Project Manager

Who We Are:

Blanchard is the global leader in management training. For nearly 40 years, Blanchard has been creating the best managers in the world, training over 150,000 people each year. From the award-winning First-time Manager program-based on the best-selling business book, The New One Minute Manager, to SLII, the most widely taught leadership model in the world, Blanchard is the expert in management training across all levels of an organization and is the provider of choice by Fortune 500 companies as well as small to medium businesses, governments, and educational and nonprofit organizations.

Our headquarters is in Escondido, California with remote locations across the United States and the United Kingdom. We are a dog-friendly company that encourages our colleagues to establish a healthy work-life balance. Our company culture and values are critical to who we are and how we build connections with our colleagues and clients. Together we want to grow as a company and as individuals, as we look for authentic, diverse talent to join our team.

Purpose

Join Blanchard and lead the delivery of our custom learning solutions for top-tier clients. As the go-to partner from kickoff to completion, you'll manage multiple high-impact projects, guide clients through every phase, and ensure outstanding results-on time, on budget, and beyond expectations.

You'll collaborate with internal teams, build lasting client relationships, and deliver the kind of service that keeps organizations coming back. If you're a proactive communicator, skilled multitasker, and love turning complex projects into smooth successes, we want to meet you.

Duties Include:

Project Planning

• Develop comprehensive project plans, including scope, objectives, timelines, and resource allocation.
• Work with all relevant stakeholders to confirm project scope and budget and define the detailed project deliverables.
• Confirm deliverables that are out of scope, identify the process for scope changes, and outline the steps necessary to get appropriate approvals.
• Define and document project tasks, milestones, and budget in the project plan.
• Identify and assess project risks and develop risk mitigation strategies.

Project Execution

• Drives collaboration, accountability, decision making, and governance toward project outcomes.
• Manage high-impact, custom projects with multiple stakeholders and business functions.
• Monitor and control project progress, ensuring adherence to the project plan.
• Allocate and manage project resources effectively.
• Lead project team to execute project deliverables according to Blanchard Project Management SOPs.

Quality Management

• Establish and enforce project quality standards.
• Ensure that deliverables meet quality requirements.
• Conduct quality assurance and quality control activities in accordance with Blanchard SOPs.

Risk Management

• Identify, assess, document, and manage project risks, issues, and scope creep.
• Develop risk response plans and monitor risk, e.g., technical, management, organizational, financial, and external, throughout the project lifecycle.

Budget and Cost Management

• Develop and manage project budgets to achieve planned gross margin.
• Track project expenses and ensure cost control.

Stakeholder Communication

• Maintain clear and effective communication with project stakeholders.
• Set and manage client and team expectations and address stakeholder concerns.
• Conduct regular status meetings and communicate project updates to stakeholders.
• Regularly communicate with clients to check in, provide updates, status reports, and address any concerns or issues.
• Ensure timely responses to client inquiries and requests, coordinating with the appropriate internal contacts as necessary.

Change Management

• Manage changes to project scope, schedule, and budget.
• Assess and communicate the impact of changes to stakeholders.

Project Closure

• Ensure the successful completion of project deliverables.
• Conduct project close-out meetings to analyze lessons learned and improve future project management processes.

Account Management

• Develop and maintain strong, long-lasting relationships with clients.
• Understand the client's business needs and objectives
• For newly booked and ongoing business, act as the main point of contact for client inquiries, concerns, and requests.
• Account Growth and Retention
• Contribute to Customer Success Team performance by identifying opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products or services to existing clients and collaborating with Sales on next steps.
• Analyze account data and reports, e.g. deposit report, in order to identify opportunities, inform account strategy, make recommendations, and address issues.
• Partner with Sales on account plans and strategies to grow revenue, extend impact within the account, and retain clients.
• Deploy NPS surveys for accounts to gather critical customer data used to drive improvement and inform team and leadership decisions, and achieve a NPS score of 53% or greater.

Product and Service Delivery

• Plan, schedule, and assign resources to prepare for and ensure the successful delivery of Blanchard services.
• Partner with Project Support Specialists and Project Manager 1s to ensure delegated product orders are received and fulfilled correctly and on time.
• Manage project timelines and deliverables to meet or exceed client expectations.
• Regularly review customer feedback and make adjustments as needed.

Issue Resolution

• Act with urgency, investigate, and resolve client issues and complaints promptly and effectively.
• Work closely with internal teams to ensure client satisfaction.

Account Documentation and Reporting

• Capture and maintain accurate and up-to-date client information, project plans, and documentation in Salesforce, Kantata, Gateway, and NetSuite
• Produce reports from Kantata, Netsuite, Salesforce, and Gateway as needed.
• Document and share lessons learned to drive continuous improvement and innovation.

Who You Are/ What You Bring:

• Professional and flexible
• Emotionally intelligent with skills to foster internal and external client relationships
• Ability to lead and influence
• Growth Mindset
• Strategic account focus
• Excellent teamwork and customer service focus
• Proactive approach

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or related field
• Industry experience preferred
• Minimum of three years related to client account management experience
• Minimum of three years project management experience
• Demonstrated experience handling client concerns with tact and diplomacy
• Demonstrated competence managing long-term complex client projects
• Formal project management training, certification, or equivalent experience

Some of our perks include:

• Competitive salaries
• Medical, dental & vision plans
• Voluntary Life and AD&D
• Long Term Disability
• Unlimited Paid Flex Time
• Paid holidays & wellness days
• Hybrid & remote work options
• Schwab 401(K) plans + matching
• Physical & Mental Health support programs
• Employer paid Norton LifeLock (identify theft protection)
• Blanchard leadership & training programs
• Career development opportunities

Work Environment: Normal office environment to include sitting for extended periods of time to read, write and operate computer at desk. Requires adaptability, quick decision making, ability to interpret data, dependability, good judgment, reading, social skills, stress controls, ability to work independently.

*Statistically, women and people of color are less likely to apply if they do not meet all the requirements. Even if you feel you do not meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply!

Blanchard is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing a workplace free from harassment and discrimination. We celebrate the unique differences of our employees because that is what drives curiosity, innovation, and the success of our business. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities.

Learn more about the culture here at Blanchard: https://www.blanchard.com/about-us/culture