Technical Program Manager

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The deadline for applying to this role has passed.

We’re looking for a technical program manager to lead design and development teams for our projects, to support our internal infrastructure systems, and to help scope new technical projects for our organization.

The role

  • The TPM will be the product owner for one multi-stakeholder open source project, and will lead on various other projects within the Internet Freedom space.
  • Up to 50% of the time will be focused on leading and managing the design & development teams for an open source, multi-stakeholder project building an application system to serve the broader internet freedom ecosystem.
  • Up to 20% you’ll help us manage our partnership with the Open Technology Fund Usability Lab, ensuring appropriate projects scoping, bringing the right team together, and advising on more technical projects.
  • Another 20% of the time will be focused on managing a number of projects with different partners and engagement models, making sure that we are on top of timelines, communicating effectively, and delivering on the work.
  • About 10% of your time will be dedicated to supporting Simply Secure’s internal Org Sec infrastructure.
  • This is a full-time position at 40 hours per week, from about August 2021 to December 2022, with the opportunity to renew. The salary is approximately USD $80,000 per year. We are a US 501(c)3 organization that has the ability to hire in the US and Germany, and contract internationally.

About us

We are a small US 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, founded in 2014 with the goal of making security tools easier to use. We believed – and still do – that security doesn’t have to be confusing to end users. We’ve contributed design to a variety of tools that enhance security, such as Tails to I2P to NoScript. We’ve held salons and a residency around designing for security. But we’ve done a lot more than usable security. Just in the last year, we’ve launched a decentralization pattern library; a report on trust and transparency in nonprofit funding; a campaign to save internet freedom tech; a community around human rights centered design; a series of videos about trust and responsibility in design; and much, much more.

(We’re actually doing a rebranding process, moving away from the name “Simply Secure.” More info over here on the blog!)

About you

  • You have experience with product management, and have experience with different software development methodologies such as Agile or Kanban, and most importantly know when and where to use them.
  • You have excellent stakeholder management skills, and understand how product development requires balancing the needs — sometimes conflicting needs — of diverse users, and are comfortable with ambiguities.
  • You enjoy simplifying complex projects, tracking details, and making sure the project teams are working well together
  • You have experience with leading projects and project delivery
  • You are familiar with design or development in open source, and are comfortable working in the open
  • You like working independently and in collaboration with a fully remote, distributed team
  • You have excellent project team communication and meeting facilitation skills
  • You are experienced with client-centered communication
  • You are comfortable advocating for yourself and your work to make sure that you’re getting what you need to be successful
  • You are available during our prime work hours (11-6pm Central Europe / 10-5pm UK / 8-6pm US Eastern / 8-3pm US Pacific)

Nice to have

  • Experience with research and design work, e.g. human-centered design, design thinking, service design, ux design, or participatory research (specifically field research)
  • Experience with supporting organizational IT, including tool audits and administration
  • Experience with client-facing account management
  • Knowledgeable about one or more of the following areas: open source software, internet freedom, tech criticism and activism, human rights, nonprofit funding
  • Comfortable with collaborative work tools (we currently use Notion, Miro, and Google Suite)
  • Comfortable with exploring and evaluating new tools
  • Comfortable in cross-cultural communication, e.g. experience with international work

Sound like a good fit?

Please send us:

  • Resume

  • Examples of your work. With each link or document you send, please tell us about the timeline and process:*

    • How did these outputs get created?
    • Who was involved?
    • What did the process look like?
    • How long did it take?
    • How did your work improve the products you worked on?

  • Please describe: (100 words max each)

    • What processes do you find useful in different scenarios, and why?
    • How do you approach difficult situations?

Send these documents to us at jobs@simplysecure.org by July 31, 2021.

To help us combat bias while we review applications, please remove your name from the documents you send. One person on our team will keep a list assigning a code name to your application while we review it. If we’d like to interview you, we’ll match your code name to your real name, and get in touch. (If removing your name from your work screws up the formatting, don’t worry, this is not a graphic design job! You can also put an obviously fake name in place of your real name to keep the formatting consistent.)

We believe that systemic bad behaviors disproportionately hurt the most marginalized people in society — including people of color, people from working class backgrounds, women and LGBTQ people. We believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do. We strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities. 31