Technical Project Manager

Technical Project Manager

Reports to: Director, Engineering - Digital Experience

Zaner-Bloser is an educational curricula and digital resources provider in language arts/literacy (writing, word study, reading, etc.) and 21st century learning. Our flexible, customizable solutions support educators in their mission to help students learn. We provide dynamic, appealing, and effective educational programs and services to inspire all students to become lifelong learners and partner with educators to improve results in the classroom. With an ever-growing number of digital technologies and evolving research shaping the education landscape, Zaner-Bloser is committed to meeting schools’ needs today and in the future. Founded in 1888, Zaner-Bloser joined the Highlights Family of Companies in 1972. As a member of the Highlights Family of Companies, we are driven to always do what is right for children and to strive to make a significant contribution to their education.

The Technical Project Manager will lead planning, coordination, execution, and delivery of software projects across Zaner-Bloser’s digital product portfolio. This role bridges product, engineering, QA, business stakeholders, and external contractors to keep projects moving with clear scope, realistic plans, strong communication, and disciplined follow-through.

The ideal candidate understands modern web application delivery well enough to ask the right technical questions, manage risks early, coordinate cross-functional dependencies, and help teams deliver reliable software.

Key Responsibilities

• Own project planning, scheduling, dependency tracking, risk management, and delivery communication for software initiatives.
• Partner with product owners, engineering, QA, UX, business stakeholders, vendors and leadership to define scope, priorities, milestones, and release expectations.
• Translate business needs into actionable delivery plans, user stories, tasks, acceptance criteria, timelines, and status reporting.
• Coordinate work across .NET backend, Angular frontend, QA, DevOps, and data/integration teams.
• Manage project execution in Azure DevOps, including boards, backlogs, sprint planning, test planning visibility, reporting, and release tracking.
• Lead recurring ceremonies and working sessions such as planning meetings, backlog refinement, standups, release readiness reviews, and retrospectives as needed.
• Identify project risks, blockers, scope changes, resource constraints, and quality concerns early, then drive clear resolution paths.
• Coordinate QA readiness with test plans, regression scope, automated testing coverage, defect triage, and release sign-off activities.
• Support API and integration delivery by coordinating validation efforts involving tools such as Postman and automated test coverage where appropriate.
• Lead and coordinate external contractors, ensuring clear assignments, expectations, timelines, quality standards, and accountability.
• Prepare clear project updates for technical and non-technical audiences, including status, risks, decisions needed, and delivery confidence.
• Coordinate after-hours deployments every three weeks or as needed, including readiness checks, stakeholder communication, issue escalation, and post-release follow-up.
• Help improve delivery processes, documentation, release practices, QA handoffs, and cross-team communication.

Required Experience

• 3+ years of experience in project management, technical project management, delivery management, scrum master, product delivery, or a closely related software delivery role.
• 2+ years of experience leading technical software projects or delivery efforts with cross-functional engineering and QA teams.
• Experience managing software projects for web applications, APIs, integrations, or enterprise digital platforms.
• Hands-on experience using Azure DevOps or a similar work management platform to manage backlogs, boards, sprints, releases, dashboards, and reporting.
• Experience coordinating releases, production deployments, QA sign-off, defect triage, stakeholder approvals, and release communications.
• Experience leading contractors, vendor resources, or distributed team members.
• Comfort working with technical teams using a .NET backend, Angular frontend, automated testing, API testing, and modern CI/CD practices.
• Ability and willingness to support after-hours deployments every three weeks or as business needs require.

Required Skills

• Strong project planning, organization, prioritization, communication, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to understand technical tradeoffs, ask clarifying questions, and communicate delivery impacts.
• Strong knowledge of Agile/Scrum delivery practices, backlog management, sprint planning, release planning, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, dependencies, timelines, and stakeholders in a fast-moving environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to summarize complex technical work for leadership and business stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of QA processes, test planning, regression testing, automated testing, defect management, and release quality gates.
• Ability to drive accountability without creating unnecessary process drag.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in education technology, curriculum, publishing, K-12 platforms, or products involving student or educator data.
• Experience with Azure-hosted applications, Azure DevOps.
• Experience working with accessibility, security, privacy, compliance, or data-protection requirements in software delivery.
• Scrum Master, PMP, PMI-ACP, SAFe, or similar certification.
• Experience improving delivery metrics, release predictability, defect trends, cycle time, or team operating practices.

Success Measures

• Projects have clear scope, ownership, timelines, risks, dependencies, and release plans.
• Stakeholders receive accurate, timely, and useful communication before issues become surprises.
• Engineering, QA, product, and contractor work is coordinated effectively across each delivery cycle.
• Releases are planned, tested, communicated, deployed, and followed up on with discipline.
• The team’s delivery process becomes more predictable, transparent, and repeatable over time.

Working Expectations

• Collaborate closely with technical teams and business stakeholders during normal business hours.
• Participate in scheduled after-hours deployment windows approximately every three weeks or as needed.
• Lead with ownership, transparency, calm execution, and a practical bias toward getting the right work done.