As Special Projects Manager, you will:
Develop briefs: translate stakeholder requirements into clear, actionable creative and technical briefs, and push back constructively when asks are unclear, conflicting or unscoped.
Oversee project performance and progress: work with internal and external stakeholders to define what success looks like for each project, integrate those goals into design and content strategies, and develop/execute comms projects that reflect them.
Identify, onboard and manage agencies and contractors: identify the skill gaps required to make a project shine, then source and steer talent to fill those gaps through web development agencies or individual freelancers.
Own quality assurance: define what "done" looks like — reviewing deliverables against brief, brand guidelines and accessibility standards (WCAG), running structured review rounds, and holding the final quality bar before anything ships.
Product innovation: ideate and develop digital products to help achieve FLI’s mission and meet org objectives.
Run special projects: deliver multi-month initiatives such as international creative contests end to end.
Steward brand coherence: work with the website development agency to maintain our design system and keep high-volume output visually consistent.
Required experience and qualifications:
Based in a timezone between West Coast, USA and the UK (UTC-8 to UTC+1).
Proven ability to coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder projects — comfortable navigating competing priorities, securing alignment from senior colleagues, and turning messy input into clear direction.
A track record of building or significantly improving delivery processes — intake, review, QA or approval workflows — not just operating within them.
Project management experience across design, communications and/or digital/web projects, ideally including managing external agencies.
Required skills and qualities:
Genuine interest in FLI's mission and the issues we work on — able to represent our work credibly to agencies, judges, contest entrants and partners.
Sharp quality instincts and the confidence to send things back when they're not right (ideally provable with a portfolio of shipped work you've quality-assured).
Calm under deadline pressure; comfortable saying no and offering alternatives.
Preferred qualifications, skills and qualities:
Experience running participatory or multi-stakeholder projects — contests, awards, grant rounds, festivals or similar.
Familiarity with website delivery: CMS platforms and enough technical literacy to triage issues and talk credibly with developers.
Working knowledge of SEO and digital audience growth: technical and on-page fundamentals, analytics tools (e.g. GA4, Search Console), and how content and campaign decisions affect reach.
Nonprofit, policy, advocacy or campaign experience.
Skills Required
- Based in a timezone between West Coast USA and the UK, UTC-8 to UTC+1
- Proven ability to coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder projects
- Ability to navigate competing priorities and secure alignment from senior colleagues
- Ability to turn unclear or conflicting stakeholder input into clear direction
- Experience building or significantly improving intake, review, QA, or approval workflows
- Project management experience across design, communications, and/or digital or web projects
- Experience managing external agencies
- Genuine interest in the Future of Life Institute mission and related issues
- Strong quality judgment and confidence reviewing and rejecting work that does not meet standards
- Ability to remain calm under deadline pressure and offer alternatives when saying no
- Experience running participatory or multi-stakeholder projects such as contests, awards, grant rounds, or festivals
- Familiarity with website delivery, CMS platforms, and technical issue triage
- Working knowledge of SEO, digital audience growth, GA4, and Search Console
- Nonprofit, policy, advocacy, or campaign experience
What We Do
The Future of Life Institute (FLI) is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to steering transformative technologies—such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nuclear technology—away from extreme, large-scale risks and toward outcomes that benefit humanity. Through grantmaking, educational outreach, and policy advocacy, FLI works with governments and international institutions to ensure that powerful technological advancements are developed and deployed safely, responsibly, and in alignment with the long-term prospects for the future of life.
.png)
