Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent projects through full lifecycle delivery, including scoping, scheduling, resource coordination, risk management, and stakeholder communication.
- Familiarity with agile, waterfall, and hybrid project management methodologies and the judgment to apply the right approach based on project context.
- Working knowledge of technology environments, including cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS), networking, or media/AV systems; ability to engage meaningfully with technical teams on requirements and dependencies.
- Experience with project management tools (Asana, or similar) and collaboration platforms (e.g., Slack, Google Workspace).
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage competing priorities and maintain visibility across a portfolio of active projects.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences and work effectively in interdisciplinary, multicultural environments.
- A positive, collaborative mindset and demonstrated commitment to teamwork, continuous learning, and shared ownership of outcomes.
- Comfort working in an environment that actively adopts emerging technologies, including generative AI and automation tools, with a willingness to integrate these into everyday project workflows.
- Experience with IT service management frameworks or ticketing platforms.
- Ability to work within a rapidly changing environment of emerging technologies, including AI-assisted tools and automation.
Modes of Work
The work requirements allow both onsite and offsite work and an employee has an expected recurring onsite presence. On occasion, the employee may be required and must be available to work onsite more frequently if necessitated by unit leadership or their designee and/or the job requirements.
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
Please Note: This is a 5 year term limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding.
Candidates must have legal authorization to work in the United States.
The mode of work for this position is Hybrid with a minimum of 4 days in the office per week, Monday through Thursday, with an option of remote work on Fridays. On occasion, you may be required and must be available to work onsite on Fridays if necessitated by our center's policy and domain leadership or by your job requirements.
The salary for this position will be based upon the selected candidate's education and experience.
Excellent benefits are available, for details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/
Organizational Statement on Harassment
We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with any staff members and student employees in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.
Salary Information
The general salary range for this position is $75,000 - $90,000. Candidates can expect to be paid a competitive and equitable salary. Factors used to determine salary include education level, experience, knowledge and skills for the position and salaries that are currently established within the unit. All candidates are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor alignment and transparency throughout the recruiting process
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
Decision Making Process
Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.